Employee record – Fringe Benefits

Employers subject to FBT are required to record the grossed-up taxable value of fringe benefits on the payment summary of any employee who receives relevant benefits with a total taxable value exceeding $1000. A similar requirement applies to some employers who provide benefits which are exempt from FBT.

To track fringe benefits provided to an employee, enter details on the FBT tab on the employee record. The Reportable FBT amount will be reported on the employee's Payment Summary.

To add an FBT record:

1 Click Insert.

2 Enter the Year that the payment applies to.

3 Enter a description of the benefit in the Comment column. You may find it most useful to enter the name of the FBT category. (see below)

4 Enter the actual amount of the benefit in the Amount column. Press TAB.

5 The grossed up Reportable FBT amount for the employee is calculated and entered automatically in the Reportable FBT column, using the following formula.

Total value of benefits

(1-FBT rate)

For example, if the total value of benefits provided to the employee is $1500. If the rate of tax is 48.5%, then reportable fringe benefits amount is calculated as follows:

_1500 .

(1-.485) = $2,912.62

If the FBT rate changes, you can change it in Tax Preferences.

6 To add another line, either press TAB, or click Insert.

Note Elite Payroll does not calculate the Fringe Benefit Tax. It only tracks the reportable fringe benefits amount.

The reportable fringe benefits amount relating to benefits provided during the FBT year (1 April to 31 March) will be shown on the employee's Payment Summary for the corresponding financial year. For example, reportable fringe benefits provided during the period 1 April 2002 to 31 March 2003 will be shown on the employee's Payment Summary for the financial year 1 July 2002 to 30 June 2003.

Exemptions

Excluded benefits are not exempt from FBT, but have been excluded from the reporting requirements because of difficulties in allocating a share of the value to an individual employee. These fringe benefits will, however, still be subject to FBT.

For details, obtain the ATO guide entitled Fringe Benefits Tax – A Guide for Employers.

Fringe Benefit categories

$image\bullet.gif$ Car fringe benefits

$image\bullet.gif$ Expense payment fringe benefits

$image\bullet.gif$ Car parking fringe benefits

$image\bullet.gif$ Loan fringe benefits

$image\bullet.gif$ Debt waiver fringe benefits

$image\bullet.gif$ Housing fringe benefits

$image\bullet.gif$ Board (meal) fringe benefits

$image\bullet.gif$ Living away from home fringe benefits

$image\bullet.gif$ Airline transport fringe benefits

$image\bullet.gif$ Entertainment provided by an exempt organisation

$image\bullet.gif$ Meal entertainment fringe benefits

$image\bullet.gif$ Property fringe benefits

$image\bullet.gif$ Residual fringe benefits

Paying your FBT instalments

Quarterly FBT instalments are made at the same time as other quarterly. These quarterly payments must be made by 21 October, 21 January, 21 April and 21 July. Most businesses will report and pay their FBT instalments using the Business Activity Statement.