The IRS announced a voluntary classification settlement program that would provide partial protection for businesses who agree to prospectively treat workers formerly treated as independent contractors as employees.

To be eligible to participate in the program, a business must apply to participate and enter into a closing agreement with the IRS. Eligibility would include having treated the workers as contractors or non-employees for the previous three years and having filled 1099’s for those workers. Additionally, the business could not currently be under audit by the IRS or the Department of Labor or similar state agency. The benefit of the program would be that the employment taxes would be paid or past years would be greatly reduced.

Of course, this would not have any effect on a trucking company’s liability for other issues that may be triggered by a reclassification of an independent contractor to that of an employee, such as workers’ compensation, employee benefi ts, statutory claims or other similar claims.