According to Section 218, a position cannot be covered under a Section 218 Agreement unless that position
is filled by an “employee.” For state and local government employment cases, the regional
office (RO) must determine that a worker in a state or local government position is
an employee in order to resolve whether the position in question is covered for social
security under a state’s Section 218 Agreement. We make this employer-employee relationship
determination independent of IRS. If necessary, obtain a legal opinion from OGC to
assist in making the determination.
We have exclusive responsibility for determining if a position is covered by a Section
218 Agreement. Employer-employee relationship determinations by the IRS do not have
any effect on our independent analysis or determination in these cases (see RS 02101.810E in this section). For more information on Section 218 Agreements, see SL 30001.301.