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You're absolutely right to be concerned about this classification! Based on everything you've described - your brother setting your schedule, providing all the tools, and directing your work - you're clearly an employee, not an independent contractor. The financial impact is significant. As a misclassified 1099 contractor, you'd pay the full 15.3% self-employment tax (covering both employer and employee portions of Social Security/Medicare) plus regular income tax. As a proper W-2 employee, your brother would pay half of that burden (7.65%), saving you real money especially on part-time income. I'd suggest approaching this conversation soon, focusing on protecting both of you rather than pointing out what's wrong. Many family business owners misclassify workers without understanding the rules or consequences. The IRS can impose serious penalties on businesses for misclassification - back taxes, interest, and substantial fines. Try framing it as "I want to make sure we're both following the rules correctly" rather than being accusatory. You could reference IRS Publication 15-A which explains the three-factor test for worker classification (behavioral control, financial control, and relationship type). Your situation clearly fits the employee category on all three factors. Since you're family, he'll probably want to do right by you once he understands that proper classification protects his business from IRS penalties while saving you from overpaying taxes and dealing with quarterly payments. Better to sort this out now than face problems later!
This is such great advice! I really appreciate how you broke down the three-factor test - behavioral control, financial control, and relationship type. It's clear that my brother controls all three aspects of my work situation, so there's really no question about my proper classification. The financial difference you mentioned (7.65% vs 15.3%) is huge when you're only working part-time like I am. Plus, I'm honestly intimidated by the whole quarterly payment system for 1099 workers - having taxes automatically withheld as a W-2 employee would be so much simpler. I love your suggestion about referencing IRS Publication 15-A when I talk to my brother. Having official documentation should help keep the conversation objective and show that this isn't just my opinion, but actual IRS guidelines. The framing of "making sure we're both following the rules correctly" is perfect - it positions this as protecting both of us rather than me challenging him. I'm definitely going to have this conversation this week before we get too far into the work arrangement. Better to get it sorted out now than deal with tax complications later!
My father been doing this to me for years. But include extra wages charges clients for me that I dont see. Like least equally 10k a year then I have to pay 8k this past yr so was more than half my savings its almost like im paying to work. I've left multiple times but they always ask for help again say it'll be different or threaten to not be able to go to his funeral lol getting to the point that thats fine with me and sadly waisted so much time could have been in another field of work and im so easily discarded. Dont let it happen to you.
As a newcomer to this community, I'm really impressed by how comprehensive and supportive everyone's responses have been! This thread has been incredibly educational - I had no idea that sales tax overcharging was such a common issue or that there were so many practical resources available to help consumers document and report these situations. The manager's dismissive "shop somewhere else" response instead of immediately investigating your legitimate concern about tax calculations is definitely the biggest red flag here. Any honest business owner would be grateful to learn about a potential overcharging problem and would work to fix it right away, not get defensive about it. What really opened my eyes is understanding the broader community impact. When you think about systematic overcharging of 5-6 percentage points across hundreds of regular customers over months or years, that adds up to substantial amounts of money being stolen from hardworking families who probably don't even realize what's happening. Based on all the excellent guidance shared here - especially the official insight from someone who actually works at the Department of Revenue about 30-45 day investigation timelines, the practical documentation strategies like the spreadsheet approach, and the various verification tools mentioned - you have everything you need to file a strong and effective complaint. Thank you for speaking up about this issue and refusing to be intimidated. This kind of consumer protection advocacy benefits entire communities, and I'm definitely going to be more vigilant about checking my own receipts at local businesses going forward!
Welcome to the community! I'm also new here and this thread has been such an incredible learning experience. It's amazing how much practical knowledge everyone has shared about dealing with tax overcharging - from documentation strategies to specific reporting agencies to tools I never knew existed. What really strikes me is how this single issue at one convenience store has revealed such a comprehensive system of consumer protections that most of us probably never knew about. The fact that there are dedicated government departments that actually investigate these complaints within 30-45 days gives me so much more confidence in the system than I had before. Your point about the community-wide impact is so important too. It's easy to think "it's just a few extra dollars" but when you multiply systematic overcharging across hundreds of customers, we're talking about serious theft from working families. The manager's dismissive attitude makes it clear this needs official intervention rather than just being avoided. I'm definitely going to start being much more careful about checking receipts at local businesses. This thread has shown me that speaking up about these issues isn't just about getting your own money back - it's about protecting your entire community from predatory practices. Thank you for highlighting how valuable this discussion has been!
This is such a frustrating situation and unfortunately it's happening to more people lately! I went through the exact same thing about 3 months ago when my account got suspended right before I needed to check my refund status. Based on everyone's experiences here, I'd definitely recommend trying the chat support at help.id.me first - it seems way more effective than calling. Make sure you have your driver's license ready and good lighting for photo verification since their system is really picky about image quality. In my case, it turned out the suspension was triggered because I had updated my phone's operating system and their security system flagged it as unusual device activity. Had to go through the whole verification process again but got it resolved in about 4 days. While you're working on the ID.me issue, definitely try calling 800-908-9946 early morning (around 7 AM) as a backup to request a mailed transcript - takes longer but at least you'll have access to your info. The whole system really needs an overhaul, but hang in there! Most people do eventually get their accounts restored with persistence.
This is really helpful advice! I'm new to this community but dealing with the same exact issue right now. My ID.me account got suspended yesterday and I'm feeling pretty overwhelmed trying to figure out what to do. Your point about OS updates potentially triggering suspensions is really interesting - I actually just updated my iPhone a few days ago so that could be what caused it! I'm definitely going to try the chat support route first thing tomorrow morning and have my driver's license ready with good lighting. The backup plan of calling the IRS transcript line at 7 AM is smart too. It's crazy that accessing our own tax information has become this complicated, but I really appreciate everyone sharing their experiences here. Gives me hope that this will get resolved!
Kurtz Levine
Itβs been 3 weeks I verified my identity over the phone and I havenβt received a ddd . The progression went from being processed to being reviewed.
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Kurtz Levine
What does cp05 notice means
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