Paying Commission?

[WackoWasko]

I'm thinking ahead and have decided that I eventually want salesmen for my t-shirt business. I want to pay them on commission, but I heard that I need to also need to pay them minimum wage for their work, too. How would I go about this?

[pacificfame]

Set them up as 1099 independent contractors. They only get paid commission and are responsible for withholding their own taxes.

However, as a 1099 you don't have a lot of control of their work.

[TIM_S_JR]

Well im in Nebraska and i know that for a waiter they get paid like $4 and hour or something like that and then the types make up the rest of what they make. I run a wholesale business where my sale people are selling all of my products. They only get paid for what they sell and i do not control them a whole lot. They all work from home and i never see them they just place the orders and i send them out. In turn I am more like a wholesale to them and they are selling the products. I do not pay them anything except commission off of there products. I dont know if that is how you want to go about it or what kind of setup you have for working but hope this helps

[peteVA]

A waiter has hours assigned, making them an employee.

There are some very distinct lines that have to be adhered to in order to claim they are independent contractors.

Two IRS publications to check out - Pub 1779 Independent Contractor - or Employee and Pub 911 Direct Sellers

Don't take what you see on forums as legal advice. (Even mine.)

Go to the IRS site, read or download the pubs, there may be an FAQ on the matter, as well. In general, it you have any direct control at all they are employees.

[MissBossLJ]

I was going to be doing that with my mail order companies but is you assign them as contractors you will be expected to get an audit from a solicitor for HMRC purposes, this is what i was told. There can be complications and like mentioned aboved you dont have a tight leash on their work and so on, and in my experience when i tried to advertise the position as commission only i had very little response and people seem to be put off by no average salary, maybe it would be ebst to combine a minimum wage plus with commission.