Form 8189 & SS8 Help Please

Gigi471 · ‎February 03, 2026

I worked for a company since 2022 as thier social media manager. I started as an employee but after several months I couldn't afford to live off the salary of $2,000 a month with the taxes taken out so the owner made me a 1099 so I could afford to pay my bills. He layed me off early 2025 and gave his granddaughter my position as a W2 employee. My question is do I need to file both the SS8 and 8919 forms for all years? Also, after the determination is completed, will I received a refund on the taxes I over paid through the years? This California and per their guidelines I was definitely considered an employee not an independent contractor. I only worked for him. Thank you!

MonikaK1

If you wish to report to IRS that you were misclassified as an independent contractor, and you wish to correct your Social Security credits for the period of time you were misclassified, then you should submit Form SS8 for a determination.

Once you have a determination from the IRS that you were misclassified as a contractor, or you have filed it and have not received a response, then you can file Form 8919 for the applicable years.

IRS Form 8919, "Uncollected Social Security and Medicare Tax on Wages," is used by workers to report their share of these taxes when they are misclassified as independent contractors (received a 1099-MISC) but are actually employees. It ensures proper social security/Medicare credit without paying the full self-employment tax. You need to be able to check one of the reason codes on the form in order to file it.