Fishing crew not contractors
By having a contract that crew members had to sign entitling them to a third of the gross income from a catch, the owner of four boats tried to avoid having to pay the SGC. The AAT was having none of it. Facts In each of the years ending 30 June 2010 and 30 June 2011 the taxpayer, Floorplay Pty Ltd, engaged masters and deckhands (collectively “crew members”) to crew four commercial fishing vessels owned by another entity related to Floorplay and operated in the Coral Sea off the coast of Cairns. The vessels generally operated with four crew members – a master (or skipper) and three deckhands. Floorplay engaged crew members, initially at least, by means of a document described as a “Share Fishing Contract”. That agreement was expressed to be between a crew member, described as “the Fisherman”, and Floorplay, described as “the Operator”. The standing arrangement between Floorplay and the crew members was that 40% of the net proceeds of sale of a vessel’s catch less a deduction of 7% representing voyage expenses was payable to that vessel’s crew members and was distributed amongst them in proportions determined by the master. The Decision The AAT stated that often, determining whether the relationship is one of employer and employee or independent contractor and client, is not an easy question. However, “the present case is one where I regard the answer as clear. The crew members were employees and Floorplay was the employer of them.” The AAT member referred to the decision in Hollis v Vabu Pty Ltd (Hollis), where Judge Windeyer stated that the difference between an employee and an independent contractor is, . . . rooted fundamentally in the difference between a person who serves his employer in his, the employer’s, business, and a person who carries on a trade or business of his own. “As with the bicycle couriers considered in Hollis, the notion that the crew members were running their own enterprise “is intuitively unsound” and quite contrary to the evidence.”
Interested in joining our team? Why not apply today?
About Our Traineeships:-
Join the Market Leader in 2016 – Accounting Traineeships
Looking to study a B.Com at University of Newcastle in 2016?
Bottrell Business Consultants are a Multi Award Winning Firm
We have 2016 Traineeships available – work 3 days Study part-time 2 days
Apply now to Tara Skippen on tara@bottrellaccounting.com.au – send resume & cover letter
www.bottrellaccounting.com.au or check us out on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or LinkedIn
Offices – East Maitland | Newcastle | Sydney | Melbourne | Brisbane | Gold Coast
Bottrell Business Consultants Pty Ltd – Chartered Accountants and Business Advisors.
The Bottrell group incorporates Bottrell Business Consultants, Bottrell Accounting & Taxation, Maitland Accounting & Taxation, East Maitland Accounting Services and Mobile Bookkeeping & Recruitment.
Our group of businesses & links include the following companies (& our websites);-
- Bottrell Accounting & Taxation – Visit out website
- Bottrel Business Consultants Pty Ltd – Visit our website
- Maitland Accounting & Taxation – Visit our website
- East Maitland Accounting Services – Visit our website
- Mobile Bookkeeping & Recruitment – Visit our website
Comments are closed.