Difficulties of self employment

At Avoiding Employee Classification, we talked about the problem of being seen as an employee when you don't want to be one. Unfortunately, governments tend toward more strict interpretation because of abuse by employers wanting to avoid legally required employee benefits.

While I lean toward libertarian principles and say that you should be able to choose freely yourself whether or not you are an employee, it is unfortunately true that people can be forced into agreements that they really don't want to make, so government interference in this area is necessary. However, it can make it more difficult for people who really are deliberately choosing to be independent without coercion.

Governments are also very suspicious of tax evasion by the self employed, particularly if you are in a business where cash payments are common. That means that the self employed are more likely to be audited and have arbitrary assumptions applied to their income.

Because businesses you work with are also apt to be scrutinized for mis-classification of employees as independent contractors, you may be asked for forms or other proof of your independent status so that they can avoid problems with regulations.

It's too bad that greed, dishonesty and simple lack of decency can cause problems for those who legitimately and honestly wish to be independent.

Take Control of Maintaining Your Mac

Take Control of Syncing Data in Leopard

Take Control of Upgrading to Snow Leopard

Take Control of Buying a Mac

Jump to Comments

Many of the products and books I review are things I purchased for my own use. Some were given to me specifically for the purpose of reviewing them. I resell or can earn commissions from the sale of some of these items. Links within these pages may be affiliate links that pay me for referring you to them. That's mostly insignificant amounts of money; whenever it is not I have made my relationship plain. I also may own stock in companies mentioned here. If you have any question, please do feel free to contact me.

Specific links that take you to pages that allow you to purchase the item I reviewed are very likely to pay me a commission. Many of the books I review were given to me by the publishers specifically for the purpose of writing a review. These gifts and referral fees do not affect my opinions; I often give bad reviews anyway.

We use Google third-party advertising companies to serve ads when you visit our website. These companies may use information (not including your name, address, email address, or telephone number) about your visits to this and other websites in order to provide advertisements about goods and services of interest to you. If you would like more information about this practice and to know your choices about not having this information used by these companies, click here.