Religious practitioners guide to PAYG withholding

The pay as you go (PAYG) withholding system requires payers to withhold an amount from certain payments made to a religious practitioner. This occurs where all of the following apply:

• an activity, or a series of activities, is performed by the religious practitioner in pursuit of his or her vocation as a religious practitioner
• an activity, or series of activities, is performed by the religious practitioner as a member of a religious institution
• the payment is made by the entity in the course or furtherance of an enterprise that the entity carries on.

Who is a religious practitioner?

For the purposes of PAYG withholding, a religious practitioner is one of the following:

• a minister of religion
• a student at an institution who is undertaking a course of instruction in the duties of a minister of religion
• a full-time member of a religious order
• a student at a college, conducted solely for training persons to become members of religious orders.