To give some context, in March of this year, I was offered a full-time internship where, upon completion of 250 hours at a general rate of about 32 hours/week, I would be paid a $1,200 stipend. At the time, I was given a W-4 form where, under the multiple jobs section, as I was unsure on how to classify my internship at the time, and I was also doing (and still do) a part-time childcare job for a home and community-based service provider, I checked the option for "only two jobs total."
Once my internship was over, I was offered a position as a part-time education assistant, where my scheduled hours were determined in consultation with my director. This meant that my hours were variable, as rather than coming in to work on set days for a certain number of hours, I was on-the-call for when my director needed me to fill a shift. I was paid at a rate of $12/hour in this new position, though as of my most recent paystub, I was actually supposed to be paid $14.50/hour, and I received backpay to compensate for the missing partial wages.
I've noticed that in all of my paystubs, no deductions are taken, including federal income tax, state (MD) income tax, social security, and Medicare. I found that peculiar, but according to a note on the paystubs, my company plans on filing a 1099 form at some point. From what I researched, 1099 forms report payments typically not from an employer, and I believe that fits with my $1,200 internship stipend, either as a 1099-NEC ($600 or more in nonemployee compensation) or 1099-MISC (ex. prizes and awards). Even so, I fail to understand how a 1099 form applies to my current situation as a part-time education assistant, even if I have variable hours. I read that 1099 forms are typically for independent contractors, but that does not fit my situation, as we actually have a person who comes to our workplace that can be considered a contractor, given that he arrives afterhours and works on his own, whereas I am given direct orders from my boss on what I should do. Is it usual for my work to file a 1099 form for both my internship and part-time job, or should I also ask for a W-2 form to cover the latter?
In addition, as I need to make some updates to my W-4 forms, notably that I currently have more than two jobs, for this specific job that I mentioned in the post, when making note of the wages, should I include the $1,200 stipend or just focus on the hourly wages?
Thank you in advance.
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That $1200 stipend is chicken feed in the grand scheme of things. You worked for 250 hours for an amount averaging less than $5/hour for that, and hopefully will not work for such a small amount ever again.
It is very concerning that the employer -- if indeed they are an employer and not a "client" for you as an independent contractor-- is not withholding tax, Social Security or Medicare from your paychecks. Get clarity as soon as possible as to whether they intend to issue a W-2 to you. If they are treating you as an independent contractor and plan to issue you a 1099NEC, you are going to owe self-employment tax on that income for Social Security and Medicare, and you may owe federal and state tax as well, since they are not withholding any tax.
If you do not want to work as an independent contractor and they are treating you as such, you may want to explore other employment opportunities and seek a W-2 job in which federal, state and FICA will be withheld.
https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/2584365-am-i-an-employee-or-an-independent-contractor
https://ttlc.intuit.com/community/self-employed/help/what-is-the-self-employment-tax/00/25922
https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/2902389-why-am-i-paying-self-employment-tax
https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/1901340-where-do-i-enter-schedule-c
https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/3398950-what-self-employed-expenses-can-i-deduct
https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/1901110-do-i-need-to-make-estimated-tax-payments-to-the-irs
https://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tools/calculators/self-employed/
Setting aside the internship for now, if you are currently a W-2 employee, you must be subject to social security (6.2%) and medicare (1.45%) withholding.
You might or might not have federal and state taxes withheld, depending on your wages, your family situation (children, spouse, etc.) and how you filled out the W-2.
How many dependents do you claim? Do you have a spouse, and do they work? Do you have social security and medicare withholding, or no withholding at all?
If you are being paid as an independent contractor, we may need to analyze the "on call" relationship in more details. Generally, if your employer controls your hours and working conditions, you are an employee and not a contractor.
Hello, @xmasbaby0
I apologize for not responding sooner. It took a while to get a response from my workplace.
The payroll person said that, as when I first started as a stipend intern, I was registered as a 1099 staff member instead of an "employee," and that it was not worth it to reclassify me as one for the "few" number of hours I actually worked for an hourly wage over the summer. They said that if they were to hand me a 1099 for my stipend intern hours, and a separate W-2 for my hourly wage hours, I would most likely not reach the minimum dollar figure for my taxable income to even require one.
In any case, I will just deal with my work as a 1099 form, I don't suspect that I will be getting much work from them anymore, especially now that I have a new full-time position.
Thank you for your help and concern.
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