In an important ruling for incorporated contractors, the Administrative Appeals Tribunal has further clarified the requirements on contractors to pass the “unrelated clients” test of the personal services income section of the Tax Act.
The case involved an oil and gas engineer who was engaged by Manpower and contracted to BHP Billiton to oversee the construction of an offshore pipeline for the Minerva gas field off coastal Victoria.
In June last year, the Administrative Appeals Tribunal in Melbourne upheld the engineer’s right to claim deductions as an incorporated independent contractor, finding that he passed the unrelated clients test, even though Manpower was his sole source of income for two full tax years.
An unfair dismissal action from an employee who claimed she was misled about the permanent status of a role highlights the need for recruiters to double-check the details of all candidate correspondence.
Fair Work Australia heard that the employee was hired by Brisbane’s Mater Hospital in September 2008, as a billing officer.
The candidate was found through one of the Mater’s recruitment agencies, Brisbane healthcare specialist Pink Collar.
The employee told the Fair Work tribunal that in her initial conversation with Pink Collar principal Shona Grant, she was told the position was a full-time, permanent role.
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NSW gets another payroll tax cut, rebate extended in Queensland…. Tasmanian Education Department goes to tender for recruitment system.
NSW gets another payroll tax cut, rebate extended in Queensland
The NSW government has pushed forward a cut to the state’s payroll tax in today’s budget, and outlined plans for a further reduction early next year.
NSW Treasurer Eric Roozendaal said the payroll tax cut scheduled in last year’s budget, from 5.65% to 5.5%, would now take effect on July 1, six months earlier than the original date of January 1, 2011.
On January 1, there would now be a further payroll tax cut, from 5.5% to 5.45%, Roozendaal said.
Employers can and will use social media to assess candidates, says a workplace law expert, but if a company decides not to hire someone based on information from an online profile, it’s common sense not to tell this to the applicant.
Nicholas Duggal, special counsel on employment and industrial relations for TressCox Lawyers, told the Australasian Talent Conference that employers and recruiters were using social media websites every day to find out more about individual job seekers.
Duggal noted that in the current privacy guidelines for social media users, the Australian Privacy Commission acknowledged that: “potential employers could look at [a candidate's] MySpace or Facebook page and perhaps base their decisions on what they see there”.
THE number of building subcontractors rorting the system has reached epidemic proportions, Australia’s largest construction union says.
The CFMEU says subcontractors are forcing labourers to register as a “business” before giving them work on building sites, so that they don’t have to pay them sick leave, holiday pay or superannuation.
CFMEU national secretary John Sutton says he want the Rudd government to stamp out the practice by setting up a multi-disciplinary taskforce to tackle the issue.
“There is a widespread culture now out there of no ABN, no start,” Mr Sutton said.
“There is an epidemic of sham contracting that’s hit the industry.