Independent contractor working for insurance company at home

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I will be working for a Long Term Care Insurance Company as an RN doing risk assessments for members applying for long term care insurance. I will be responsible for doing my own taxes and the company will send me a 1099 from at the end of the year. I am not sure what is required on my part to do this correctly. Do I need a Federal ID number, State ID number and how does one go about doing that. I have never been an independent contractor before. The company just needs my SS# and they are not asking that I have a Federal/State ID. I want to do this legally and correctly. Can anyone give me some guidance on where to begin? I will be working at home in the State of Arizona, but will be able to work anywhere in the U.S.

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Specializes in 6 Years Hematology and Oncology.

You could ask a professional tax preparer for advice if you don't want to pay all of the fees. Maybe they would do a free consultation?

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Specializes in 6 Years Hematology and Oncology.

And congrats on the job!

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Thanks for the idea to contact a tax preparer. I had thought of contacting an accountant, but I will try both. Do you know if I would require a tax id? Guess I can find that out also. Thanks again and congratulations on getting your LPN license!:nurse:

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Specializes in 6 Years Hematology and Oncology.

No problem! Ty too :)

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Specializes in pediatrics, public health.

I worked as an independent contractor for a while (for my previous non-nursing employer while applying to nursing positions after graduation from NS) -- since I was the sole "employee" of my consultancy "business", I did not need a tax id other than my own SSN. I looked up info online about how to do the taxes.

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Specializes in Complex pedi to LTC/SA & now a manager.

Personally I'd suggest a CPA over a tax preparer. CPA's are licensed, minimum of a bachelor's degree and legally responsible for the advice they give. Tax preparers can be anyone who takes a class.

Know that you will be responsible for paying quarterly income taxes to the IRS and/or your state. There are many documents available at irs.gov if you do a search for independent contractor:

http://search.irs.gov/web/query.html?col=allirs&chorificet=utf-8&qp=&qs=-Wct%3A%22Internal+Revenue+Manual%22&qc=&qm=0&rf=0&oq=&qt=independent+contractor&search.x=0&search.y=0

Independent contractor defined by the IRS: http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/article/0,,id=179115,00.html

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Been doing this for years. Have never made enough to file quarterly. This is not usually a guaranteed income. Very sporadic - - most I ever did was 5 in one week, and have gone months without any.

Keep a spread sheet for your mileage.

Best wishes!!

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