Author Topic: California AB5  (Read 5296 times)

Mappocalypse

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California AB5
« on: November 22, 2019, 05:54:44 PM »
Question for anyone that is self-employed as freelancers in California amidst the AB5 bill that has passed and is now law.

I'm currently a translator that has multiple clients on various translation work throughout the year.
With AB5, I will likely not satisfy the "B" part of the ABC test as the clients I work for are translation houses for bigger companies.

To those in a similar boat in terms of being an independent contractor, what steps are you taking to mitigate this? As it currently stands, the translation houses will simply stop using anyone from within California.

I'm currently considering incorporating as an S-Corp, but there are talks online saying that B2B transactions won't get around the ABC test (this is just something that was stated in the news articles, so the truthfulness is disputed).

Any thoughts or opinions would be greatly appreciated.


Evgenia

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Re: California AB5
« Reply #1 on: December 29, 2019, 04:19:23 PM »
Sorry to be late with a reply here. I have been working with 1,000+ others to fight this bill since just before Thanksgiving. I also fought it before it was signed into law, but at that time, they implied there would be more exempt professions than there are now.

It's unclear if S-Corp and/or LLC status is, on its own, sufficient to meet the 12-point B2B exemption as currently written, but at least some freelancers are working with employment attorneys to do things like incorporate as an LLC in Wyoming ahead of the January 1, 2020 AB5 implementation date, and then still pay California income tax as a resident.

If you're not already, please feel free to join the California Freelance Writers United group on Facebook (some members of which are part of the class-action lawsuit filed against AB5 by journalists), and Freelancers Against AB5. There are many coordinated efforts going on, from group meetings with lawmakers, to meetings with attorneys, to consultations with the law firms representing the existing class-action groups.