What this line means
Wages from an employer who treated you as an independent contractor when you should have been classified as an employee. If you filed Form SS-8 with the IRS (or the IRS otherwise determined you were misclassified) and you did not receive a W-2, Form 8919 calculates the employee share of Social Security and Medicare taxes you owe on those wages.
Does this apply to you?
- You filed Form SS-8 asking the IRS to determine your worker classification and they ruled you are an employee
- You received a 1099-NEC but believe you should have been classified as a W-2 employee
- The IRS issued a determination letter stating you were misclassified by your employer
- You worked under conditions that meet the IRS employee test but your employer refuses to issue a W-2
Easy to overlook
Form 8919 saves you money compared to Schedule C If you were misclassified and just report the income on Schedule C as self-employment income, you pay both the employer and employee share of FICA (15.3%). Form 8919 lets you pay only the employee share (7.65%) because your employer is legally responsible for the other half. Filing on Schedule C when you should use Form 8919 means overpaying by roughly 7.65% of your wages. 1 IRS Form 8919 instructions — Uncollected Social Security and Medicare Tax on Wages
You need a reason code Form 8919 requires a specific reason code explaining why you are filing. The most common is Code A (you filed Form SS-8 and have not received a reply) or Code H (you received a determination from the IRS). Filing without a valid reason code gets the form rejected. 2 General filing pattern — worker misclassification
Watch out for this
Reporting misclassified wages on Schedule C instead of using Form 8919. This is the most expensive mistake a misclassified worker can make — it doubles your FICA tax burden and also subjects you to self-employment tax on top of income tax. If you have any basis for claiming employee status, Form 8919 is the correct path.
Footnotes
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IRS Form 8919 Instructions, Uncollected Social Security and Medicare Tax on Wages. https://www.irs.gov/instructions/i8919 ↩
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IRS Form 1040 Instructions. See also IRS Publication 17, Your Federal Income Tax. https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p17.pdf ↩