If I was asked to work as an independent contractor by my employer, but still worked as their employee like nothing changed, is that allowed?

[Bob6]

I worked for my employer for 3 years as an employee. At the start of 2017 I was asked to work as an independent contractor, and they had me sign some kind of form, don't remember what. I was told nothing would change, I would get the full amount before taxes and I'd just pay my normal taxes at the end of the year. (Just found out when filing that I also get to pay self employment tax so there goes my entire refund) I continued to work for them as an independent contractor, but acting as their employee. It was my only job, they told me what to do, when to do it, and how to do it. I fit the description of an employee in almost every way according to the IRS. Should I continue filing this year as an independent contractor, or is this all wrong and I should have been an employee?

[georgesT]

You should not file taxes as self-employed if you were incorrectly classified as independent. 

You can consider taking any of the below action:

• Talk to your Employer. First, you can try to talk to your employer to see if it will review your classification and reclassify you as an employee. Explain that you think you've been wrongly classified as an independent contractor. At the very least, you should get an explanation as to why they think you are a contractor, instead of an employee.

• Get the IRS Involved. If trying to talk to your employer doesn't work, you can contact the IRS. Workers who believe they have been misclassified as independent contractors may request that the IRS determine their employment status for federal tax purposes by filing form IRS Form SS-8, Determination of Worker Status for Purposes of Federal Employment Taxes and Income Tax Withholding. . After the IRS receives the form, it will contact your employer to get their version of the facts. It will then determine what your status should be for purposes of federal employment taxes and income tax withholding. The decision made by the IRS will be binding on the IRS. It is not binding on your employer, but any employer who ignores the IRS's determination will be in for trouble. One thing to keep in mind is that the IRS may disclose your identity to your employer, which might not make the employer too pleased with you. So you may want to think twice before going this path.

• File Your Tax Return with IRS Form 8919. Independent contractors have to pay all their Social Security and Medicare taxes themselves. In contrast, employees have half of these taxes paid by their employers. If you think you've been misclassified as a contractor, you can avoid having to pay more than half of these taxes yourself by filing IRS Form 8919, Uncollected Social Security and Medicare Tax on Wages. 

Being misclassified as an independent contractor instead of an employee for legal and tax purposes can be very costly. Among other things, it means that you'll:

• have to pay all your Social Security and Medicare taxes out of your own pocket (employers must pay half of these taxes for employees, but not independent contractors
• be ineligible for unemployment benefits (and your employer won't have to pay for unemployment insurance for you)
• be ineligible for worker's compensation benefits (and your employer won't have to pay for workers’ comp insurance for you)
• have none of the workplace rights that employees usually have, such as a right to a minimum wage, overtime pay, sick pay, and rest breaks
• be ineligible for healthcare coverage as an employee under Obamacare starting in 2014.

[Edited 2/17/2018 / 6:03PM PST]