If you could spend ONE minute to defend yourself against a threat
that could wipe out your business ... would you do it?

Recent legal pressures at the state and federal level are requiring mystery shopping companies to provide substantial proof that their thousands of mystery shoppers are independent contractors. Failure to do so results in significant fines, tax withholding requirements and retroactive payments for social security and unemployment insurance.

If even ONE shopper is determined to be an employee (as opposed to an IC), it threatens our entire industry and could result in higher costs to your clients and lower profits to you.

We've heard from many of you that this is your greatest concern ... and it's also this year's #1 priority for the MSPA. After a year of legal research, industry analysis and technical development, we're proud to announce IC Pro, the most comprehensive program to protect your company from independent contractor audits.

Obviously, no program can guarantee success against audits, but IC Pro will make the strongest case possible that you're within IRS guidelines.

 

THE BASICS

 

HOW IT WORKS

  1. Your company registers for the IC Pro Program - it's a FREE one minute signup
  2. Shoppers register for IC Pro status for FREE at Jobslinger.com
  3. They select up to 6 options that the IRS has defined as criteria for establishing a worker as an independent contractor and NOT an employee:
    * W-9 registration with SSN/EIN (required)
    * IC Declaration
    * Business Name
    * Company Logo (if they don't have a logo, we autogenerate one for them)
    * Auto-Invoice Authorization
    * SSN/EIN verification through the IRS
  4. Shoppers achieve an IC Pro rating - the more options they select, the higher their rating
  5. Your schedulers will see the IC Pro rating for shoppers who apply for the shop (ideally assigning the shop to IC Pro shoppers, since they're the safest to use)
  6. When a shopper completes their shop, a "virtual invoice" is stored.
  7. If you are ever audited by the IRS or other federal or state agency, you can pull up digital mountains of W-9s, shopper invoices as evidence that your shoppers are acting as independent professional businesses.
  8. The IRS hopefully moves onto an easier target (i.e. a company that is NOT on IC Pro)!

 

Screenshot of the shopper's IC Pro registration page:

 

FAQS


1) We're don't use any shoppers in the USA. Do we need to register for IC Pro?

No. This is a program specifically tailored for IC challenges in the USA.

2) Why are the shoppers registering for IC Pro on JobSlinger and not my SASSIE site?

Because it's MUCH safer to do it through a neutral third party, according to Russ Hollrah, attorney for the MSPA and IC law expert. If we were to build IC Pro on your own site it would look highly suspicious to the IRS. Furthermore, it adds solid proof that the vast majority of shoppers work for more than one company and are NOT your employees. Finally, shoppers are much more likely to participate (and be safe for you to use) if they only have to register ONCE.

3) Am I sharing my shoppers if I register my company on IC Pro?

Definitely not. Each company only sees the IC Pro shoppers that are ALREADY in their database. We know other platforms have universal shopper databases, but we've been against leveling that playing field from Day One. Your shoppers will always be your shoppers.

4) I noticed that my company needs to have JobSlinger activated on my system in order to get IC Pro activated on my system. Does that mean all of my shops are automatically copied to JobSlinger?

No. As always, your schedulers can choose which shops go to JobSlinger. We can even have the "Copy to JobSlinger" checkbox UN-checked by default.

5) I'm afraid that IC Pro will make it harder to fill my shops!

Fear not! IC Pro doesn't restrict which shoppers you can assign to a shop. It simply informs your schedulers who the SAFEST shoppers are and who should get preferential treatment.

6) How can I get more of my shoppers to sign up for IC Pro?

IC Pro has a built in "propaganda" feature! Every time a non IC Pro shopper applies for a shop, they're informed that they can increase their chances of getting a shop if they sign up for IC Pro.

FREE OPTION : With your approval, we will send a bulk email to your entire active shopper database encouraging them to sign up

7) Can you guarantee that we'll be successful against an audit?

No program can guarantee successful results against an audit, but IC Pro will definitely help your company make the strongest case possible that you're in compliance with IC regulations.

8) What's in it for shoppers? Why would they sign up?

* Better chance of getting shops
* Avoid having income tax withheld from their shopper fees
* They can pull up past invoices online
* By supporting the industry they can avoid lower shop fees and fewer available shops - if MS companies have to pay Social Security, unemployment insurance and handle tax withholdings, costs will rise and profits will shrink

 

 

FOR MORE INFORMATION


Register for IC PRO HERE !

 

Got more questions? Send us an email !