Florida Independent Contractor Reporting Law
A business (service recipient) must report to the Crown New Hires Directory a person who is not an employee, but the service recipient pays $600 or more per calendar year for services provided in the course of their business or business. All persons, with the exception of foreign agricultural workers with an H-2A visa, must be declared, regardless of the number of hours worked. The information to be reported includes the name, address, social security number, date of hire and date of birth of the independent contractor. If changes to integration procedures and reporting practices have not yet been implemented, they must be included now that the changes are in effect. Businesses have several options available to report the required information to independent contractors. Notification may be made by post or fax of a form to the State or by electronic filing. Prior to submission, the company must register under Florida Child Support Services for Employers using the link below. For more information on these reporting requirements, please contact your accountant Cherry Bekaert or Anne Yancey, the firm`s Head of State Credits and Incentives. Florida has imposed a significant new reporting requirement on employers and businesses that hire independent contractors. Businesses need to be prepared; the new requirement will come into force on October 1, 2021.
For companies that are already familiar with the reporting process for new employees, the process for Sagittarius is largely the same and can be done through the same online reporting tool. Below is a summary of the reporting obligations under the new act: As previously applied to employee reports, the amended law includes a split that excludes reporting for employees who are under contract by a federal or state agency that performs intelligence or counterintelligence functions, where the report could compromise the employee`s safety or jeopardize an ongoing investigation. As the number of government lawsuits and audits has continued to increase in recent years due to the alleged misclassification of employees as independent contractors, some businesses may be concerned about having to report data on independent contractors to the government. In addition, the law states that the reported information may be disclosed to government contractors who use the data “to locate individuals for the purpose of establishing paternity and establishing, modifying and enforcing support obligations,” but it does not explicitly identify such companies or impose restrictions on their use of information about new employees, except by stating that these companies “must respect data protection precautions”. If the party hiring is a company, it is more likely that the employee is an employee. If the party hiring is a person, the employee is more likely to be an independent contractor. From 1. In October 2021, Florida businesses will be required to submit information about new hires or reinstatement of independent contractors to the Florida Department of Revenue. In particular, Florida businesses that paid an independent contractor $600 or more in a calendar year must submit new hiring information within 20 days of their initial payment to the independent contractor or the date the business and independent contractor entered into the contract, whichever comes first. Starting Oct. 1, Florida businesses will be required to report the services of independent contractors following a new law signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis in June.
In particular, Senate Bill 1532 amends the Fla. Stat. § 409.2576 requiring each “service recipient” to report to the Florida Department of Revenue contractors earning $600 or more per calendar year. The Bill generally defines a “recipient of services” as “a person engaged in a trade or business and who pays a person for services provided in the course of such a trade or business.” Therefore, independent contractors who receive $600 or more in the calendar year are included. What do Florida employers need to know about this new law? A person who practices another occupation or business is more likely to be an independent contractor if the profession or business is separate from the employer`s business. If the employer reserves the right to dictate how the work is to be done, the employee is an employee. If the employer decides what work the employee will do and how the employee will do it, then the employee is an employee. When an employer hires an independent contractor, the employer is usually only interested in the end result, not the details of how the contractor performs the work. As the state will now have more access to information from independent contractors, companies should consider revising their employee classifications to ensure that their independent contractors are properly classified. When reporting an independent contractor, a business must provide the name, address, social security number (or other identification number assigned under Section 6109 of the Internal Revenue Code) of the person to whom the payment services were first provided by the person; and the name, address and identification number of the employer of the recipient of the service.
When submitting the information, the company must use the Florida New Hire Reporting Center website set up for employers. As you prepare to comply with the new law, Florida businesses and individuals should review their relationships with independent contractors and determine whether a particular contractor`s information needs to be reported. Chapter 443, Florida Statutes, governs whether the services rendered constitute employment subject to the Florida Re-Employment Assistance Program Act. The Act provides that employment includes a service provided by individuals under the usual common law rules applicable to determining an employer-employee relationship. The common law rules primarily consider the following 10 factors in the employment relationship in determining whether the employee is an employee or an independent contractor. Companies that hire a payroll or accounting department to report on new employees must confirm compliance with the new reporting requirements. Independent contractors usually do their job one job at a time and are paid for by the work. An employee is paid for his time. The recipient of the service must report the information of a covered contractor within 20 days of entering into the agreement with the contractor or the first payment to the contractor, whichever comes first. .