You hire a landscaping business.

Not available.

You are quite literally asking "how do we hire a contractor but without hiring a contractor"

Landscaping companies are a dime a dozen in the state. Where exactly are you guys? Usually when you hire someone for a service you pay them and then they handle paying good ole gubment what they owe.

Looking to pay an individual and not a company.

See above

You say not available. I'm just curious as to how so as nearly every podunk town has someone that does landscaping.

An individual is a contractor, a contractor is a one person company.

We are looking to hire a neighbors son. 18 years old and we plan to pay $30/hour. We will not hire a landscaping company. Do you have any input at all regarding how to register this on taxes or will you insist we hire a landscaping company?

Ok. So do we need to file anything tax related or is it on them? Do we need to get documentation from them or just pay an invoice?

In that case, do it up like a 1099 if you guys don't want to have it ran as if they were an employee. Make sure the individual knows that they are responsible for paying out appropriate deductions at the end of the tax year. Or, under the table with a handshake and an understanding.

I am not a lawyer or an accountant. You should talk to yours. But for most business purposes you just hire the business to do the work, they give you an invoice, you pay them, the end.

It sounds like what you need to do is to talk to an accountant

Massachusetts is fairly strict about who can be an independent contractor (1099) vs an employee. https://www.mass.gov/info-details/massachusetts-law-about-independent-contractors Talk to employment counsel and get legal advice. If you mess up the independent contractor status, you can be on the hook for all the taxes that should have been paid, unemployment contributions, etc.

“not available” was very misleading. Lying.

Check with r/legal but don’t lie.

You can hire the neighbors son as a contractor. He will essentially be a one man landscape company. You should ask for his tax ID number which is most likely just his SSN unless he sets up a business. Once your payments to him exceed $600 in a calendar year you will be required to issue a 1099 to him and report the payments to the government.

I work for a nonprofit in MA and we require all vendors working on our property to provide proof of liability insurance. This is especially important if he will be operating landscape and snow removal equipment on your property.

Ideally he should establish himself as a landscape company for both tax and liability reasons.

I am an MA employment attorney. It is difficult to hire independent contractors in MA. Look up MGL c. 149 Sec 148B. In order to hire an independent contractor, you the employer must be able to prove all three of these tests:

1- free from control and direction (ex. you let them do the job as they see fit, you do not make then wear your uniform, you do not have strict set hours of work, etc)

2- the service is performed outside the usual scope of work (ex. you likely cannot be a landscaping non profit and hire an independent contractor landscaper, you likely cannot be a handyman service and hire a independent contractor handyman)

3- the individual is customarily engaged in an independently established trade, occupation, profession or business of the same nature as that involved in the service performed. (Ex. The individual has a business, has workers comp insurance, has his own business name, has business insurance, and works for other clients doing the same thing).

You can open yourself up to some serious liability if you improperly hire somebody as an independent contractor. In essence, they can sue you for triple damages for the lost value they have received for being a contractor instead of an employee. As the commenter in a different post wrote, your best bet is to hire a landscaping company to perform this work. Also, this is not official legal advice. I recommend you officially consult with an attorney.

…you pay them like you do any other vendor.

Employment question #2: I'm also part of a non profit organization seeking someone to be our attorney in order to protect us from tax issues from hiring a non fulltime landscaper for light maintenance. So, without hiring the attorney fulltime to advise us on said problem above, how do we pay the attorny accordingly and protect ourselves from weed overgrowth, tax issues and consulting fees?

Perfect. Thank you. 1099 it is. We are a non profit and need to track use of funds.

Will do

Thank you for this. Lots of great info.

Better call Saul.

I wouldn't take advice from a person not known to be an attorney! I am NOT an attorney but if I was you I'd seek the advice of an attorney in order to not to go against the law as, I BELIEVE you can be on the hook if you don't follow the rules!

This is probably the best course of action.

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