Wow, I've literally been looking out for an answer on this "Independent Contractor" thing, and the varying answers made me so confused! Thanks, I'm so glad you've replied & answered my queries.
Although you were working with this single company as an "independent contractor", you've not claimed points for that? Did you select "self-employed" because you claimed points for your own company?
Lastly, I just want to summarise what I've understood so far (correct me if I'm wrong)....So basically, one should just go ahead and apply with all the valid documentation related to their work (company letter, salary slips, invoices, tax statements, etc.) even if they are an "independent contractor" with a company. In the above situation I've mentioned previously, would the "self-employed" box need to be ticked, although the person isn't self-employed but is being paid by a certain single company?
I remember that I did not check the self-employed box on my EE profile because when I created my profile I was a full time employee (of the same company, I became an IC after working there as an employee for 3 years), and by the time I realised I had already gotten ITA. I was worried about making any major changes to my profile post-ITA so I just let it be. I actually logged back into my GCKey account now to double-check and sure enough I didn't select self-employed. However, all the documents I provided confirmed me as being an IC.
I had worked for the company for about 9 years by the time I applied for PR, 5 of which I was already an IC, so all the points I claimed for work experience was as an IC. My own company was registered purely for accounting purposes so that I can invoice and bill my "employer" as a contractor.
My company did not render services to any other company, it was just registered as a "Technology provider" and was not related to my NOC (2174) at all. The only part that related to my NOC (and earned me points on work history) was my job duties with my "employer" as listed on my reference letters. If it helps, I asked my employer to state that I am
"permanently contracted" to them to provide services as a Software Developer Lead, which matched what is expected of NOC 2174. I explained in my LOE that I became an IC simply to be able to correctly bill and invoice my "employer" (it is an IT consultancy with different clients) as I was working on multiple projects for multiple clients at the same time and needed a way to invoice them for the hours on several clients/projects.
So in your case, your company can be registered as whatever. What matters is that the company you provide services for should give you a reference letter indicating that you provide the services that matches your NOC. You should have the necessary documentation (besides your company registration and tax payment proof) like invoices you issued to them, bank statement showing corresponding payments etc. Then you should be fine.
I will advice that in your EE you should select "self-employed" cos if I had to do it again, I would definitely select it. There is really no big deal about applying as self-employed, as long as you have proof from the company/companies you provided such services to them. It's not any different than applying as full employee, especially when you are contracted to just one employer.