Fringe Benefits Tax Working Group key messages 11 November 2020

Opening Address

The Chair opened the meeting and welcomed new members.

FBT and working from home expenditure

The group discussed the recently circulated draft guidance, COVID-19 and working from home benefits, which broadly reflects discussions held during the extra-ordinary September meeting of the working group. These discussions included:

• whether the amount of $300 stated in the guidance included GST
• residual benefits
• more ongoing work from home arrangements
• whether a 4-week diary is required
• inclusion of a health care services benefit example in the guidance.

Working group members were invited to provide further feedback and comments regarding the draft guidance after the meeting.

Car parking

Members discussed an update to the 'FBT and COVID-19' web guidance to cover common car parking scenarios, for example:

• the 'work car park' has been closed
• the commercial parking station/s within one kilometre are all closed for a period or have stopped charging
• the commercial parking station within one kilometre are open but offering discounted parking below the threshold amount.

Journal entries to record employee contributions

Members discussed the effect of employees making contributions to benefits received by journal entry and were invited to make further submissions or comments after the meeting.

FBT working group annual review

As part of the review, external members will be invited to provide their views and input in response to general questions regarding the overall efficiency and effectiveness of group operations.

FBT gap

Members were presented with an overview of the recently released gap, including information with regards to various subpopulations and relevant market segments.

Action items