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  • Types of income

    Attention

    Warning:

    This information may not apply to the current year. Check the content carefully to ensure it is applicable to your circumstances.

    End of attention

    Salary or wages

    This section is about income from salary or wages from which tax was withheld. Income from salary or wages includes:

    • salary and wages
    • commissions
    • bonuses
    • income from part-time or casual work
    • parental leave pay
    • dad-and-partner pay
    • amounts shown on an income statement/payment summary for lost salary or wages paid under   
      • an income protection policy
      • a sickness or accident insurance policy
      • a workers compensation scheme.

    Allowances, earnings, tips, directors fees etc

    This section is about payments of income from working. These include:

    • allowances
    • payments from which tax was not withheld, including  
      • salary, wages, commissions, bonuses
      • income earned from part-time and casual jobs
      • income from income protection, sickness and accident insurance policies
    • tips, gratuities and payments for your services
    • consultation fees
    • payments for voluntary services (honoraria).

    Allowances include:

    • car, travel and transport allowances, and reimbursements of car expenses (calculated by reference to the distance travelled by the car, such as 'cents-per-kilometre' allowances)
    • award transport payments (paid under an industrial law or award that was in force on 29 October 1986)
    • tool, clothing and laundry allowances
    • dirt, height, site, first aid and risk allowances
    • meal and entertainment allowances.

    If you received a travel or an overtime meal allowance paid under an industrial law, award or agreement, do not show it on your tax return if:

    • you spent the whole amount on deductible expenses
    • it was not shown on your payment summary, and
    • it does not exceed the Commissioner's reasonable allowance amount.

    You cannot claim deductions for expenses that you paid for with that allowance. For more information, see Taxation Determination TD 2018/11 Income tax: what are the reasonable travel and overtime meal allowance expense amounts for the 2018–19 income year?

    Lump sum payments

    Employer lump sum A or B payments

    These are any lump sum payments you received from your employer for unused annual leave or unused long service leave.

    Lump sum D payments

    These are the tax-free components of a genuine redundancy payment or an early retirement. This tax-free income will not be included in your taxable income.

    Lump sum E payments in arrears

    These payments relate to an earlier income year or years and should normally be shown at 'E' on your income statement/PAYG payment summary - individual non-business.

    Include at this section any lump sum payments you received in relation to the following:

    • back payments of salary or wages that accrued in a period more than 12 months before the date of payment
    • salary or wages that accrued during a period of suspension and were paid to you on resuming duty
    • back payments of non-superannuation annuities that accrued, in whole or in part, in an earlier year or years of income
    • back payments of repatriation and social welfare pensions, allowances or payments, including those paid by foreign governments
    • back payments of periodical workers and accident compensation payments but not payments made to the owner of the policy
    • back payments of Commonwealth education or training payments.

    You may get a tax offset if you received certain lump sum payments in 2018–19. We will calculate the tax offset for you based on the information you provide in your tax return.

      Last modified: 26 Jun 2019QC 59091