Do you pay workers in your homeschool organization?
Are they employees or independent contractors? Do you know the difference?
Homeschool CPA, Carol Topp, will share the details of what you need to know about paying workers in a homeschool organization in this 30 minute podcast. Part 1 of a 2 part series.
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Carol mentioned a few helpful resources:
Paying Workers in a Homeschool Organization (short ebook)
Questions and Answers for Homeschool Leaders (ebook)
Money Management in a Homeschool Organization (newly expanded) in paperback or ebook. The Paying Workers ebook is incorporated as a chapter in this book, so you don’t need to purchase both.
Other helpful books and articles for homeschool leaders can be found at HomeschoolCPA.com
Be sure to listen to the second part of this podcast when Carol shares what forms you need to be filing with the IRS when you pay workers.
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How to teach teenagers about managing money (when you’re not doing so great yourself)
30+ Micro Business Ideas for Teens (Part 1) #50
Marketing and Customer Profiles in a Micro Business. Dollars and Sense Show # 33
Career Exploration Part 4. Picking a college. Episode 22
Career Exploration Part 3. Researching possible careers. Episode 21
Career Exploration Part 2. Personality Tests. Episode 20
Hello Carol,
I’m sorry I sent this question to your other web site. I was a Director with Classical Conversations and now suspect that they should be classifying their Directors as employees rather than independent contractors. Are you aware of Classical Conversations? Do you have an opinion on their business/tax structure?
Carol is on vacation but I’ll have her answer this whe she returns, great questions, Colleen!
Site Admin.
Colleen,
Yes I am familiar with Classical Conversations. The Directors of CC communities are similar to franchise owners. They are independent business owners. They “own” their CC Community, but have an agreement with the national CC organization. Whether the Directors should be classified as employees or independent contractors depends on the relationship and agreement between CC and each Director.
The tutors in a CC community are usually paid as independent contractors. Sometimes the tutor may be treated much like employees and each CC Director needs to be careful about how much control she exerts over each tutor.
Just want to update anyone who is googling this issue. I have been looking into the issue for about a year now and I want to advise anyone who is considering a leadership position with CC to ask a lot of questions with regard to their status as independent contractor as well as their tutors’ status as independent contractor. Independent contractors are supposed to be people who are running their own independent business and coming into another independent business to provide specialized skills that they are already using in their own independent business. ICs are supposed to be free to work for competitive businesses because they are in business for themselves and not for the company that they are doing work for at any given time. This is not what CC is doing. In my 2012 Business Guide, CC says that if an agency determines that the Director misclassified her tutors, that CC will be held blameless. So, even though CC provides the Director with tutor contracts that are for ICs, the corporation does not want to be held responsible if they have misled you. So you need to do your own homework and exercise the critical thinking skills that you are helping your kids to develop. Ask a lot of questions because you are ultimately responsible for what you do. . . CC does not want to be responsible for what they have led you to do.
I am thinking to get the questions and answers book because I am a director with Classical Conversations in Nevada. Is there specific questions about CC addressed in the book? Will this help me decide what on earth to do with the IC, Employee situation?
The Paying Workers in a Homeschool Organization would be more helpful to you in determining worker status as an employee or independent contractor.
Classical Conversations is not addresses specifically, but there are general guidelines to help you determine your tutors’ status.
Carol Topp, CPA