Employee vs. Independent Contractor (or Consultant)
A person who performs services for UGA is an employee, if UGA controls what will be done and how it will be done. Generally, Social Security and Medicare taxes and unemployment taxes on wages are paid by the employer and deducted from the employee on behalf of an employee. One does not generally have to withhold or pay taxes on payments to independent contractors. The general rule is that an individual is an independent contractor if UGA, as the entity for whom the services are performed, has the right to control or direct only the result of the work and not the means and methods of accomplishing the result. A UGA employee cannot be budgeted on a restricted account as a consultant or as a subcontractor, as only individuals or entities with no employee relationship to UGA can be budgeted thusly.