Plan contractor hiring in Jersey

Engage a Jersey-resident independent supplier through the exact licensed sole trader or company that will deliver and invoice the work. A sole trader reports business profit personally and normally pays Class 2 Social Security contributions. A company is a separate supplier and must be incorporated before its business-licence application. Neither route settles worker status. Jersey tests the actual working relationship, and the current Employment Law can cover personal service where the buyer is not genuinely the client or customer of the individual's own profession, trade, or business. Confirm the legal supplier, licensed activity, deliverables, substitution position, operating control, correction risk, invoice trigger, currency, and due-date formula before work begins.

Sources: Government of Jersey, start a business, Revenue Jersey, working for yourself tax guidance, Government of Jersey, Class 2 Social Security contributions, Jersey Law, Employment (Jersey) Law 2003

If the line is crossed

If the relationship is employment, the offshore payer must address Jersey employer registration even though it has no local entity or permanent establishment. Revenue Jersey expressly includes non-resident employers employing people locally. Registration produces an employer code and access to the combined employer return used for tax and Social Security reporting. The worker can also enter Jersey's statutory employment regime for written particulars, rest and annual leave, minimum wage, wage payment, notice, and tribunal remedies, subject to each rule's conditions. Article 102 says another governing law does not displace the Employment Law for its purposes. Labour-only construction creates an additional direct social-security branch in which the engager is treated as employer and returns both contribution shares.

Sources: Revenue Jersey, register as an employer, Jersey Law, Employment (Jersey) Law 2003, Government of Jersey, labour-only contractors

Classify the service before deciding whether a Jersey contractor's invoice carries Jersey GST. For a service within Schedule 3 that an offshore customer receives in business, the place of supply is where that customer belongs. Jersey GST is therefore outside the ordinary result for that branch. The outcome can change for land, work on goods, events, accommodation, transport, intermediary services, and services outside Schedule 3. A service can also require an international-services zero-rating analysis when its place remains Jersey. Record the customer's legal establishment and business capacity, identify the receiving establishment, map the actual service to the statutory category, and only then approve the invoice's GST statement.

Sources: Revenue Jersey, place of supply for GST, Jersey Law, Goods and Services Tax (Jersey) Law 2007

What an invoice has to show

• The Jersey supplier, offshore recipient, and ascertainable service

  Article 42 requires the invoice to name the persons by and to whom the service is supplied and to give enough particulars for the nature of that service to be ascertained. Use the licensed sole trader's legal identity or the contracting company's identity, then name the offshore customer and describe the delivered service at a level that supports the Schedule 3 or special-place analysis. A project nickname or a bare period reference does not show why the invoice has its stated Jersey GST treatment. When Revenue Jersey's full tax-invoice requirements apply, also use the current tax-point, issue-date, serial-number, address, registration-number, price, and GST fields.

  Sources: Jersey Law, GST Law Article 42, Revenue Jersey, GST records and invoices

• Whether Jersey GST is chargeable on this supply

  The invoice must indicate whether Jersey GST is chargeable and provide enough GST particulars for any amount to be ascertained. For a covered Schedule 3 business service, link the no-Jersey-GST treatment to the offshore customer's place rather than relying only on the contractor's Jersey address. If a special rule locates the service in Jersey, check registration and the applicable standard, zero, or exempt treatment before approval. A displayed GST amount can create a liability for the issuer even when the tax was not otherwise chargeable, so return an inconsistent document for correction instead of removing the tax line only in the buyer's payment record.

  Sources: Jersey Law, GST Law Articles 42 and 47, Revenue Jersey, place of supply for GST

Set the invoice trigger, acceptance evidence, due-date calculation, pricing currency, and correction process in the contract. No universal private-sector Jersey settlement clock was established for this scenario. The Government's supplier page uses agreed payment terms and describes 30 days as the Government of Jersey's own standard term, so that number cannot be transplanted as a general statutory rule. Tie approval to a named deliverable or service period, give one person authority to accept or reject it, and state the final date produced by the agreed formula. Before release, reconcile the invoice identity and GST treatment and retain any required sterling valuation.

Sources: Government of Jersey, supplier onboarding and payment, Revenue Jersey, employment status for tax

The currency on the invoice

The parties can price and invoice the service in a currency other than sterling. Jersey's GST Law expressly provides a conversion method when a sum relevant to the supply value is expressed in another currency. An approved supplier option applies first, followed by any general rate or method directed by the Comptroller. Without either, the statute uses the sterling amount the recipient would pay at Jersey's average telegraphic transfer rate for that currency on the supply day, excluding a fee. Keep the commercial currency and the sterling GST-accounting value as separate records. State the valuation date and method so a later exchange movement does not change the agreed fee or obscure the contractor's tax calculation.

Sources: Jersey Law, GST Law Schedule 4 paragraph 15

Using registration documents as the status decision

A business licence confirms permission to operate the stated undertaking, and a GST number identifies the registered person. Neither document proves that this engagement is independent. Revenue Jersey says the contract label does not establish status and directs the parties to the real working facts. The Employment Law also asks whether personal service is supplied to someone outside the client-customer relationship of the individual's own business. Collect the records for identity, licensing, and invoice checks, then separately test substitution, control, equipment, customer diversity, capital exposure, loss risk, and correction cost. Repeat the test when a project becomes continuing availability or the buyer absorbs responsibilities the contractor previously carried.

Sources: Revenue Jersey, employment status for tax, Jersey Law, Employment (Jersey) Law 2003, Article 1A

Charging Jersey GST from the contractor's residence alone

A Jersey address does not by itself put every cross-border service inside Jersey GST. For a Schedule 3 service received in business by a customer belonging outside Jersey, the place follows that customer. Other categories can point elsewhere, including land, work on goods, events, accommodation, transport, and intermediary services. Capture the customer's establishment and business capacity, identify the receiving establishment, and classify the actual service before deciding the tax line. Also keep the £300,000 registration test separate from invoice treatment. A contractor can be registered while a particular service is outside Jersey, and an unregistered contractor cannot add GST merely because a buyer asks for a tax invoice.

Sources: Revenue Jersey, place of supply for GST, Revenue Jersey, GST registration thresholds

Treating the Government's 30-day term as a private statutory clock

The official supplier page states that payment follows agreed supplier terms and calls 30 days the Government of Jersey's standard term. That scope matters. This foreign private payer cannot cite the Government's procurement practice as Jersey's universal due date, and the contractor cannot rely on it when the contract is silent. Write the due-date formula into the agreement, define when a valid invoice can be issued, identify the acceptance owner, and set a short correction process for rejected work or invoice errors. If the parties choose 30 days, record the trigger expressly so they know whether the count starts at delivery, acceptance, or receipt of a conforming invoice.

Sources: Government of Jersey, supplier onboarding and payment