Self-Determination Program · Free tool

Which FMS model fits you?

Every participant uses a regional center vendored Financial Management Service. There are three kinds, and the difference is who employs the people who work for you. Three questions, then the Department’s own chart of who does what.

Bill PayerAlso called the fiscal agent. For goods and services bought from businesses and vendors. Nobody is hired; the FMS pays the invoices from your spending plan.
Co-EmployerFor when you want to share the employer role. You choose, schedule and supervise your workers; the FMS is the employer alongside you and carries the tax number, insurance and payroll.
Sole EmployerAlso called the fiscal/employer agent. For when you want to be the direct employer. The FMS runs payroll and files the taxes for you, but the tax number, liability insurance and workers’ compensation are in your name.

1. Will you hire people yourself?

2. Who should be the employer?

3. Are you prepared to hold these in your own name?

Under Sole Employer the chart puts the tax reporting number, liability insurance and workers’ compensation insurance on you, with the FMS helping.

Answer the questions and a suggestion appears here.

Who does what, under each model

The Department’s FMS Models Comparison Chart, row for row.

TaskBill PayerCo-EmployerSole Employer
Paying for items and services from businesses and vendorsFMSFMSFMS
Hiring the people who provide services to you
Deciding the skills neededN/AYou, with help from the FMSYou, with help from the FMS
Deciding wages and benefitsN/AYou and the FMSYou, with help from the FMS
Interviewing applicantsN/AYouYou
Verifying the worker is eligible and qualifiedN/AYou and the FMSYou and the FMS
Deciding who to hireN/AYou and the FMSYou, with help from the FMS
Arranging the background checkN/AFMS and the workerFMS and the worker
Verifying the background check passedN/AFMSFMS
The employer
Who is the employerThe business or vendorYou and the FMSYou
Supervision and timesheets
Scheduling the workerN/AYouYou
Supervising the workN/AYouYou
Approving timesheetsN/AYouYou
Pay and taxes
Paying the workerN/AFMSFMS
Paying the government taxesN/AFMSFMS
Getting the tax reporting numberN/AFMSYou
Filing all tax reportingN/AFMSFMS
Insurance and compliance
Liability insuranceN/AFMSYou
Workers’ compensation insuranceN/AFMSYou
Keeping to employment lawN/AYou and the FMSYou and the FMS
Checking services are HCBS compliant before payingN/AFMSFMS
The budget
Making sure the funds last the whole yearYou and the FMSYou and the FMSYou and the FMS
Monthly spending report to you and your service coordinatorFMSFMSFMS

Source: DDS FMS Models Comparison Chart, also in Spanish, Vietnamese and Korean.

What it costs

Under Co-Employer and Sole Employer, the employer burden on your workers’ wages comes out of your spending plan: FICA, federal and state unemployment, the employment training tax, workers’ compensation and paid sick leave. Taxes are the same at every FMS; workers’ compensation is where the providers differ, and an FMS can change its approved burden no more than once a year. The FMS’s own fee is paid by the regional center outside your individual budget.

Source: DDS Employer Burden and Other Employment-Related Costs, 25 April 2024. Each FMS’s approved burden is in the FMS Finder; the Spending Plan Cost Calculator turns a published rate into the wage it supports.

Next step

Still weighing it?

Choosing the model and the FMS is part of getting to an SDP start. Reach out and we can talk it through for your plan.

Call or text (714) 824-0453 Open the FMS Finder