Christmas employee functions will have varying degrees of lavishness. We look at some scenarios and assess their ‘Grinch’ risk. With the end of the calendar year fast approaching, many of you may be preparing an end of year celebration for staff. As with most things involving an employer and staff, fringe benefits tax (FBT) must …
T’is the season for gifts – but are you also making a gift of GST or FBT to the Revenue? Based on the decorations in the streets and the shopping centres, the Christmas season has well and truly arrived and many are caught-up in the gift-giving spirit. The making of a gift by a business/entity …
Question We run a number of one or two day structured training courses for new recruits and existing staff wishing to update their working knowledge. At the end of the day’s training, the group will go out for a meal at a restaurant as part of team building. Is this classed as entertainment or is …
In relation to employee relocation costs, what are the more common available heads of salary sacrifice? Question We have made an offer to an individual to take up a senior management role with us. The individual and his family live interstate and will relocate if he accepts the offer. They have enquired as to whether …
Heads up – the ATO has issued some revised material on car parking fringe benefits. Two recent ATO documents cause us to take another look at the issue of car parking fringe benefits. In fairness, most of the ATO efforts have gone into updating its public commentary about when a car parking fringe benefit arises …
Read moreFBT – Car parking fringe benefits – ATO restatement and expansion of the net
Where an employer pays/reimburses an employee’s road toll expenditure or allows the employee to use the employer’s electronic road toll tag, a fringe benefit may arise, depending on the particular usage of the vehicle. Payment/reimbursement of an employee’s road toll expenses is prima facie an expense payment fringe benefit. Use by an employee of an …
Read moreFBT – Road and bridge tolls – for whom does the FBT bell toll, employer or employee?
Is provision of an in-house therapeutic massage for all employees an exempt fringe benefit? Question We are considering providing in-house therapeutic massage for all employees. Is this an exempt fringe benefit pursuant to the ‘work related preventative health care’ exemption? The preventative health care component will consist of: massage to reduce tightness in muscles and …
Read moreFBT Q&A – Work related preventative health care: In-house massage
Question An employee has use of a utility designed to carry a load less than 1 tonne. The only private use of the utility is to and from home. No minor, infrequent or ad-hoc private use. The employee’s home is 160km from the office. Is there a distance threshold for home to work travel that …
Read moreFBT Q&A – ‘Workhorse’ vehicles and private use thresholds
Heads up, there may be some changes to remote area tax concessions and payments. The Productivity Commission has suggested reforms. The Productivity Commission has called for significant reforms to the tax concessions and payments to residents and businesses in remote Australia, so they are better targeted and fairer. The Commission was asked to review three …
Read moreFBT and Payroll – Remote area tax concessions and payments
Relief from discrepancy in the FBT treatment of taxi travel and riding-sharing travel services is ‘in hand’. Long-standing readers of the TaxEd newsletter will be familiar with the tortuous history of ride-sharing travel services for tax purposes, especially in relation to FBT. Current treatment of ride-sharing travel services The nature of ride-sharing travel services, particularly …