Pay as a Part-Time Worker

Q. I work 10 hours a week in New York for a nonprofit group on a contract basis, getting paid by the hour for fund-raising and database-management work. I have two questions: How can I find out whether I’m being paid the going rate, and, as a part-timer paid by the hour, does the organization have any responsibility to deduct Social Security taxes from my paycheck?

A. You don’t have to rely on hearsay to find out if you’re being paid the going rate at your job — you can go online instead. There you’ll find several salary-comparison sites. A previous edition of Hotline listed some of the best sites and provides links to them. When checking for salary information, don’t forget to adjust for your part-time status. You’ll find links to several studies of compensation for fund raisers here. And see this Philanthropy Careers article to get the latest data about fund-raiser salaries in New York.

As for your Social Security taxes, the central issue isn’t how many hours a week you work, but whether you’re an employee or an independent contractor. According to Internal Revenue Service rules, if you’re an employee, the organization should be withholding Social Security taxes from your paycheck. If you’re an independent contractor, Social Security taxes don’t have to be withheld.

How can you tell if you’re an employee or an independent contractor? “A simple rule of thumb, and the one the IRS uses, is control,” says Jim Heinze, the partner in charge of the Not-For-Profit Group at J.H. Cohn, an accounting firm in New York. “If [you’re] working under the direction of the organization performing services prescribed by the organization during their normal work period, you are an employee,” he says. If you were given a contract to fulfill a specific task — for example, developing a database — or if the job was short term, he says, you would probably qualify as an independent contractor. The organization makes that call, and it’s worth asking what your status is. It could have income-tax implications for you as well. To learn more, download “Independent Contractor or Employee,” also known as Publication 1779, an easy-to-read two-page brochure from the Internal Revenue Service. (To open it, you’ll need Adobe Acrobat Reader, which can be downloaded free.) The IRS can also help you figure out whether you’re an employee or independent contractor. Check out Form SS8 here.