I
105TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 3722
To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to clarify the standards used
for determining whether individuals are not employees.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
APRIL 23, 1998
Mr. CHRISTENSEN (for himself, Mr. BARTLETT of Maryland, Mr. BEREUTER,
Mr. BURR of North Carolina, Mrs. CUBIN, Mr. DOOLITTLE, Ms. DUNN,
Mrs. EMERSON, Mr. ENSIGN, Mr. GANSKE, Mr. HOEKSTRA, Mr. ISTOOK,
Mr. MANZULLO, Mrs. MYRICK, Ms. PRYCE of Ohio, Mr. RAMSTAD, Mr.
SESSIONS, Mr. SENSENBRENNER, Mr. SHADEGG, Mr. SISISKY, Mr. TAL-
ENT, Mr. THOMAS, Mr. TRAFICANT, and Mr. WOLF) introduced the fol-
lowing bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means
A BILL
To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to clarify
the standards used for determining whether individuals
are not employees.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Independent Contrac-
tor Tax Simplification Act of 1998’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
The Congress finds that:
(1) Simplifying the tax rules with respect to
independent contractors was the top vote-getter at
the 1995 White House Conference on Small Busi-
ness. Conference delegates recommended that Con-
gress ‘‘should recognize the legitimacy of an inde-
pendent contractor’’. The Conference found that the
current common law is ‘‘too subjective’’ and called
upon the Congress to establish ‘‘realistic and con-
sistent guidelines’’.
(2) It is in the best interests of taxpayers and
the Federal Government to have fair and objective
rules for determining who is an employee and who
is an independent contractor.
SEC. 3. STANDARDS FOR DETERMINING WHETHER INDIVID-
UALS ARE NOT EMPLOYEES.
(a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 25 of the Internal Reve-
nue Code of 1986 (general provisions relating to employ-
ment taxes) is amended by adding after section 3510 the
following new section:
‘‘SEC. 3511. STANDARDS FOR DETERMINING WHETHER IN-
DIVIDUALS ARE NOT EMPLOYEES.
‘‘(a) GENERAL RULE.—For purposes of this subtitle,
and notwithstanding any provision of this subtitle to the
contrary, if the requirements of subsections (b), (c), and
(d) are met with respect to any service performed by any
individual, then with respect to such service—
‘‘(1) the service provider shall not be treated as
an employee,
‘‘(2) the service recipient shall not be treated as
an employer, and
‘‘(3) the payor shall not be treated as an em-
ployer.
‘‘(b) SERVICE PROVIDER REQUIREMENTS WITH RE-
GARD TO SERVICE RECIPIENT.—For the purposes of sub-
section (a), the requirements of this subsection are met
if the service provider, in connection with performing the
service—
‘‘(1) has a significant investment in assets and/
or training,
‘‘(2) incurs significant unreimbursed expenses,
‘‘(3) agrees to perform the service for a particu-
lar amount of time or to complete a specific result
and is liable for damages for early termination with-
out cause,
‘‘(4) is paid primarily on a commissioned basis,
or
‘‘(5) purchases products for resale.
‘‘(c) ADDITIONAL SERVICE PROVIDER REQUIRE-
MENTS WITH REGARD TO OTHERS.—For the purposes of
subsection (a), the requirements of this subsection are met
if—
‘‘(1) the service provider—
‘‘(A) has a principal place of business,
‘‘(B) does not primarily provide the service
in the service recipient’s place of business, or
‘‘(C) pays a fair market rent for use of the
service recipient’s place of business; or
‘‘(2) the service provider—
‘‘(A) is not required to perform service ex-
clusively for the service recipient, and
‘‘(B) in the year involved, or in the preced-
ing or subsequent year—
‘‘(i) has performed a significant
amount of service for other persons,
‘‘(ii) has offered to perform service for
other persons through—
‘‘(I) advertising,
‘‘(II) individual written or oral
solicitations,
‘‘(III) 
listing 
with 
registries,
agencies, brokers, and other persons
in the business of providing referrals
to other service recipients, or
‘‘(IV) other similar activities, or
‘‘(iii) provides service under a busi-
ness name which is registered with (or for
which a license has been obtained from) a
State, a political subdivision of a State, or
any agency or instrumentality of 1 or more
States or political subdivisions.
‘‘(d) WRITTEN DOCUMENT REQUIREMENTS.—For
purposes of subsection (a), the requirements of this sub-
section are met if the services performed by the individual
are performed pursuant to a written contract between
such individual and the person for whom the services are
performed, or the payor, and such contract provides that
the individual will not be treated as an employee with re-
spect to such services for purposes of this subtitle.
‘‘(e) SPECIAL RULES.—For purposes of this sec-
tion—
‘‘(1) If for any taxable year any service recipi-
ent or payor fails to meet the applicable reporting
requirements of sections 6041(a), 6041A(a), or 6051
with respect to a service provider, then, unless such
failure is due to reasonable cause and not willful ne-
glect, this section shall not apply in determining
whether such service provider shall not be treated as
an employee of such service recipient or payor for
such year.