Troy White has posted at copywriter Clayton Makepeace’s site some good information about outsourcing to grow your business quickly. Let me weigh in on some of the legal issues.
As a preliminary matter, you should be very careful to distinguish between hiring employees and outsourcing to independent contractors. Many business owners who are non-lawyers will refer to “hiring” an independent contractor. That’s a mistake. If you’re going to outsource to an independent contractor, nothing you say or put in writing should suggest that the person doing the work on a freelance basis is actually an employee.
From a taxes and benefits standpoint, employees are a costly pain in the @ss. Unless you want to be responsible for Social Security contributions, workers compensation, and unemployment compensation, don’t hire employees.
In contrast, independent contractors are generally responsible for all of their own taxes (caveat – there may [Read more...]
