SS-8 determinations explorer

What these documents are

When a worker or a firm files Form SS-8 and the IRS issues a full determination, IRC 6110 requires the determination to be open to public inspection. The SS-8 unit does that by posting a one-page redacted summary, Form 14430-A, SS-8 Determination, Determination for Public Inspection, to the SS-8 determinations page on irs.gov. The manual describes the document: “Copy the facts and analysis from Form 14430, SS-8 Determination Analysis, and paste in the facts and analysis sections of Form 14430-A. Remove personally identifiable information (PII)” (IRM 7.50.1.5.15.2, Dec. 27, 2023). The IRS describes the page as a way “to find the IRS responses and analysis to recently submitted SS-8 Forms” so that “this filtered search will help you find scenarios that are similar to your own.”

Each file name carries the classification. The handbook’s example: “Form SS-8 filed indicates Occupation is Farm Worker. Main category is Agriculture - so per the Exhibit the number would be 01FRWXXXXX, where ‘XXXXX’ is the case number” (IRM 7.50.1.5.15.2). The two digits are the industry (01 Agriculture through 09 Transportation and Delivery), the three letters the occupation sub-category from Exhibit 7.50.1-21, and the rest the case number. This tool indexes the 5,130 documents listed on the IRS page as of Oct. 14, 2026, with the industry, occupation, outcome and date the IRS assigned to each; the PDFs themselves stay on irs.gov.

How to read a Form 14430-A

The form has an occupation line, the determination (employee, independent contractor, statutory employee, non-statutory employee, or a split determination covering more than one period or role), and two text blocks. The facts block is written from both parties’ answers to the SS-8 questions: who gave instructions, how assignments were received, whether reports were required, who supplied premises and equipment, how pay was set, whether either side could end the relationship without liability, whether the worker served other customers. The analysis block applies the three evidentiary areas the technician must address, behavioral control, financial control and the relationship of the parties, and typically opens with the IRS’s standard statement that “all evidence of both control and lack of control or independence must be considered” and that “no one factor rules.” The firm’s name, the worker’s name and the amounts are removed. What survives is the reasoning, which is what a firm with a similar role can learn from.

What the database shows

The outcome split is the first thing to understand. Of 5,130 published determinations, 5,076 found an employee. That is not a measure of how often contractors are misclassified in the economy; it reflects who files. Most Forms SS-8 come from workers who received a 1099 and believe they were employees, often after being let go or when they discover the self-employment tax, and the firm frequently does not answer the Letter 5367, in which case the case is decided on the worker’s facts alone. The SS-8 guide covers that process. Published documents are also only the full determinations; cases closed without a determination (open examination, Appeals, a three-party arrangement) are not here.

The twelve most frequent occupations, which together are more than half of the database:

• Office Workers (except persons in charge)524
• Managers/Supervisors370
• Tradespersons360
• Drivers & Vessel Control345
• Repair/Maintenance Workers267
• Miscellaneous Laborers (non-construction related; examples: locksmith, grave digger)258
• Personal Care Providers (examples: beauticians, body piercers)224
• Salespersons216
• Instructors/Teachers214
• Aides/Assistants169
• Child Care Providers135
• Pet Handlers/Caregivers (excluding veterinarians)117

The dates cluster: 2,955 documents are dated 2022, when the unit posted a backlog, and the earlier years run 2014 to 2017 with nothing between 2018 and 2021. Recent determinations are added as the Letter 441 suspense period ends, so a determination issued this year appears months later.

Where the IRS found an independent contractor

Only 43 published determinations found an independent contractor. They are worth reading because they show which facts carried the day against the usual presumption: the worker had other clients, set the price, bore a real risk of loss, supplied significant equipment, or could hire and pay helpers. The occupations where it happened, with the contractor count against the total for that occupation:

• Retail Workers8 of 94
• Consultants (non-computer services related)4 of 66
• Drivers & Vessel Control3 of 345
• Office Workers (except persons in charge)3 of 524
• Tradespersons3 of 360
• Forest Maintenance Workers2 of 5
• Installers2 of 86
• Miscellaneous Laborers (non-construction related; examples: locksmith, grave digger)2 of 258
• Publishers/Editors/Producers2 of 33
• Repair/Maintenance Workers2 of 267
• Salespersons2 of 216
• Accountants/Bookkeepers/Tax Preparers1 of 63
• Collectors1 of 10
• Companion Sitters (caregivers for disabled/special needs/elderly)1 of 98
• Computer Services Personnel1 of 69
• Craftspersons (examples: jeweler, sign maker, taxidermist)1 of 24
• Crew Members1 of 17
• Directors/Board Members/Trustees1 of 14
• Instructors/Teachers1 of 214
• Performers/Entertainers1 of 14
• Photography/Video Workers1 of 15

Select any of them above (the links set the filters) and open the PDFs. A firm defending a contractor classification for a similar role will find the IRS’s own words for the facts that matter, which is a better guide to writing a Form SS-8 response, or a section 530 position, than a generic list of twenty factors.

How to use it, and how not to

• Before you answer a Letter 5367. Find your worker’s occupation and read the employee determinations: they show which facts the technician treats as control. Your Form SS-8 should answer those facts specifically (written contract, the worker’s other clients, the worker’s own tools and insurance, how price was set), with documents attached.
• Before you file your own SS-8. A firm can request a determination on a class of workers. If the occupation shows hundreds of employee findings and a handful of contractor ones, the odds and the facts that produced the exceptions are in front of you.
• Not as precedent. IRC 6110(k)(3) says a written determination “may not be used or cited as precedent.” An examiner is not bound by another firm’s determination, and the handbook lets examiners depart even from a determination on the same firm with a procedure (IRM 4.23.18.5).
• Not as a section 530 check. The technician is told not to consider section 530 relief, and a determination that the worker is an employee says nothing about whether the firm owes the tax. That question is on the section 530 page.
• For the 1099 question. Whatever the determination, the firm’s information returns for the years in question were filed as 1099s. A finding of employee does not retroactively convert them; the firm’s exposure is an employment tax examination, and the CSP and VCSP page covers the settlement routes.

Questions people ask