[omgkatie]

I started with a new company as an employee
I am a loan officer
I wanted to be an independent contractor as I have always been that in the past but they said I could not do so
They are now requiring me to pay the employer taxes (FICA 6.2%, Medicare 1.45%, Fed/state unemployment 1% and 4.35% for payroll processing, 401k match, har/admin, state and local taxes) as well as my normal employee taxes.
They also charge an accountng admin fee on each transaction I do.
Is this legal?

[ebaines]

You're asking if requiring you to pay the your portion of FICA is legal? Of course - to do otherwise would be illegal. The good news is that your employer is paying half of your total SS tax, whereas if you were a self-employed contractor you would have to pay the full amount yourself. As for them charging you for payrol processing and a transaction fee - that I can't answer to. Do you have an employment contract that specifies this?

[omgkatie]

No I am asking why am I paying their portion as well as mine. They are having me pay both portions employee and employer.

[ebaines]

So they're taking out 12.9% for Social security plus 2.9% for medicaire from your paycheck (i.e. both employer's and employee's portions), and that's what it says on your pay stub? That makes no sense at all. Please confirm that this is what they're doing.

Also, I'm wondering if perhaps you are actually an employee of a "body shop" which bills the client for your services, and in turn pays you, and that what you are talking about is how much the body shop keeps from their billing of the client?

[omgkatie]

Yes! Both employers and employee portions!
No a loan officer

[ebaines]

omgkatie: Let me ask again - are you by any chance employed by a company that bills clients for your services? And are these deductions that you've mentioned deductions that your employer took from the amount they billed the client before paying you?

[omgkatie]

No they do not bill for my services. I market and attract clients who need loans and then I do loans for those clients. The bank (whichever bank we broker to) pays a commission to my employer who then takes out expenses from there.

[ebaines]

You said:

"No they do not bill for my services. I market and attract clients who need loans and then I do loans for those clients. The bank (whichever bank we broker to) pays a commission to my employer who then takes out expenses from there."

So you're complaint is that your employer takes out too much from the commission you earn them before paying you, right? It's not really a matter of you having to pay the employer's portion of SS - they do, but they do it by taking it as expenses against the commission you earned for them. It may seem like a nuance, but in reality they're paying the employer's SS tax, not you.