How can I run a business without "Employees"?

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How can I run a business without \"Employees\"?

I'm sick of it! I love my crew, but hate the regulation that comes with employees. On my desk I have a bill from the IRS for miscalculating my monthly witholding, still not sure about that one; an audit letter from the Virginia Employment Commission wanting to review everything for 2011; and the best one, a notice of hearing to show up in court because an employee is suing me for "complete disability" because of a suposed shoulder injury from one week shy of 2 years ago that he had on his last day of work?

Ok, I'm done venting. Any workable ideas for shared ownership aka,no employees) for a company?

Making sure everyone is still covered under Workman's comp or other insurance and reducing red tape are my main concerns.

Thanks,
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Re: How can I run a business without \"Employees\"?

Yeah, it's called an independent subcontractor with all the bells and whistles on one tooltruck. Owner operator state licensed contractor complete with liability insurance.

A one man show for hire to all the tree services in such sore need of professional climbing and rigging skill in a 4X4 tooltruck.

Raised three kids doin it thataway.

jomoco
 
Re: How can I run a business without \"Employees\"?

[ QUOTE ]
I'm sick of it! I love my crew, but hate the regulation that comes with employees. On my desk I have a bill from the IRS for miscalculating my monthly witholding, still not sure about that one; an audit letter from the Virginia Employment Commission wanting to review everything for 2011; and the best one, a notice of hearing to show up in court because an employee is suing me for "complete disability" because of a suposed shoulder injury from one week shy of 2 years ago that he had on his last day of work?

Ok, I'm done venting. Any workable ideas for shared ownership aka,no employees) for a company?

Making sure everyone is still covered under Workman's comp or other insurance and reducing red tape are my main concerns.

Thanks,
Variable

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An accountant is well worth the money. I do most of the work and send it to him. I had an IRS audit and never lost any production time. Accountant got info he needed from me ahead of time(most he already had) and took care of it all.
 
Re: How can I run a business without \"Employees\"?

And that's why large companies have a big admin staff. To cover all that as part of doing business. Find good admin support contractors that'll do this stuff P/T to keep your overhead down.
 
Re: How can I run a business without \"Employees\"?

I'm with jomo in this one. The best thing I ever did for my bottom line was to go solo. I either sub out to other outfits, or hire them as subs on my jobs. ZERO EMPLOYEES.

It's amazing how much less red tape, headaches, hassles, more free time and money I have since.
 
Re: How can I run a business without \"Employees\"?

I found a temp employee office and had them 'hire' anyone who 'worked' for me. They charged me 30% of payroll and covered everything...WC, paychecks, etc.

I supervised the people and treated them as employees but legally they worked for the temp agency. I cleared this with my accountant before starting. A lot fewer head and gut aches after I started this.
 
Re: How can I run a business without \"Employees\"?

Thanks for the great responses! Tom, the temp agency might be my answer for now. I have too many equipment payments to jump solo as a sub but the idea is tempting. Having the temp service keep up with it all might be easier for running a small team. I'll look into that more monday.

Allmark, thanks for the tip on the accountant, I have a guy that does my taxes, but need more services from them. Do they do your books and payroll as well?

Thanks for the encouragement!
Variable
 
Re: How can I run a business without \"Employees\"?

When I first started I carried my own workmans comp policy. I didnt need any kind of license where I live so it was easy for me. The way it was laid out for me was I can either go through a temp agency and lose roughly 30% or I could get my own policy (financed from employer) and take the full pay. I got 10-99ed which I liked due to the write offs. Overall it was a good option for me. The same guy now has a 2nd company that is a "clean up" business and keeps most of his employees under it. It really keeps the workmans comp cost down. I think the difference is like 16% for the cleanup crew as opposed to close to 40% for the tree side of it. Good luck man! I'm sure you'll figure out a good option for yourself.
 
Re: How can I run a business without \"Employees\"?

[ QUOTE ]

Allmark, thanks for the tip on the accountant, I have a guy that does my taxes, but need more services from them. Do they do your books and payroll as well?

Thanks for the encouragement!
Variable

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I go thru a payroll service for that. At the moment Im doing the books but looking to farm that out too.
 
Re: How can I run a business without \"Employees\"?

I've been using an employee leasing company for the last 8 years or so. They take care of all the payroll related items, including withholding taxes, IRS compliance, and worker's comp. I send in the hours for the previous week on Tuesday or Wednesday and everyone gets paid direct deposit on Friday. It adds about 30% to my bottom line but that includes all of the taxes, unemployment, and worker's comp. Last time I checked, it would have been close to 40% for me to get worker's comp on my own, so it's well worth it to have them do everything related to payroll.
 
Re: How can I run a business without \"Employees\"?

One of the best things I did for my business was to hire an admin. you can find someone for $15/hr to do paperwork and balance your books and do paychecks. You have to watch them with the money but there are alot of trustworthy older women that want a part time job when they are not playing with their grand kids.
Totally worth the money.
 
Re: How can I run a business without \"Employees\"?

The temp agencies will provide you with a certificate of coverage for the employee, for the anticipated time they'll be on your jobsite. Agencies know that's the reason you're using them, and they'll gladly copy your client with the certificate.
 
Re: How can I run a business without \"Employees\"?

what temp agencies do guys use ? i live in ohio and have talked to a few but was going to be 50% or so of payroll seemed a little high thanks
 
Re: How can I run a business without \"Employees\"?

After struggling to learn how to do the entire payroll myself, I finally hired Outstaffing to take care of it for me. They are awesome! They have two options 1. Hire your employees and bill you for their labor plus a small fee.

This really intrigued me at first because Outstaffing becomes the legal employer of record. I would be a co-employer but technically could run a business without the payroll/HR hassle.

The second option kept our employees with my company and they administrate all of the payroll, etc. for me. It worked out better for me because of my workman’s comp being much cheaper where I am then starting over with the option they had.

Very cool company! I love how they solve employer’s problems of so much government regulations regarding employees. I am not sure how many states they cover, but check them out at outstaffing.com

Back to my original question, it is possible to run a business without “employees” and Outstaffing.com is a great solution! They are not a staffing agency, they are a professional employer. They get paid to handle all of the paperwork. For my 4 man team it is a great fit.
 
Re: How can I run a business without \"Employees\"?

You can run a business without employees but hiring sub-contractors. The risk you run is that they don't meet the "litmus test" of the IRS that qualifies them as being self-employed. Here's a link to a list of 20 questions that they ask.

http://www.peakconsultinginc.com/Articles/employee_vs_independent_contract.htm

It would seem that running a business regardless requires you to follow some strict guidelines whether you have employees or not.
 
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