The IRS independent-contractor page uses three groups of facts: behavioral control (who directs how the work is done), financial control (who can profit or lose), and the type of relationship (contracts, benefits, permanency, whether the work is a key part of the business).
Paying someone on 1099-NEC does not make them a contractor. Putting them on payroll does not make them an employee if the facts go the other way. The information return follows the classification; it does not create it.
Publication 15 is the employer's tax guide once someone is an employee: withholding, deposits, Form 941. Form 1099-NEC is information reporting for nonemployee compensation. Mixing those two packets is a common bookkeeping miss, not a tax-planning trick.
Creytix Tax will not ship a quiz that outputs 'this person is a 1099' or 'this person is a W-2.' Form SS-8 is how a worker or a firm asks the IRS to determine status. DOL and state tests can still differ. A CPA or employment counsel maps the facts.
Sources
- Independent contractor (self-employed) or employee? — Internal Revenue Service, retrieved 2026-08-20
- About Form 1099-NEC, Nonemployee Compensation — Internal Revenue Service, retrieved 2026-08-20
- Publication 15 (Circular E) — Employer's Tax Guide — Internal Revenue Service, retrieved 2026-08-20