Deciding if your worker is an employee or contractor for tax and super comes down to asking all the right questions and weighing up the circumstances of your working arrangement with them.
But sometimes there’s nothing to ask – some workers are always employees. Apprentices, trainees, labourers and trades assistants fall into this category, according to the ATO.
The nature of their agreement with you is one of employee to employer. They aren’t running their own business and you provide both instruction and supervision for the work they perform for you.
Even if they have an ABN, or have been a contractor before, you’ll risk charges and penalties for your business if you treat them as a contractor.
You’ll need to meet the same tax and super obligations for them as you do for any other employees of your business – the ATO can help you understand what these are with their handy checklist.
This article was first published in The Fence magazine.
