Record keeping

For your tax records, you must keep your:

• calculations
• worksheets
• declarations
• elections
• support details.

You do not need to submit these with your return.

You must make elections and declarations and obtain all employee declarations no later than the day on which your FBT return is due to be lodged with us, or by 21 May (if you do not have to lodge a return). There is no need to notify us of the election or declaration because your business records are sufficient evidence of this.

Record-keeping exemption arrangements

The record-keeping exemption arrangements allow certain employers to choose not to keep records for an FBT year. Instead, we work out your FBT liability for that FBT year using the total taxable value of fringe benefits you provided in an earlier base year when you kept FBT records.

You can elect to use the record-keeping exemption arrangements if all of the following apply for all years between the base and current year:

• You are not a government body or income tax exempt at any time during the current year.
• We have not issued you a notice requiring you to resume record keeping.
• You were in business for the whole of the base year.
• You kept FBT records in the base year.
• You lodged the FBT return for the base year by the due date.
• The aggregate fringe benefits amount (total of taxable values of all fringe benefits) in the base year did not exceed the exemption threshold (listed below).
• You have elected that the record-keeping exemption arrangements apply in all years from the most recent base year to the current year.
• The aggregate fringe benefits amount for the benefits provided in the current year does not exceed the amount in the most recent base year by more than 20%, unless the difference is $100 or less.

Exemption thresholds

Year	Amount
2011	$7,190
2012	$7,391
2013	$7,642
2014	$7,779
2015	$7,965

If you use the record-keeping exemption arrangements, you must include both of the following:

• taxable value of each category of fringe benefit you provided during the base year, at item 23
• fringe benefits taxable amount you provided in the base year, at item 15.