Independent contractor but no accountant or managing agent

[Sorrell]

I have been an independent contractor in the USA, and my work is very simple from a paperwork and tax point of view, so I don't have an accountant or a "managing agent".

I don't have an official company structure (no LLC or Inc or anything), but I am registered with the US tax authorities as being self-employed.

I have all the "payslips" given to me by my clients, and I have all my bank statements showing those deposits. But it seems that I also need a letter from an accountant or a "managing agent" because I fall into that in-between self-employed category for the visa.

Can anyone tell me, would it be okay for *myself* to be the "managing agent" of my own work affairs? Could the letter from the managing agent be from me, giving all the details the visa people are asking for?

I can't go back in time and hire an accountant for the past 15 months, and I am not sure what it would involve now to get an accountant just to write a letter about my past payslips, but if I did need to do that, can you advise me on what to do to find such an accountant, and what that person might charge, and how long it would take him/her to do what is required?

I also don't necessarily want to go out and grab a short-term stranger and call him or her my "managing agent", which sounds kind of responsible and long-term. What is a managing agent, anyway? Am I required to have one to be self-employed (I've never seen mention of that before)?

I would be grateful if anyone had any thoughts about what my options are for proving my self-employed income.

Thank you in advance for your advice,
Sorrell

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For the sake of completeness, and for the sake of providing information to any other self-employed people out there who may be searching the forum for this answer, which I did thoroughly for 2 days before I posted my own question about it, I will describe the answer that I found, which I think fits my particular situation:

I found it by reading very carefully the 49-page guidance notes for a third time. I printed the document out finally, and that made the difference - I saw a paragraph that I'd never noticed when I was reading the 49-page guidance notes on the computer screen.

The answer is that it's just fine for me to submit the information I already have, and I don't need to hire an accountant. [details: Page 25 of 49, paragraph 131. "These examples are not the only combination of documents we will accept for each employment type and an applicant can use other combinations of documents, providing these meet the requirements of the 'documents required' section." Bingo! That means I'm okay with the information I already have.]

Good luck to all!
Sorrell