Interns

yakley

We currently have 2 interns in our Marketing Dept.
They are classified as "contract labor" because they work a set number of hours during a specific period. We do not set the hours - only the assignment.
An acct clerk indicates these should be part-time employees.
Are we wrong?

Rockie

It depends. We have interns working for our medical practice in our Exercise Physiology Department. They are contracted through the local university. We pay the university for their services during the contract period. We don't control their hours, etc.

If these individuals you have working for you are controlled as employees by you such as pay, hours worked, etc., you probably need to have them on payroll as part time employees. A lot of marketing people work on a "project" basis and if this is the case, you are probably fine considering them a contract worker.

mtz

The truly are "employees" not independent contractors. They should be on your payroll with taxes being withheld. There are tests used to determine the difference between these two categories of employees.

The fact that you are not dictating the "when" to perform the work is not enough to satisfy the tests. It is not worth the implications that could result from wrongly classifying these "interns".

The IRS has set criteria using the "Common Law Test" and the "Reasonable Basis Test". The right to control is the key. The IRS uses 20 factors to determine the status.