My husband has been offered a job at a large company on the other side of the country. He told them he would commit to a long-term contract of up to two years, but that we did not want to move permanently. This was okay with the employer.
The search firm who recruited him said they would "hire" him for the length of the contract, because he has not set up an LLC and the employer will only do 1099s with LLCs and corporations. He will be an employee of the search firm. The search firm offers benefits but they are not great. Cost of health insurance would be $1,800 per month for our family. There is a 401k plan but no matching. No paid time off.
I have two questions:
Is it still best to go W-2 rather than 1099 tax-wise? (All work will be on-site at the employer, position won't require travel,few write-offs that I can see);
We are currently on Medi-Cal so pay nothing for health insurance. We have been living off taxed and penalized withdrawals from our retirement accounts for three years. The search firm requires a 60-day waiting period before we get coverage. Can we sign up for coverage through Obamacare until the health insurance plan kicks in or do we have to buy our own coverage? Once we leave the state, we won't be covered, and won't qualify for Medicare anyway once he has a salary again.