Employment Law Partner John McGowan published “Safe Harbor or Venus Fly Trap? What to Make of the IRS Offer to Voluntarily Settle Worker Misclassification Problems” which appeared in BNA Pension & Benefits Daily on October 7, BNA Pension & Benefits Reporter on October 11, BNA Daily Labor Reporter on October 17 and BNA Daily Tax Reporter on October 27.
The IRS announced in September that it is establishing a new program called the Voluntary Classification Settlement Program (‘‘VCSP’’) to help organizations more easily fix worker re-classification problems they may currently have. VCSP’s terms are scheduled to be published on October 11, 2011, in Announcement 2011-64.
McGowan writes that organizations with a persistent worker misclassification problem— possibly including organizations that weathered the Recession over the past three years— may find VCSP appealing. McGowan’s article discusses whether VCSP is a good opportunity for everyone, or for just those with misclassification problems that are plain, and warns that a re-classification of workers can have a variety of unanticipated, collateral consequences. McGowan ultimately advises that the IRS offer could benefit some organizations, but harm others, and challenges all organizations to carefully consider the IRS offer before deciding whether or not to accept it (and how best to accept it).
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