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Somewhat similar, but there are a lot of downsides. Doing taxes as a contractor is basically like doing taxes as a business. Probably similar in your situation.

Somewhat similar, but there are a lot of downsides. Doing taxes as a contractor is basically like doing taxes as a business. Probably similar in your situation. However the rules for it are much much more convoluted, especially when you have healthcare insurance. In the US, the healthcare insurance easily has a tax break involved as an employee, but as a contractor, it would likely require crazy things like incorporating and setting up a CEO/board, etc... Total nightmare. You might get lucky and cheat by calling it an outside service (and expense), but technically you could get audited and bad things result. Things get even more complicated if you have or want an HSA as a contractor. This USED to be a good option, but now it seems like HSA plans are total shit. HSAs used to be cheaper but now they seem to be the same price as non-HSA plans so there really is no advantage to them. Basically, until that side of the tax code is fixed, contractors are fucked over health insurance wise in the US.

nodesocket 8y ago
> In the US, the healthcare insurance easily has a tax break involved as an employee, but as a contractor, it would likely require crazy things like incorporating and setting up a CEO/board, etc... I'm not an accountant or lawyer, so take what I say with a grain of salt. Should be able to setup a LLC in the state you do business in. Be careful in California, the LLC will cost you $800 a year even if you make no profit. Once you have an umbrella company you can write off valid business expenses, including health insurance premiums. Be sure to pay quarterly federal tax payments if you are making profit.
zaroth 8y ago
There’s nothing convoluted about deducting health insurance and dental premiums if you are self employed. Money you pay for health and dental insurance is counted as a reduction against your AGI — technically this is even better than a deduction, as long as you don’t qualify for insurance through another employer, and cannot exceed your total employment earnings. So you can’t decline employee sponsored health insurance and also claim the reduction, and you can’t deduct premiums to the point where you have a net loss. Qualified expenses go on Line 29 of Form 1040 where it says “Self-employed health insurance deduction”. You do not have to incorporate or setup an LLC to claim the deduction.

nodesocket 8y ago

> In the US, the healthcare insurance easily has a tax break involved as an employee, but as a contractor, it would likely require crazy things like incorporating and setting up a CEO/board, etc... I'm not an accountant or lawyer, so take what I say with a grain of salt. Should be able to setup a LLC in the state you do business in. Be careful in California, the LLC will cost you $800 a year even if you make no profit. Once you have an umbrella company you can write off valid business expenses, including health insurance premiums. Be sure to pay quarterly federal tax payments if you are making profit.

zaroth 8y ago

There’s nothing convoluted about deducting health insurance and dental premiums if you are self employed. Money you pay for health and dental insurance is counted as a reduction against your AGI — technically this is even better than a deduction, as long as you don’t qualify for insurance through another employer, and cannot exceed your total employment earnings. So you can’t decline employee sponsored health insurance and also claim the reduction, and you can’t deduct premiums to the point where you have a net loss. Qualified expenses go on Line 29 of Form 1040 where it says “Self-employed health insurance deduction”. You do not have to incorporate or setup an LLC to claim the deduction.