I am considering a contract position and have the choice of 1099 or W2. If anyone has advice about the advantages or disadvantages of one over the other, I would appreciate it. Thanks HS
Do you know how being on contract in a different city than you reside affects the 1099 - Basically I would be on a 3-6 month contract in another city and would be paying for a place to stay myself. If I go the 1099 route can I deduct the cost of putting myself up from what I would pay at the quarterly filing point?
Yes you can. I would advice you to get in touch with a good CPA, they'll let you know everything you can deduct. And I mean Everything!
That's a good question. I might be wrong about this, but it depends if your new residence is used as an office. If so, I'm not even sure if you can write off the whole expense. You might want to get someone else to answer that for you. Here's a good reference to compare 1099 vs. W-2: http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=463647
ARgh. I've been reading through some of the literature. It seems with 1099 you can deduct more but have to pay more taxes. Most of the comparisons though say that on 1099 status you would charge a higher rate, but I am being offered the same rate either way. That doesn't seem to make sense. Housing, meals, transportation should be more than a wash with the extra 7/8% I would eat for half of the social security tax. Does anyone know anything about unreimbursed business expenses? If I go the W2 route I think some of that would cover housing et al but am not sure.
Paying all of SS, Self Employment tax and filling out a Schedule C sucks.. I'd do the W2 if the pay was in the same range, but that's just me.. I'd want the lesser of the two headaches at the end of the year..
