Freelancing - Can It Be Done ?

[Sporadic E]

I've been offered a part-time position instructing at a local club. Obviously part-time is'nt going to pay the bills, so I was thinking about whether it is feasible to go freelance and instruct part-time in a full-time sort of way. Or would the CAA have something to say about this ? This is a purely hypothetical thing at the moment of course, and I was wondering if any ppruners had any experience of this.
Thanks.

[A Very Civil Pilot]

Not a problem as far as the CAA are concerned, but you can guarentee that the days you are at club A, there's no work, and club B is busy, and when at club B its all quiet and club A has all the work!

[BEagle]

I've employed FI(A)s who've also worked for other clubs at the same time and they were all entirely happy to sort out their own working arrangements. I paid my share of their revalidation expenses, so that if they did half their instructing with me, then I'd pay half of what I paid those who instructed just for me. It wasn't enough to make a living from, but they accepted that when they asked for the work. They worked hard gaining experience on an hourly rate of pay (or travel costs, whichever the greater) for a while, built up their command time, eventually upgraded their self-financed BCPLs to CPLs and obtained their IRs, then stayed with me until they were able to go to the airlines. We were mutually entirely happy with that method of 'self-improvement' - I even gave one or two of them interest-free loans to gain their AFI (as it used to be) ratings in the first place, which they then paid off 'in kind' by subsequently working for me. I like to feel that we gave them the start towards their new airline careers that they would otherwise have found very difficult and I have nothing but utter contempt for the way the CAA allowed the 'self-improver' route through BCPL/AFI to be swept aside by eurocracy!

[J]

Couldn't agree more, BEagle! Wish my CFI paid for my renewals. In response to the original post I think it may be in your favour to freelance yourself to several clubs from a tax point of view as most instructor jobs are on a 'self employed' basis.

[eagleye]

Just read Beagles response with a mention of "CAA sweeping aside self improver route". I have been working overseas for a few months building much needed funds to further my BCPL via self improver. Can anyone elaborate further on why the goalposts have been moved again and what the hell do I do now if this route has been closed off!!!!

[chicken6]

I heard from someone who knows these things that if you're self employed and you go on a course to improve your qualifications for the purposes of your business then you can claim the costs of the training back. However, you cannot (as I understand it) claim the inital training costs if that is your primary business. For example, if you were a self-employed instructor and you needed a drivers licence to get to and from work, you could recoup the costs of driver training because it helps your business. However, you could not get back the cost of your instructors rating as that is your primary business.

If you are a self-employed instructor, then upgrades to your instructing privileges may count as tax-deductable. However, I am not sure about continuance training (like renewals), so it may make sense to upgrade to a new qualification each time you are due for a renewal e.g. get your night instructors endorsement, or aeros, or multi or something.
In that case, if you were self employed and hired yourself out to various organisations, you could claim back the costs of renewals and neither of them would have to pay for it.

All things here are hearsay, and I freely admit that I don't fully understand most things economic (except I want more money :))

Safe flying

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Confident, cocky, lazy, dead.

[DeltaTango]

Confident, Cocky, Lazy, Dead...I like it!!!

[foghorn]

chicken6-

You are correct on the tax front: when operating as a business any training which enhances your earning potential is tax-deductable. Notice that this is a suitably broad rule, so some tax inspectors may be a little more lenient with this than others.

As you say this will most likely mean that initial training and renewals are not deductable, but further training would be.

All-

I'm factoring in a spell as an instructor into my training plans. I am currently self-employed in the IT industry. Do you think an established school would engage me as an instructor on a self-employed basis ie. me invoicing for my time rather than being paid a wage? Would this be unusual?

[This message has been edited by foghorn (edited 27 July 2000).]

[J]

foghorn,
I don't think that you should have a problem finding instructor work on a self employed basis. Certainly that is the way my job works - I invoice for the time I fly at an agreed hourly rate to the owner of the school and it is up to me how I sort tax/National insurace etc.

[chicken6]

DeltaTango

It's from a series of books and it's the motto (almost mantra) of a mercenary who never misses his mark, and occasionally hunts people and tortures them for the thrill of the chase. Do you still like it? I find it suits my instructional style quite well... ;)

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Confident, cocky, lazy, dead.