Your employer clients may have heard now and then about certain fringe benefits that, while still subject to the tax, do not have the same reporting burden as other benefits.
There can be consequential or flow-on affects from this exemption from reporting, such as the influence this can have on adjusted taxable income (ATI).
Employers are not required to allocate the following excluded benefits to employees or report them on income statements (payment summaries). The benefits are excluded by provisions of the Fringe Benefits Tax Assessment Act 1986 (FBTAA) and the Fringe Benefits Tax Assessment Regulations 2018 (the regulations).
Excluded by subsection 5E(3) of the FBTAA:
- Entertainment by way of food and drink, and benefits associated with that entertainment, such as travel and accommodation (regardless of which category is used to value the benefit). However if these benefits are provided under a salary packaging arrangement on or after 1 April 2016, they are not excluded from the reporting requirements.
- Car parking fringe benefits (not including car parking expense payment benefits (refer to section 9.9 of Expense payment fringe benefits).
- Hiring or leasing entertainment facilities such as corporate boxes. However if these benefits are provided under a salary packaging arrangement on or after 1 April 2016, they are not excluded from the reporting requirements.
- Remote area residential fuel where the value of the benefit is reduced in accordance with the conditions in section 19.2 of Reductions in fringe benefit taxable value.
- Remote area housing assistance where the value of the benefit is reduced in accordance with the conditions in section 19.2 (as above).
- Remote area home ownership schemes where the value of the benefit is reduced in accordance with the conditions as mentioned above.
- Remote area home repurchase schemes (again, as above).
- Costs of occasional travel (being that which occurs from time to time and not at regular intervals) to a major Australian population centre by employees and their families living in a remote area.
- Freight costs for food provided to employees living in a remote area.
- Fringe benefits provided to address certain security concerns relating to the personal safety of an employee, or an associate of the employee, arising from the employee’s employment.
Excluded by the regulations pursuant to paragraph 5E(3)(i) of the FBTAA: Readmore
