See excerpt from IRS Revenue Ruling 66-274 presented below for criteria to assess when determining worker classification of a physician. Financial Control Financial control derives from facts that illustrate a right to direct or control how the business aspects of the worker's activities are conducted. For example, if the worker is subject to a real risk of economic loss due to significant investments or a bona fide liability for expenses, such as salary payments to unrelated employees, that factor indicates that the worker is an independent contractor. The risk that a worker will not receive payment for his or her services, however, is common to both independent contractors and employees and thus does not constitute a sufficient economic risk to support treatment as an independent contractor. On the other hand, lack of investment in facilities indicates dependence on the person or persons for whom the services are performed for such facilities and, accordingly, the existence of an employer- employee relationship.
Special scrutiny is required with respect to certain types of facilities, such as home offices.
Relationship of the Parties Facts that illustrate how the parties perceive their relationship with the other. A continuing relationship may exist where work is performed at frequently recurring although irregular intervals. If a worker performs more than de minimis services for a multiple of unrelated persons or firms at the same time, that factor generally indicates that the worker is an independent contractor. However, a worker who performs services for more than one person may be an employee of each of the persons, especially where such persons are part of the same service arrangement. As an aid to determining whether an individual is an employee under the common law rules, twenty factors or elements have been identified as indicating whether sufficient control is present to establish an employer-employee relationship.