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Survey on IC's vs. Employee

Posted By: Terry on 2007-10-09
In Reply to:

Could anyone tell me if they are an IC or an employee and who they work for?  I am trying to find out if I should change all of our IC's to employees or not.  Also, could you tell me which one you like better?


Thanks




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Excuse me but federal taxes are paid as employee by employee
The ONLY difference in IC is you pay the ENTIRE amount of the SS which is the 15.25%, as an employee you only pay 7.75%.  And you can easily make up that difference in deductions.  As an employee you just have someone else manage your withholdings and as an IC you do it yourself.  I have much more usable income being an IC and not an employee and I am strict about putting aside what I need to.  But everyone always says you have to pay your own taxes, well your employer does not PAY them for you -- except 7.75% of SS, they merely withhold it for you.  As an IC you are the employer. 
What's the survey for?
We have this one, and it works just great.....
MT pay survey!
I am a MT working part time, like less than 20 hours a week. I was curious to the ones who work full time at this.  What do you make a month and which company do you work for?  I would like to see if there are actually MTs out there making some good money or decent money and what kind of companies provide that.  I just wonder what the majority of you are making.  With me working so little hours, I don't know what to expect if I worked full time.  I just want some insight.   
Please be sure and weigh in on the survey, thanks. nm
nm
Hold on before you take that survey!
I have seen this lady before. I could swear when we first checked out her "pay me to take surveys" MLM scam site before she had previously worked at Bloomingdale's, but I do not recall that she had worked there for 20 years or had worked anywhere for 20 years. Seems to me she had references from several people she had supposedly worked with from several different places all swearing up and down what a wonderful and qualified employee she was (too much so, if you get my drift). I don't recall ANY of those said jobs being QA positions, more like sales or clerical. She seems to have had a lot of jobs for someone her age who worked for 1 company for 20+ years.

My point here is that this gal was operating a pyramid scheme just a couple months ago. Her original site was "Join here and pay $20 to take survey's about our MT business, and then refer people to me and you will get $5.00 per person who signs up under your name." I don't believe she is interested in any of this information being factual, she just wants to collect it (along with our personal data) so she can make money by selling it to God only knows whom, probably costing us our jobs or at the very least a whole lot of aggravation with e-mail boxes being filled with spam from other companies. Her only goal (in my opinion) is to make money in a marketing scheme. I guess she thinks the national MT companies are going to pay her for this data just because she collected it? She will claim its accuracy because she did a survey? I also find it odd that while she talks about QA this and QA that, it seems to me what she really means is quality control - and that is a big difference, odd she would not know the difference, isn't it?

Being a former Spheris employee myself, if she was as "all that" in the QA field, she should have started with them. I do wonder if she is still with them and, if not, then my guess is this is how she thinks she can make a living since, apparently, no other companies will have her?

One thing we all noted before, and it is rather apparent on her new site too, is that for someone who has been an MT for 3+ years and is supposedly as good as she claims herself to be, she sure makes a whole lot of errors.
Umm, I took the survey and it had no questions that
^
2007 survey
Says MTs make an average of $27K a year.

Remember pay is production based. If you don't have experience, you're going to be slow.

I would advise you to enroll in one of the better schools. You're going to have a very difficult time getting a job otherwise.
MT salary survey
http://www.payscale.com/research/US/Job=Medical_Transcriptionist/Salary/by_Industry
Interesting Survey!

I hope I posted this in the right spot! Kind of new to this forum, especially with posting messages.  I downloaded a medical transcription survey from 2007 from the MTIA web site which I thought was very interesting and would like to share it with you all if you have not read it.


I loved the summary point stating "Doctors do not generate revenue, documents do. Accurate and complete healthcare documents are essential to a doctor's and institution's revenue cycle."


I remain hopeful and optimistic that in the future that we will once again be recognized for how important our jobs really are.  All of us can go out and get ourselves a medical secretarial position or other positions in the medical field, but it takes a special talent to do the job we do, and I think many people who think our jobs are not worth the money we deserve, possibly can't do OUR jobs.


This is the link and if it does not work, go to the MTIA.com web site, search under press releases and it is the Bentley MT survey for 2007. Hope you find it interesting.


http://www.mtia.com/Downloads/MTSurveyReport-Preliminary.pdf


 


 


Regarding poverty in America... A little survey

Do you believe that:


A:  Poverty is mostly the result of poor choices in life, either by yourself or by your parents and grandparents before you, thereby setting up the vicious cycle.  Early parenthood, out-of-wedlock births, no father in the home, recycled boyfriends in and out of a home, lack of early childhood stimulation with books/toys, lack of routine and academic expectations, etc. 


OR


B:  Poverty is societal.  Poor people have no choices in America and no real opportunity or ability to raise themselves out of poverty.  The way to end poverty is to increase social programs until people are not living in poverty anymore.  Poverty is societies fault and the government's fault and therefore theirs to fix.


 


Line rate survey
Can I get some examples of line rates people are getting from MTSO's.  Also if you do give me this information let me know what part of the country and what type of line. (ex. 65 character with spaces)
The Hay Group did a national survey
in 1999. It was very comprehensive, and covered hospital, service and IC MTs across the country. I'm looking at it now, and the drop in compensation between then and now is sickening.

If you contact them, perhaps they have updated the figures. They're online at haygroup with the usual before and after.
I promise I will once the survey is completed....sm
I don't want to influence the results in any way so the information will be unbiased and more meaningful.

Jay
I think it is kind of odd that this survey showed
posts were on here this morning telling people they'd pay $5.00 for every e-mail address you sell them.  I'd be very careful when you are dropping your e-mail address.  The survey does not seem to have any company name or anyone's name attached to it for that matter. 
Survey Notebook Vs Desktop (sm)

Which is preferred, Notebook or Desktop for working 8+ hours per day doing MT?  Any specifics you'd like to share about processor/memory would be helpful.  Upgrading my computer and deciding which would work best for me.


I am doing a survey on radiology rates of pay. If you would like to
l
Voice Recognition Editing Survey

I have the opportunity this spring and summer to speak to MTs and business owners in various parts of the country, and one of the topics I'll be discussing is voice recognition editing.  After working with it for a year, I have my own opinions on the subject, but I'm hoping to collect information from other MTs who have been performing both editing and traditional transcription for the past 6 months or longer.  Your participation would be greatly appreciated.


The link to the survey is: http://www.webstream.us/survey/index.php?sid=1


Jay


I "work" for an online survey place
I do surveys for PineCone Research and that is the only one I know of that is legit. I get products before they come out in the store a lot, too. With each survey I get chosen for (not much, maybe one or two a month so you can't make a living off it, lol), I get a $5 check in the mail. Sometimes, I get chosen to do an online brainstorming session about some new product a company wants to put out, but that has only happened twice in the two or three years I've done it. It's a nice little bonus, and you get to see some new products before anyone else does but you definitely couldn't make a living off it. :) Just thought I'd share. I usually just read here the past few months.
Survey - inquiry minds want to know - how many lines...sm
can you normally type in a 6 hour day?  Not your highest, your average please.  I know there will be specifics, but base it on your average day, average dictator, average workload.  I am very curious to see what everyone else can do.  TIA
I've completed the survey & I hope all
x
It took six months to compile the results of the survey/questionairre

asking about how MQ can do better.  We got a letter telling us the findings 9 months later and on it apparently lots of MTs beitched about no pay increase and they are looking into it.  That was 3 months ago. 


MQ is too busy plotting and planning how to rip off the clients and MTs to be bothered with the current problems.  They have a bazillion managers but no one seems to be able to keep the simplest things done on a timely basis. 


 


What do you think your company will give you for Christmas: (Survey, I guess, LOL)
x
Free webinar to discuss Bentley College MT survey
This afternoon, May 16, at 1 p.m. Pacific/2 p.m. Mountain/3 p.m. Central/4 p.m. Eastern, Vance Digital/Webstream Information On Demand is hosting a free webinar to discuss the preliminary findings of the Bentley Report. This will be a round-table type meeting and anyone who wishes to comment or ask questions will be welcome to do so. The webinar will be recorded and will be available for purchase. If there is sufficient demand, we'll offer more of these webinars in the near future.

To join the webinar, visit http://www.conference321.com/masteradmin/room.asp?id=rs34fe20e1c1ac and download the tcConference plugin. Log in with a username of your choice and use guest as the password. You'll need PC speakers to hear others speak, and a PC microphone if you wish to speak. A microphone is not required to participate, as the webinar room has text chat capabilities also.

This session will be limited to 100 participants on a first-come, first-served basis.

Please contact me by email at jaysvance at yahoo dot com if you have any questions.

The report can be downloaded from http://www.webstream.us/downloads/Bentley_MT_Survey_Preliminary_Report.pdf
You an IC, statutory employee or employee?
That designation, and/or forcing the IRS to designate you, can make a diff. Are you a corporation? Partnership? You need WAY more help than we can give you.
If you are employee, unless suit against your employee
otherwise the posts on here as far as I can see telling it like it is. I think a lot of the posts are so young they just don’t have a clue as to what it means to be an employee. You do as your employee wants (I am talking reason now, not stupidity as far as sexual advances, etc) or else you find another company that fits your personality better. You do not confront, you do not tell your employee no, that is their job, not yours. This is such a simple thing for people who have been in the work force for any period of time.
IC or Employee?

I read an article on the web regarding how companies are abusing the independent contractor status to keep from paying benefits, WC, social security, etc.  In my situation, I have been with the same company for three years and I do not get shift differential, weekend differential, or overtime.  I work 7 days a week, totally directed by the company, hours set by the company, etc.  If I had been an employee, which I believe I have been all along, I would be owed thousands of dollars in overtime.  Where do YOU fall?  Below is the IRS quick look at where you stand.


http://www.ftmn.com/Employee.html


An employee
I cant say who but it is an employee.
You are an employee. I am not. Again, you are an employee because SM

you need "employee stuff" but I am not an employee because I don't need employee stuff. I just need work.


Why do *I* have to adhere to a schedule? I don't. And my MTSO loves me to death because I just make her look good.


You need to go to an all-employee company or a company where you are the boss so you can stop this from happening. The MTSO just wants the work out of there. You want it to all be suspended until you sit down to work, and that is just not going to happen, nor should it.


No, FT employee
Looking for another job this very minute. I think this is way over the line.
As an employee ---

If I actually work 40 hours a week, my gross is about $730, which I think is good when I also have all taxes cut (Federal match), PTO, STD, LTD, healthy, dental, vision, internet reimbursement, quarterly and yearly incentives in addition to base pay.  Never run out of work.  Benefits add about 30% more to base pay, so it seems to be a wash with the ICs who have commented.


I left a job recently where I worked 5 hours a day and grossed $750/week with all taxes cut, 2 paid weeks vacation a year, free health insurance.  I left because they were getting interns to work for free and forcing out their higher paid and longer term employees.  Had to use vacation pay when there was not work or not get paid at all.


I like the pay/hours at the former job but I like the current stability that I have now better.


Employee
This is the exact reason our company will never use an IC. We utilize employee status transcriptionists
This is what I do. I am an employee
but my company is in FL where they don't have state tax.   I don't need any $$ taken out for federal, but I have extra $$ taken from DH check for state taxes.  2005 was the first full year we did it and this year we are getting back $450 state, when we've paid in the past, plus a penalty for not having enough taxes taken out.   You could also change dependents if appropriate.  
IC vs employee
Can someone explain to me the difference between 8 cpl as an employee and 8 cpl as an IC?  I know you have to pay your own taxes as an IC but what I mean is what does 8 cpl translate into once you pay self-employment tax.  How much less are you making as an IC at 8cpl than if you were an employee at 8 cpl is what I am trying to ask.  Thanks.
IC vs employee
If you are an employee, the employer pays half of the Social Security tax. If you are an IC, you have to pay the full amount yourself. HOWEVER, you can then take a deduction on your taxes for that second half. I haven't figured my taxes yet, so I don't know if it is a deduction or a tax credit (which is better), but at least it does help so you don't end up paying the entire amount. As an employee you also don't have all the deductions that ICs get, so that makes a difference in the bottom line, too.
Are you IC or employee?
If you are an IC, you can take off whenever you want (with appropriate notice of course). If you are employee, do you have vacation/PTO time? Do they not let you use it when you want?
Are you an IC or employee? - nm
nm
Employee (sm)
I work for MedQuist.
anyone go from IC to employee and like it better?
I was offered a job and I'm now weighing the options.  I have always been an IC and have been offered employee status with another company.  The pay is 1/2 cent cheaper than what I make now as an IC.  The hours are still flexible and they do offer good benefits, PTO, vacation, etc... Has anyone gone from IC to employee or tried both and would like to comment? Thanks!
IC or employee

In my 22 year MT career I've found that doing a bit of both works best for me.  Since I'm a single parent I really need the insurance benefits, and with regards to taxes, my accountant told me it's best to keep your W2 job because the taxes you pay there helps to pay your self-employment taxes.  I do 20 hours W2 and the other half IC.


ms


 


 


 


IC to employee...sm please

I would like to hear from any of you that have gone from an IC to an employee, on howyou handled the changes.  I am thinking about giving up my IC position (which is my own account with a hospital) to look for a full time position with a national company. As an employee, do you really have to sit in front of the computer 8 to 12 hours for your shift?  What happens if there is nothing to transcribe?  Do you have to stay put and wait? 


I have only transcribed as a hospital employee (paid by the hour) and then came home for the same hospital as an IC (paid by the minute of dictation) when my youngest had health problems.  I have always had enough work with occasional slow weeks at the same time every year.  I have done some IC work with a few smaller MTSO.  The hospital is going through a lot of changes and I do not feel that my position is stable.  I was offered a position with a national a little over a year ago but raised my rates at the hospital instead.  (Although after I raised my rates, they looked into using a service and found I was way cheaper to use).  But I have recently figured my line counts with this hospital (Never bothered before because I got paid per minute) and figured I only got paid between 8-9 cpl with the same rate on weekends and nights.  I was offered that plus benefits with other companies. 


Should I try to find a good company and adjust to the changes in my schedule?  (sorry so long)


Not An Employee
I'm confused too. I also worked for just one company as an IC before becoming an employee. If I wasn't an IC, I certainly wasn't an employee at the time. I had no benefits, taxes weren't taken out, etc.
Employee vs IC
Hi Guyz,
Could anyone tell me what is difference b/w working as home based employee as compared to IC. As I myself is IC right now, worked for FTP and online based working environment and find no pressure from employer like phone, chat etc. but work. So is employee status is same in that aspect or is it same as working in company where you got fear that your boss is looking at you all the time. thx!
are you an employee or
self-employed contractor? Do you get benefits, vacation pay, do you work from home?
Not That I'm An Employee No
When I was an IC I always worried when I didn't have a lot of work. Now that I'm an employee and know that I'll get paid for 40 hours and know I'll always get the same amount I'm less stressed. On the other hand, I type for 4 doctors and 1 N.P., and at one point I had upwards of 100 reports in the system that had to be finished. It's been a little slower these past few weeks, though.
I could not as an employee.
My tax preparer said that it was because I did not have enough deductions to itemize as an employee.
Are your IC or employee? sm
If you are an IC, you dictate when you invoice and when payment is due. If you are employee, you really have no say in the matter.


8-1/2 cpl as employee = what as IC
I'm just considering the tax ramifications.  They have worthless insurance (reimburses doctors at the rate they get paid by Medicare and you know how doctors don't want to see Medicare patients) so I'm going to get my own insurance and add it to the line count, but not considering PTO, etc. (which they don't have) Their owner (never done MT) pulled out his calculator and said 8.5 as an employee equals 9 as an IC.  That doesn't sound right, does it?
Tax ? for those who are both IC and Employee

I work full-time as an employee, but did some work on the side for my brother-in-law.  I have a 1099 from him.  When I file taxes, do I just file a 1040 with a schedule C-EZ (it was only $1000) for the IC work?  Or do I need to file another form to figure out how much in taxes I need to pay?


Thank you for any help you can give me!


Chickadee


Are you employee or an IC?
While I don't personally think you should have to give them up at all, technically I think if you are an employee, everything you create as an employee may actually belong to the employer. I'd still fight it though, especially if you didn't sign any agreement to that effect.
Are you an IC or an employee? nm
d
Employee or IC??
If IC - just raise your rates.  If employee are you hourly or cpl?  Talk to him and see what he says.