Statutory employee versus independent contractor versus employee

A University considers its adjunct professors to be employees, and as employees the University withholds employee taxes on earnings. Full-time professors, unlike the adjunct professors, pay into their own retirement system and not social security.

There is a private letter ruling which states online instructors should or could be considered statuary employees. A statuary employee is one that gets no taxes withheld other than social security and still receives a W-2. A statutory employee can then use Schedule C to deduct any expenses. The advantage of being a statutory employee is that the employee can then write off any expenses directly associated with teaching, including the cost of laptops, internet service, software and other expenses. In other words, a statutory employee would not be limited to the Schedule A limitation of deducting expenses that only exceed 7.5% of adjusted gross income.

The University does not make this distinction between statutory employee versus employee.

Share your thoughts on whether the University is treating its adjunct professors correctly. Share your thoughts on whether its adjunct professors (or anyone else that is doing work for the benefit of an organization on a part time basis) would be better off being treated as a statutory employee, employee or independent contractor.