A devotee of Groupon and Living Social, I am a tax/ERISA geek at heart. . . and this offer from the IRS is the best discount that I have seen in a verrrrry long time. . .

Just two days ago, the IRS unveiled a hard-to-resist deal that allows a company to dodge all but 10 percent of past employment tax liability, all the interest, and all penalties that it would have owed for prior years if the company had treated individuals as "independent contractors," but where the IRS nonetheless had mandated a reclassification as "employees." See 2011_Voluntary Amnesty_Employee Classification.pdf.

The IRS refers to this amnesty-type program as a "Fresh Start," with the IRS Commissioner, Doug Shulman, confirming that it is a "part of a wider effort" to give a company certainty under the federal tax law for previous 1099ers. To apply for the tax relief, a company...