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Updated about 5 years ago, 10/24/2019
Being Paid as a Contractor instead of a W2 Employee at a new job
I recently started my real estate investing adventure and, like most people, one of the challenges you encounter early on is financing. I'm not quite at the stage where I want to bring on investors, so I am relying on my W2 income get approved for a loan.
I am considering starting a new job and am wondering whether it would be a good idea to have the new employer pay me as an independent contractor (i.e. I'll get a 1099) instead of a W2 employee. My rationale is that I already have a C-Corp set up for my active real estate investing (wholesaling, flipping and property management), of which I am an employee and receive a salary, that has a 401k and I have health insurance via my spouse. Having the new employer pay my C-Corp would allow me to increase my salary from my C-Corp and make my income "cleaner" to potential lenders. One other thing I like about this is that my C-Corp's 401k is much more flexible than what most employers offer and I can potentially use it for real estate investments via purchasing qualified employer securities in my C-Corp. Naturally, the "fee" I would negotiate with the new employer would be higher than the equivalent salary to compensate for all the benefits I'd be giving up.
Are there any downsides/pitfalls to this?