VBNB75800 | Legal history: cases about jockey’s riding fees

Hodges (RJ&AS) 2000 STC 262

Please note that the following material is not a full summary of the case - it merely highlights the principle referred to in the appropriate section of this manual.

Hodges (RJ&AS) 2000 STC 262

A couple carried on business as racehorse trainers. They arranged for the apprentice and conditional jockeys employed by them at their stables to ride in races.

HMRC assessed for output tax on the basis that the trainers were supplying the services of the apprentice and conditional owners to the owners. The trainers argued that the jockeys should be treated as self-employed and were supplying their own services directly to the owners.

The Court held that regard should be given to the fact that the apprentice and conditional jockeys were answerable to the trainers. The Court also observed that because jockeys who have ridden out their weight allowances are self-employed it does not necessarily follow that that apprentice and conditional jockeys were also self-employed.