Originally Posted by bogbeagle
IMHO, the removal of the "self-employment" loophole would be a major step in advancing the instructors' lot
As far as I can make out there isn't a loophole. HMRC thinks all instructors should be employees. I think this is grossly unfair. I work part-time at two flying schools. I'm never at either more than one day a week. About a quarter of what I earn as an instructor disappears in petrol money to get there and back. If I wasn't self-employed I'd have to pay all of that. If I'm self-employed I can claim 23% of it back, plus the same for medicals, revalidations etc. If I couldn't do that there's no way I could afford to be an instructor even for only one day a week.
As regards instructors flying for free, it's an inevitable part of the industry I fear. But charging nothing for instructing while at the same time setting your instructing/examining expenses against tax does sound rather like having your cake and eating it.
NS