Rev. Rul. 70-572

The purpose of this Revenue Ruling is to update and restate, under the current statute and regulations, the position set forth in Em. T. 446, C.B. 1943, 1072.

In the case of Whalen v. Harrison, 51 F. Supp. 515 (1943), the U.S. District Court held that a "free-lance" jockey was an independent contractor for employment tax purposes under the facts of that case. The court found that the owner or trainer could not intervene to control the details and means by which the jockey performed his services, except to require him to obey the rules of the Racing Commission, and had no right to discharge the jockey after he was up on the horse. The court concluded that the "free-lance" jockey was an independent contractor engaged in a trade or profession in which he offered his services to all of the horse racing public.

Held, a "free-lance" jockey engaged by a race horse owner for one race under circumstances similar to the Whalen case is not an employee of the owner for purposes of the Federal Insurance Contributions Act, the Federal Unemployment Tax Act, and the Collection of Income Tax at Source on Wages (chapters 21, 23, and 24, respectively, subtitle C, Internal Revenue Code of 1954).

See Revenue Ruling 70-573, below, which holds under the facts set forth therein that a jockey engaged under contract with a race horse owner is an employee of the owner, for Federal employment tax purposes.

Em. T. 446 is superseded, since the position set forth therein is restated under current statute and regulations in this Revenue Ruling.