What
are “contract” Engineering Services?
GUSTECH’s Electroni= c and Systems Engineering Services are conducted on a contract basis, primarily f= or the tax protection of our clients. We follow the IRS guidelines that define the difference between an employee and that of an independent contractor to ensure that our clients i= ncur no tax liabilities and fines regarding “withholdings,” that may occur due to a misclassification. Simply put, GUSTECH performs all engineering services as an independent contractor, enforcing= most of the 20 test factors deployed by the IRS in determining the working relationship between GUSTECH and our clients.
Too briefly, the client c= ontrols “what” is done, and not the way in which GUSTECH gets the result. The “20 factors” summarized are:
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Please read notes for clarification of details and
“exceptions” by design... |
NOTES:
1 Each contr=
act
with a client is for a particular job with a definite (planned) duration.
2 Each contr= act with a client is a custom arrangement, depending upon the joint desires with our clients. Although the cli= ent is NOT permitted to require full-time availability, it is often quoted and executed at or above full-time loading, as resources are available. Generally, our engineering service= s are conducted in our own laboratories, mostly as “telecommuting” services. However, system integration is often executed at the client’s facilities, and are quo= ted thus in the project planning documents.&nb= sp; Although the clients are NOT permitted to mandate the submission of “reports,” when working as an engineering team member, regular communications often consist of a minimum of week-end status updates. Additionally, almost all design pr= ojects include, as a minimum, a preliminary design review, and a critical design review; with perhaps some interim reviews for really large and complicated projects. The payment mechani= sm generally consists of invoices issued by GUSTECH at major milestones only.<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> However, for very large design eff= orts that cover many months, more frequent invoicing may be included in the proj= ect plan. These minor payments may be period= ic; however, they are not based upon units of time.&nbs= p; Clients do NOT pay for local travel expenses. However, a project plan may include extraordinary costs for project related trips (out-of-area kick-off meetings, trade shows support, special testing facilit= ies support, etc.) In some instances, “specialty” test equipment may be provided by the client in sup= port of product testing, as stipulated in the project planning documents. GUSTECH prepares a detailed projec= t plan as a proposal for all projects, at our cost. We quote our best estimate of proj= ect costs for Purchase Order purposes. If there are no changes in the statement of work or its scope, GUSTE= CH covers the costs for all efforts exceeding our original quotes for each set= of tasks. It is our loss for imp= roper project planning. Changes mad= e by the client, however, will be accompanied by a resulting re-quote for the additions, and Purchase Order Modifications.
GUSTECH is a Sole Proprie= torship registered by the Secretary of State of Ohio, since 20 Jun 96. In addition to the “Contract” Electronic and Systems Engineering services discussed briefly above, our Publishing operations have been added for handling sales= -distribution of “products” that have evolved from various engineering projects. We have a retail sa= les license, but do not use it. We prefer to wholesale our products to other resellers, thereby sharing and sp= reading the wealth.