One of the VPs called me last week to discuss the 1099 situation. The call was rather confrontational to a degree. They asked explicitly why I proceeded with contract negotiations if I hadn't planned on taking the contract. Really not a great question to ask. I calmly said: I never planned on turning it down, and I was upfront with the recruiter regarding the situation. When we agreed on the rate, I informed her it was dependent upon insurance. That never materialized. He then started running numbers and said: you mean <yearly number> doesn't work? I told him COBRA is a large portion of that. The call ended with the VP stating that they'll run some projections and numbers and see what they come back with.
He called this morning and said they were willing to up their hourly rate.
So, I went to run the numbers again, and for some reason it always seems like the 1099 way comes out behind the W-2. I'm not quite sure if I am doing it wrong. Even with the new rate and lowered medical costs out of pocket. I am factoring in $10K for business expenses (which I suspect is way higher then it will ultimately be), $4K for medical, $4K for HSA contribution from employer, $10K SIMPLE retirement, and I am basing it on a 48 work week year for the contract rate.
The new rate works out to be 1.56x the projected offer for the hire position. So it would be like $50/hr vs $78.25/hr.
I am very close to turning it down again simply because I don't think I understand this enough to feel comfortable with it.