Price your three exits from a worker misclassification
Section 530, the VCSP, or the audit - what each one actually costs you
Cheapest exit you actually qualify for
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What that exit saves you
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USD
VCSP payment on Form 8952
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USD
Exposure if you do nothing
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USD
Section 530 safe harbour
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Form 8952 filing deadline
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Which section 3509 rates applied
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Every figure above is free, uncapped, and yours to use. The full version keeps them: a .csv of the worked figures for your CPA or the file, and reminders at 30 and 14 days before your Form 8952 date. Export and reminders — $60 → $60 once · one licence key per person or team seat · 7-day full refund. A US tax attorney bills $200-$550 an hour and a CPA $150-$400; the eligibility review alone runs several hours before anyone touches Form 8952.
Your numbers — every field below rewrites the answer above as you type.
Section 530 safe harbour check Tests all three statutory conditions - reporting consistency, substantive consistency, reasonable basis - and names the exact prong you fail, using the 25% significant-segment and 10-year long-standing definitions the IRS set in Rev. Proc. 2025-10, its first update to Section 530 in 40 years.
VCSP settlement amount Computes the cheque you would write on Form 8952: 10% of the section 3509(a) liability on the most recent tax year, with the social security wage base applied per worker, and tells you whether the 1099 and open-examination gates leave the programme open to you at all.
Do-nothing audit exposure Prices the other choice across the open years at section 3509(a) or 3509(b) rates plus FUTA, so the settlement figure has something to stand next to.
Form 8952 120-day deadline Works back 120 days from the date you want the workers to become employees, says whether that filing date has already gone, and gives the earliest start date still reachable if you file today.
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Section 530, the VCSP, or the audit - what each one actually costs you
A US tax attorney bills $200-$550 an hour and a CPA $150-$400; the eligibility review alone runs several hours before anyone touches Form 8952.
What does the Misclassification Exit Calculator actually do?
It prices the three ways out of a worker misclassification instead of just telling you that you have one. Enter what you paid the class of workers, how many there are and the facts about your Forms 1099 and industry practice, and it returns the Section 530 verdict prong by prong, the VCSP cheque under Form 8952, the exposure if you do nothing, and the filing deadline.
Who is this for?
US small-business owners and the bookkeepers and enrolled agents who run their payroll, in the situation where 1099 contractors have started to look like employees. It assumes you already suspect the classification is wrong. If you are still deciding whether a worker is a contractor at all, that is a different question and this tool starts after it.
Why not just ask a chatbot or use a free payroll calculator?
Both get the rates and the authorities wrong. A general model quotes Rev. Proc. 85-18 for Section 530, because Rev. Proc. 2025-10 replaced it in 2025 and is newer than most training data. Free payroll calculators use full 15.3% FICA, not the reduced 10.68% and 3.24% section 3509(a) rates, so the VCSP cheque they imply is wrong by a wide margin.
What is free and what does the $60 version add?
The whole calculation is free: every exit, every figure, every deadline, with no key, no usage cap and no watermark on the answer. The $60 licence adds two things on a different axis - a .csv export of the worked figures that you can hand to your CPA or keep in the file, and deadline reminders at 30 and 14 days before your Form 8952 date.
What would this cost me to work out with a professional?
A US tax attorney bills $200 to $550 an hour and a CPA $150 to $400, and the eligibility review alone runs several hours before anyone opens Form 8952. The calculator does not replace that advice on a contested case; it tells you which exit is worth paying them to pursue, before you start the clock.
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