The employer is responsible for superannuation guarantee (SG payments) of employees. However, distinguishing between an employee and a contractor is a common confusion when it comes to superannuation liability of employers.
Do you consider someone an employee or a contractor? One recent case decision offers an insight to this matter.
Racing Queensland Board v Commissioner of Taxation [2019] FCA 509
On 25 March 2015, the Commissioner issued a number of superannuation guarantee default assessments, in reliance on s 36 of the Superannuation Guarantee (Administration) Act 1992 (Cth) (SGAA), for the 21 quarters from 1 July 2009 to 30 September 2014, inclusive (Relevant Periods). The assessments were on the basis that the Board had a liability for unpaid superannuation guarantee charges on various payments to individual jockeys who rode races in Queensland between 1 July 2009 and 30 September 2014. The premise of the assessments is that the effect of s 12(8)(a) of the SGAA is that the individual jockeys were employees of the Board during the Relevant Periods. The total amount of the assessments was $949,317.32.
The Board objected to these assessments in May 2015. By a letter to the Board dated 17 August 2017, the Commissioner advised that he had disallowed in full the Board’s objection. The Board then instituted in the Court’s original jurisdiction the present statutory appeal against the Commissioner’s objection decision.
This case answers several questions related to superannuation liability. Who is the employee – the jockey or Queensland Racing? What are the common factors that contribute to determining whether a person is an employee or contractor? Learn more about this from Effective PD’s Superannuation Liability (Independent Contractor and Employees) webinar.
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