Contract Pilot Info??

[telboy]

Greetings all,
I need a bit of leagl help here. I will be taking up a contract pilot position in Australia in the next month or so & don't know the legal requirements, both in regard to the taxman & ops areas.
I know I need an ACN & register for GST, but what's the best way to do this? Do I need to buy a "shelf" company & make myself an employee or is there a cheaper alternative.
From an ops point of view , where do I stand on insurance? The operator says I'll be covered by their unsurance, that's fine. But if something happens which is deemed to my fault am I liable to be sued by thier insurance co & therefore need to protect myself in that case?? Any pilots in Oz who are in the same situation any advice would be greatly appreciated.
alternatively, is ther anyone out there already doing this who would consider putting me "on their books"??

thanks in advance

[sling load]

Gone Again,
You also need an ABN # which requires you to register with the Aus Tax Office (ATO). Without this ABN, if you are sub contracting, your client with be forced by law to remove tax at a high marginal rate before you are paid. With your ABN, you invoice your sevices and add the GST to your bill, you do a form every 3 months to give the government the money you collected, and they give you back any legitimite money you spent to earn your living. As your own employer, you will have to contribute to compulsory superannuation (approx 8%) and your own workcover insurance. (approx 3 %) (these are very approximate)

As for public liability insurance, you may have to look into that in depth, the operator will have that insurance for their ops.

If youre out in the bush, all this may be a bit of a hassle, a good accountant should be your first stop.