SECTION 5. STUDENT FICA

EXCEPTION NOT AVAILABLE FOR EMPLOYEES WITH CAREER EMPLOYEE STATUS

.01 Services performed by individuals with career employee status are not eligible for the Student FICA exception under the standard in section 6 of this revenue procedure because their services are not incident to and for the purpose of pursuing a course of study. See prop. Reg. § 31.3121(b)(10)–2(d)(3)(ii).

.02 Career employee status. Services of an employee with career employee status are not incident to and for the purpose of pursuing a course of study. An employee may be considered to have career employee status based on the employee’s hours worked, whether the employee is a “professional employee,” the employee’s terms of employment, or whether the employee is licensed under state or local law to work in the field in which the employee performs services. These standards are set forth in prop. Reg. § 31.3121(b)(10)–2(d)(3)(ii). An employee has career employee status if the employee is described in paragraph (1), (2), (3), or (4) of this section.

(1) Hours worked. An employee has the status of a career employee if the employee regularly performs services 40 hours or more per week.

(2) Professional employee. An employee has the status of a career employee if the employee is a professional employee. A professional employee is an employee—

(a) Whose primary duty consists of the performance of work requiring knowledge of an advanced type in a field of science or learning customarily acquired by a prolonged course of specialized intellectual instruction and study, as distinguished from a general academic education, from an apprenticeship, and from training in the performance of routine mental, manual, or physical processes.

(b) Whose work requires the consistent exercise of discretion and judgment in its performance; and

(c) Whose work is predominantly intellectual and varied in character (as opposed to routine mental, manual, mechanical, or physical work) and is of such character that the output produced or the result accom

plished cannot be standardized in relation to a given period of time.

(3) Terms of employment. An employee’s terms of employment may indicate that the employee has career employee status. An employee with career employee status includes any employee who is—

(a) Eligible to receive vacation, sick leave, or paid holiday benefits;

(b) Eligible to participate in any retirement plan described in § 401(a) of the Code that is established or maintained by the employer; or would be eligible to participate if age and service requirements were met;

(c) Eligible to participate in an arrangement described in § 403(b) of the Code, or would be eligible to participate if age and service requirements were met;

(d) Eligible to participate in a plan described under § 457(a), or would be eligible to participate if age and service requirements were met;

(e) Eligible for reduced tuition (other than qualified tuition reduction under § 117(d)(5) of the Code provided to a teaching or research assistant who is a graduate student) because of the individual’s employment relationship with the institution;

(f) Eligible to receive employee benefits described under § 79 (life insurance), 127 (qualified educational assistance), 129 (dependent care assistance programs), or 137 (adoption assistance); or (g) Classified by the employer as a career employee.

(4) Licensure . An employee is a career employee if the employee is required to be licensed under state or local law to work in the field in which the employee performs services.

.03 If an individual performs services in multiple job positions, the individual will be deemed to have career employee status with respect to all of the positions if the individual has career employee status in any one or more of the job positions.