Commission only staff - are they employed?

[lando111]

Hi,

To gain more geographical exposure, I am considering working with some commission only staff.

How does this work? Do they have to be self employed, are there any regulations we need to be aware of (sickness, holiday, maternity pay etc..).

Also, if they are selling in a customers home are we liable for them whilst they are in other peoples homes if they are not employed by us?

Thanks

 

[Michael Davies]

Hi

If you employ staff then they need to be added to your payroll and you need to submit RTI returns each month.

However it sounds like the staff you will recruit will be sub contractors who are only paid commissions by you. In this case they should invoice you the amount owed to them and u pay them gross. The staff will need to be registered self employed and have to submit self assessment returns yearly.

This is the responsibility Of the individual and not your company.

Hope this helps

 

[eldirect]

Depends on the following and more

Do you pay them through PAYE (yes = minimum wage problems??)
Do they fill in their own tax returns as self employed (yes = that's a whole HMRC problem if they only work for you)

Self employed is the only way to do this if you go with the don't sell don't eat theory....

 

[lando111]

To best give an example of what they would be doing, it would be along the lines of themed parties (ie Jamie at Home, Bodyshop etc...)

They wouldnt receive a salary and would be paid commission only on revenue generated.

Only concern is how could I be sure they'd registered as self employed as this wouldnt be a full time earning, more of an evenings/weekends job?

 

[Scalloway]

They must be registered as self employed if they earn money through your business. The plus side for them is that they will be able to set travel and other costs against that income.

 

[AngieVA]

Presumably you will be issuing them with a contract informing them of commission rates etc, so stipulate on this contract that it is their duty to register as self-employed and pay tax/NI as necessary.

Ultimately it is up to them, and if they fail to do so they deal with the consequences themselves.

To best give an example of what they would be doing, it would be along the lines of themed parties (ie Jamie at Home, Bodyshop etc...)

They wouldnt receive a salary and would be paid commission only on revenue generated.

Only concern is how could I be sure they'd registered as self employed as this wouldnt be a full time earning, more of an evenings/weekends job?

 

[MBE1]

Not as easy to answer as it might seem, the authorities want to see these people working for more than just your company to be considered self employed, if they only work for yourself then you might be considered their employer no matter what bits of paper you get signed.

Also if you exert any control over them, ie hours worked, control etc, they might also be perceived as employed. So using your example you couldn't state the party to start at 7pm until 10pm.

 

[arcon5]

Not as easy to answer as it might seem, the authorities want to see these people working for more than just your company to be considered self employed, if they only work for yourself then you might be considered their employer no matter what bits of paper you get signed.

.

Taxi drivers and couriers have been getting away with it for donkeys years so can't be that hard