{"id":38330,"date":"2023-10-20T14:55:44","date_gmt":"2023-10-20T14:55:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/startupsmart.test\/2023\/10\/20\/im-a-bit-confused-over-the-definitions-of-sole-trader-independent-contractor-and-freelancer-help-startupsmart\/"},"modified":"2023-10-20T14:55:44","modified_gmt":"2023-10-20T14:55:44","slug":"im-a-bit-confused-over-the-definitions-of-sole-trader-independent-contractor-and-freelancer-help-startupsmart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/uncategorized\/im-a-bit-confused-over-the-definitions-of-sole-trader-independent-contractor-and-freelancer-help-startupsmart\/","title":{"rendered":"I\u2019m a bit confused over the definitions of sole trader, independent contractor and freelancer. Help! &#8211; StartupSmart"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><b>I\u2019m a bit confused over the definitions of sole trader, independent contractor and freelancer. Are there significant differences between them and which should I go for if I want to take on one of them for a short period of time?    <span id=\"more-2130\"><\/span>  <\/b><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Fundamentally the answer is no. They are the same \u2013 with different tags. Each will invoice you for services performed.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>None of them are your employees. All of them are contracted by you to deliver a project outcome.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The sole trader moniker is simply indicating that they carry out business on their own.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The freelancer is basically a contractor in Australia, meaning they own their business.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The independent contractor is, as it states, a contractor engaged on an independent basis and not an employee.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>It is recommended that each of them supply you with their ABN. It is free to get an ABN that is basically just for the business name.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>You can safely use any of the resources that go under the three banners. If it is for a short time then document the scope and have a separate document for each engagement.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>One of the most important pitfalls to avoid when it comes to categorising your workers is \u2018sham contracting.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The Fair Work Ombudsman is currently conducting audits of three industries \u2013 hair and beauty, cleaning and call centres \u2013 in a crackdown on sham contracting.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>This occurs when an employee is made to believe that they are providing a contract for services, allowing a business to avoid paying them superannuation, leave or fair wages.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Whatever you do, don\u2019t fall foul of the Fair Work Ombudsman in this area.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I\u2019m a bit confused over the definitions of sole trader, independent contractor and freelancer. Are there significant differences between them<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":61710,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38330"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38330"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38330\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61710"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38330"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38330"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38330"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}