Are fitness instructors PAYE or self employed?

Are fitness instructors PAYE or self employed?

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A sole trader who owns their own gym has 2 fitness instructors who operate as follows:

They both run private fitness classes and personal training sessions from the gym. They receive an amount based on the income generated by each class/PT session and an amount is witheld from them for the rent/use of the gym premises. Fitness instructor no.1 does about 15 hours per week and instructor no.2 does about 12 hours per week and they have income from elsewhere although the gym represents their main source of income.

Are they deemed to be employed or self employed?

Replies (3)

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By Harrison88
13th Jul 2015 09:35

Depends

It really depends on the circumstances of each individual, the contract with the gym, etc. HMRC has a lot of guidance on this but ultimately I would recommend a review from an IR35 specialist.

A useful tool can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/employment-status-indicator

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By silverghost
13th Jul 2015 11:08

self-employed

The instructors are not acting under supervision, direction or control, to borrow from the onshore intermediaries legislation. They have the opportunity to increase profit  if more people attend the sessions, as opposed to being paid per session. They are paying for use of premises. Don't waste your time with the ESI, it is not that useful and puts too much store in substitution.

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By Lee11_1989
13th Jul 2015 12:32

Substitute

I agree that they appear to be self employed. Something else that could back up the argument would be if they are allowed to send a substitute to carry out the work. Can they send someone in their place to run a class, assuming they are qualified to do so?

If they are self employed, the gym owner should have no (or very little) control over how the class is run or who runs it. He simply pays the personal trainer to ensure that it is run on time and properly.

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