March is the season to prepare for your FBT Return for year ending 31 March 2019.
The 2019 changes are summarised below accompanied by a practical checklist to action prior to month end.
What’s new?
1. Company cars and minor use exemption
The ATO released Practical Compliance Guideline 2018/3 which provides certainty for those providing exempt vehicles, such as utes, when the following conditions are met:
- It is an eligible vehicle for business use
- The vehicle is below the luxury car tax threshold
- It is not provided under a salary sacrifice arrangement
- The employer has a policy in place that limits private use and assurance is obtained from the employee regarding their use
- If home to work travel is involved, no diversion adds more than two kilometres to the trip
- Any journey for a wholly private purpose other than between home and work is no more than 1,000km in total and no return journey exceeds 200km.
2. Fleet cars and missing log books
ATO guidance from late 2016 provides relief for employers with a fleet of 20 or more cars by allowing for:
- 75% of log books need to be held
- Car use cannot be predominantly private
- Employees are required to maintain log books
- Car make and model is chosen by the employer
- Cars are all below the luxury car tax threshold
- The cars are not provided as part of the employees remuneration package
3. ATO crackdown on declarations and ensuring that employee contributions are also declared as part of assessable income.
What do I need to do?
Gather a wide range of information prior to or shortly after 31 March – click here for the most common.
To discuss FBT further, contact Michael Bode our Specialist Tax Director on
02 8262 8716 or your Principal Adviser.