Employed or Self-Employed... that is the question

[ariel]

Whirlygig

I don't have the details to hand, (the correspondence between ourselves, the accountant, and the revenue was vast, and is stored in a file, which I don't have here). The correspondence also included a test case, (the revenue against another employer - the employer retained the right for self-employment in that test case).

However, from memory, here are some of the points, (in no particular order), of the issues debated with the revenue:

Owning tools and equipment.

That for us, was the 'tricky' one We obviously own the aircraft, but the instructor owns all other items of equipment, (headsets, notes, equipment, etc..)

Do the instructors take risks with the business?

An emphatic NO. They are not deemed to be 'part and parcel' of our business.

Do instructors choose when and how to work.

On the question of 'when' - sometimes they do, somethimes they don't. If they don't want to work, we'll find somebody else. On the question of how - we do NOT tell them how to do their job - they are highly trained professionals, and how to instruct is left up to them.

If instructors cannot carry out work which they SPECIFICALLY stated they could, the onasis is on them to try to find a replacement. If they can't , we will try to. If we can't get somebody at short notice, then it is the instructors responsibility to cancel and rearrange the students who will be let down.

There are other points, but I'm not prepared to go into them on a public bulletin board.

One thing I will say though, is that should we have 'lost' the issue of self-employment, we had a 'get out' clause: The nature of the business would have been restructured - students would have paid us for the aircraft, and the instructor for their services. Also, we would have hired out the aircraft to the instructor. (They would then have paid us for that, and then charged the student whatever rate they wished).

On our accountants advice, no court in the land would then deem our instructors as being employed.

As previously stated, it took a lot of battling for the revenue to back down, but in a way, I'm glad it happened when it did, because we are now well and truely 'above board', with nothing to hide, and no retribution to fear.

ariel

Edited to say

Whirlygig. Sorry about the quote. You are of course correct about the old aviation joke of 'put 3 million in to make 1 million' I'm spending too much time at this airport!!