Question
i am a drywall contractor(sole prop.)in idaho. my sister and her friend(verbal partnership), do house cleaning and some painting for homeowners and contractors. to help them, i included these on my business policy (including worker's comp.), i have nothing further to do with their clean. & paint. otherwise they would have to come up with a $300 w.c. deposit and ??$ for their own business ins.
together they make under 20 k/yr. say 10 k/yr of that is made on jobs covered under my policy. they are giving my policy number that is in my co. name.
my concern is, should i be collecting monies from these jobs and writing them each a check(minus worker's comp.)then showing that as my income??? which would ofcourse all go back out as cost of labor, and showing "the proper??" reporting trail... or should'nt be a problem for any of us?
the way i see it is they are my subcontractors when using my co. policy, yet no check is written to me and ofcourse no checks written to them. help.
Answer
This is one that as a lawyer I would have to advise you that what you are doing is wrong as these people are not your employees and if there was a problem (say they botch a job, or hurt someone) because you claim they are employees you likely would be sued by their customers, and if there was a WC or other claim it could be denied by the insurance companies as they are not your employees.
But you knew that. Should you keep on doing it? I can't answer or give you any comfort.