The job you apply for is on a JA website showing it as a job with JA. You will go for an interview in Vienna at the JA office. If you get the job you will have a JA company mobile phone, JA uniform, JA company ID badge, JA credit card, JA crew tags, a company email address with JA, your roster and orders will all come from JA and you will receive a regular monthly payment via Cyprus. With no deductions for tax or social. Unless you are Austrian living in Austria.
The contracts prior to April were with another company in Cyprus but they pulled out, due to legal implications, got cold feet I guess over something, hmm? JA decided in their wisdom they could set it up themselves!
and if you didn’t agree and take the new contract you would be removed from the roster.
The contracts are basically fulltime freelance for one company JA. I am sure this is not allowed in most European countries. In the UK this covered under IR35, with heavy fines and back taxes against the companies that break these rules as a lesson to others. I seem to recall hearing that this happened to a UK aviation company recently.
An issue you need to be aware of as a freelance pilot, you are no longer under the umbrella of a company running the aircraft, even though the Public liability Insurance may say you are covered, if there was an incident JA could say he is freelance nothing to do with us! You could possibly then find yourself being chased by insurance company for everything you own.
You are now operating as a sole trader, with regards to tax, if you don’t already have your own registered company to operate under. This also brings up another small issue of VAT. It is easy to go over the threshold for the country you live in, even though under EU agreement it would be zero rated as long as the other EU cross border company provide you with a vat number you still have to be registered.
I’m by no way a tax expert but I know the basics. The only people that can give you a legal answer on these freelance contract is the Austrian Tax authority (BMF)
Ministry I suggest you talk to them.
Pilots in JA have raised their concerns and I guess you maybe one of them. I hear lots of guys have had jobs one day to wake up and find no job and no notice period due to being on these freelance contracts. Just like that!
That's my 2 cents worth, good luck if you get the job. Anyone else got any input?