Didn't read all of this, but Benefits (healthcare, vacation pay, etc.) are an additional 40% of your current salary.

As WAWI sated give me a buzz i can fill you in as I contract to big companies all the time; its not hard. I was a operations guy for big company before so i have experience both sides of the fence..

I think you miss the point, if you have no current salary then 0 × 40 % is????? Tell the class....

Lots of guys at our employer retire and then return as contractors. Their benefit is that they can start drawing retirement and still get paid. Their rate goes to about double what they made as FT employees, but they're not usually charging 40 hrs per week either.

Having left corporate work in 2006 and gone to consulting fo the past14 years, I have also worked as a 1099 employee for short periods of time. The key to working as an independent contractor is to identify all of your costs, benefit needs and tax liabilities and then roll them into a fully loaded rate.

Your old boss knows that they pay you $4,000 a month as an employee, that their fully burdened cost for you is closer to $7,000 a month. You, in turn, will be disadvantaged if you go back as a contractor at the $4,000 rate so they ehould not balk if you tell them you need 35% - 50% above that to cover your costs. The good news is that you have some leeway in negotiating, plus, you can also ask to submit reimbursable expenses; the amounts paid to you are not taxable. For example, rather than including mileage, travel and office supplies as expenses against income on your tax returns, you can have the employer reimburse you for these and the amount will not show up as income or expenses for tax purposes.

There are a number of ways you can work this, but don’t just go back to your old job at the old rate as a contractor without exploring your options