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This edited version has been archived due to the length of time since original publication. It should not be regarded as indicative of the ATO's current views. The law may have changed since original publication, and views in the edited version may also be affected by subsequent precedents and new approaches to the application of the law.

You cannot rely on this record in your tax affairs. It is not binding and provides you with no protection (including from any underpaid tax, penalty or interest). In addition, this record is not an authority for the purposes of establishing a reasonably arguable position for you to apply to your own circumstances. For more information on the status of edited versions of private advice and reasons we publish them, see PS LA 2008/4.

Edited version of private ruling

Authorisation Number: 1011792522834

Ruling

Subject: Fringe Benefits Tax - reimbursement of expenses

Question 1

Where you reimburse up to $150 in relation to the following expenses, will the benefit give rise to a tax exempt body entertainment benefit under section 38 of the Fringe Benefits Tax Assessment Act 1986 (FBTAA) in relation to the following:

Question 2

Where the reimbursement gives rise to an expense payment benefit, will it be an exempt benefit?

Answer: Yes

Question 3

Where you provide corporate massages to your employees as part of a corporate occupational health and safety initiative, does this constitute the provision of entertainment and therefore give rise to a tax exempt body entertainment benefit under section 38 of the FBTAA?

Answer: No.

However, a residual fringe benefit may arise if the exemptions contained in sections 58M and 58P of the FBTAA do not apply

Question 4

Will the provision of gift vouchers (movie gift vouchers, accommodation vouchers, amusement tickets give rise to a tax exempt body entertainment benefit under section 38 of the FBTAA?

Answer: Yes

Question 5

Will the provision of a gift voucher purchased from a department store be an exempt benefit under section 58P of the FBTAA?

Answer: Yes, where the value of the voucher is less than $300

Relevant facts and circumstances

You are an income tax exempt body.

You recognise that a healthy lifestyle impacts every part of an employee's day to day work. Accordingly, you have introduced an organisation wide employee Wellness Program for the purpose of encouraging overall health through physical activity.

The program allows for the reimbursement of expenses up to $150 per financial year incurred by employees that fall within one of the following approved categories that are directly related to health or fitness:

A single item valued at $150 per employee per financial year, or several items that together total $150 are acceptable under the program. However, only one claim per employee is able to be made per financial year.

To claim a reimbursement, employees must complete a personal expense voucher and have it approved by their manager. The reimbursement is then made directly to the employee's bank account by you.

Rewards and Recognition Program

You recognise employees for excellent performance or on completion of major projects/milestones. Your employees may receive the following gifts throughout the year as a reward:

Corporate Massages

You allow your employees who conduct high-volume processing work to attend massage appointments on a regular basis as an occupational health and safety initiative. Generally, the massage therapies are aimed at relieving stress and alleviating muscular or ligament tension resulting from computer-related work.

The massages are provided during work hours at a location other than on your business premises. You pay for the services, provided to your employees, directly to the external provider.

Reasons for decision

Question 1

Will a reimbursement of the following employee expenses give rise to a tax exempt body entertainment benefit under section 38 of the Fringe Benefits Tax Assessment Act 1986 (FBTAA):

Under the arrangement you will reimburse an amount of up to $150 for one of the listed expenses. Generally, a reimbursement will be an expense payment benefit as defined in section 20 of the FBTAA.

However, if the expenditure is in respect to the provision of entertainment it can be a tax-exempt body entertainment benefit. As some of the benefits for which you will be reimbursing your employees relate to the provision of entertainment, the initial question to consider is whether the reimbursement is a tax-exempt body entertainment benefit.

Is the reimbursement a tax-exempt body entertainment benefit?

Tax-exempt body entertainment benefits are defined in section 38 of the FBTAA, which states:

Where, at a particular time, a person (in this section referred to as the "provider") incurs non-deductible exempt entertainment expenditure that is wholly or partly in respect of the provision, in respect of the employment of an employee, of entertainment to a person (in this section referred to as the "recipient") being the employee or an associate of the employee, the incurring of the expenditure shall be taken to constitute a benefit provided by the provider to the recipient at that time in respect of that employment.

The term 'non-deductible exempt entertainment expenditure' is defined in subsection 136(1) to mean:

Non-deductible entertainment expenditure is also defined in subsection 136(1) as:

Section 32-5 of the ITAA 1997 states:

Therefore, a tax-exempt body entertainment benefit arises where the following conditions are satisfied:

(i) Did the expenses being reimbursed constitute the provision of entertainment?

Subsection 136(1) of the FBTAA states that 'entertainment has the meaning given by section 32-10 of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997'.

Subsection 32-10(1) of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 (ITAA 1997) defines 'entertainment' as:

'Recreation' is defined under subsection 136(1) of the FBTAA as;

The Macquarie Dictionary provides the following meaning of recreation:

The Macquarie Dictionary provides the following definition of amusement:

In your application you provided five examples of expenses that are able to be reimbursed. Guidance for determining if these expenses constitute the provision of entertainment is provided by paragraphs 2 and 3 of Taxation determination TD 94/55: Income tax: when does providing an item of property constitute the provision of entertainment within the meaning of subsection 51AE(3) of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1936?

Paragraphs 2 and 3 of TD 94/55 state:

TD 94/55 provides examples of costs which generally will not constitute the provision of entertainment and costs that generally will constitute the provision of entertainment. The examples given are:

TD 94/55 also provides examples of costs that will constitute the provision of entertainment. The examples given are:

(ii) Was the entertainment expenditure incurred in producing assessable income?

As you are not subject to income tax the expenditure will not be incurred in producing assessable income.

(iii) If the expenditure had been incurred in producing assessable income would section 32-5 of the ITAA 1997 have prevented an income tax deduction being claimed for the expenditure?

The tables in sections 32-30 to 32-50 of the ITAA 1997 set out the situations in which section 32-5 does not prevent a deduction being claimed for entertainment expenses. For example, item 1.5 of the table in section 32-30 enables a deduction to be claimed for providing a facility for recreation on property you occupy, if the facility is mainly operated for your employees to use. However, this exception does not apply if the facility is for accommodation or dining or drinking (unless it is a food or drink vending machine).

If the entertainment expenditure does not come within one of the exceptions the reimbursement will constitute the provision of a tax-exempt body entertainment benefit.

Conclusion

In applying the reasoning above to your situation the following conclusions have been made:

Question 2

Where the reimbursement gives rise to an expense payment benefit, will it be an exempt benefit?

As discussed above, the reimbursement of the cost of purchasing sporting equipment or the cost of a health program will be an expense payment benefit. This will be an exempt benefit if the requirements of either section 58M or section 58P are satisfied.

Will the benefits be an exempt benefit under paragraph 58M(1)(a)?

Paragraph 58M(1) provides that certain expense payment benefits will be an exempt benefit. For the purpose of this ruling the relevant exemptions are those provided for:

'Work-related medical screening', 'work-related preventative health care' and 'work-related counselling are defined in subsection 136(1) of the FBTAA.

In general terms, 'work-related medical screening is an examination or test carried out by or on behalf of a medical practitioner to ascertain whether the employee has suffered, is suffering or is at risk of suffering from work-related trauma that is made available to all employees who:

In general terms, 'work-related preventative health care' is care provided by, or on behalf of a medical practitioner in order to prevent the employee suffering from 'work-related trauma' that is made available to all employees who:

In general terms, 'work related counselling' is counselling attended by the employee which gives effect to an objective, purpose plan or policy devised, adopted or required to be followed by the employer to improve or maintain the quality of employees' duties which relates to one of the listed matters and is not provided wholly or principally as a reward for services rendered or to be rendered by the employee.

In considering these definitions, the sporting equipment and sports shoes will not come within any of these categories. However, the health programs may come within the categories if the particular arrangement satisfies the listed conditions. Where the conditions are satisfied the expense payment benefit will be an exempt benefit under section 58M.

Where the exemption in section 58M does not apply it is necessary to consider whether the benefit is an exempt minor benefit under section 58P of the FBTAA.

Section 58P of the FBTAA states:

Guidance on the possible application of section 58P is contained within Taxation Ruling TR 2007/12. In summarising the requirements of section 58, paragraphs 8 to 12 of TR 2007/12 state:

In applying these guidelines it is necessary to consider:

Paragraphs 11 of 12 of TR 2007/12 set out the benefits that will not be an exempt minor benefit even where the value is less than $300. The benefits listed are airline transport benefits, in-house benefits and most tax-exempt body entertainment benefits. A reimbursement of the expenses will not come within any of these categories.

The definition of 'notional taxable value' in subsection 136(1) provides that the 'notional taxable value' of the benefit will be the amount that would be the taxable value if the benefit was a fringe benefit.

The taxable value of an expense payment fringe benefit that arises from a reimbursement will generally be the amount of the reimbursement.

As the maximum amount that will be reimbursed is $150 the notional taxable value will be less than $300.

Paragraph 58P(1)(f) contains five specific criteria which must be considered in determining whether it would be unreasonable to treat the benefit as a fringe benefit. The five criteria are:

For the purposes of the minor benefits exemption the term 'associated benefits' is defined in subsection 58P(2) of the FBTAA to mean a benefit that is any of the following:

In the context of the Program each of the reimbursements may be an associated benefit.

In considering each of the five criteria:

The infrequency and irregularity with which associated identical or similar benefits are provided

The employee may not receive any associated benefits. Even if the employee does receive a reimbursement in another calendar year, the employee will not receive more than two benefits in a particular FBT year. Therefore, the benefits will not be provided frequently, but they may be provided regularly (once per year).

The sum of the notional taxable values of the minor benefit and associated benefits which are identical or similar to the minor benefit

The sum of the notional taxable values of the minor benefit and associated benefits which are identical or similar will vary. It may be an amount that is less than $150, or where benefits are received over a number of years the sum of the values could be several hundred dollars.

In either case, the sum is likely to be a minimal amount.

The sum of the notional taxable values of any other associated benefits

Similarly, the sum of the notional taxable values of any other associated benefits is also likely to be a minimal amount.

The practical difficulty in determining the notional taxable values of the minor benefit and any associated benefits

As the benefit is the reimbursement of a specific amount there will be no practical difficulties in determining the notional taxable values.

The circumstances surrounding the provision of the minor benefit and any associated benefits

In considering the circumstances in which the benefit is provided, paragraph 58P(1)(v) provides that it is necessary to consider whether the benefit was provided to assist the employee to deal with an unexpected event and whether the benefit was provided as a reward for services rendered.

In considering these factors, the benefit was not provided to assist with an unexpected event and nor was it provided as a reward for services.

Conclusion

On balance, having regard to the various criteria in subparagraphs of 58P(1)(f)(i) - 58P(1)(f)(v) of the FBTAA, it can be concluded that it would be unreasonable to treat a reimbursement of the expenses that do not constitute the provision of a tax exempt body entertainment benefit, as a fringe benefit.

Accordingly, a reimbursement provided to an employee which does not constitute the provision of tax exempt body entertainment and is not an exempt benefit under section 58M will be an exempt minor benefit under section 58P of the FBTAA.

Question 3

Where a corporate massage is provided as part of a corporate occupational health and safety initiative, does this constitute the provision of entertainment and therefore give rise to a tax exempt body entertainment benefit under section 38 of the FBTAA?

As per the reasoning in question 1, to determine if the corporate massages give rise to a tax exempt body entertainment benefit it is firstly necessary to establish if the expense being reimbursed constitutes the provision of entertainment.

You will engage an external corporate massage specialist to provide massages to employees engaged in your Call Centre who wish to avail themselves of the service provided. The purpose of the massages is to assist in relieving stress and alleviating muscular or ligament tension resulting from computer-related work.

Whilst it is arguable that the massages may fall within the definition of recreation by affording relaxation and enjoyment, the purposes of the massages are not intended for entertainment but rather for assisting in relieving stress and alleviating muscular or ligament tension resulting from computer-related work.

Therefore, as entertainment has not been provided to an employee, a tax-exempt body entertainment benefit does not arise.

However, the provision of a massage is a benefit that will be a residual benefit. Depending upon the facts of the situation, the massages may be an exempt benefit under section 58M as 'work-related preventative health care' or an exempt minor benefit under section 58P.

Question 4

Will the provision of movie gift vouchers, accommodation vouchers or amusement tickets give rise to a tax exempt body entertainment benefit under Section 38 of the FBTAA?

In applying the reasoning in Question 1, and in particular the guidelines in Paragraphs 2 and 3 of TD 94/55, the provision of movie gift vouchers, accommodation vouchers and amusement tickets to your employees will constitute the provision of entertainment and will be a tax exempt body entertainment benefit as per section 38 of the FBTAA.

Question 5

Will the provision of a voucher purchased from a department store be an exempt benefit under section 58P of the FBTAA?

In applying the reasoning in Question 1, and in particular the guidelines in Paragraphs 2 and 3 of TD 94/55, the provision of the non-specific gift vouchers will not constitute the provision of entertainment and therefore will not be a tax exempt body entertainment benefit. Rather, the benefits will be property benefits pursuant to section 40 of the FBTAA.

In applying the guidelines in section 58P of the FBTAA, as outlined in question 2, the following is considered in relation to the property benefits:

As established above, the benefits being considered are property benefits which are not one of the benefits listed in paragraphs 11 of 12 of TR 2007/12.

This requirement will be satisfied where the value of the gift vouchers is less than $300.

In considering each of the five criteria:

The infrequency and irregularity with which associated identical or similar benefits are provided

The gift vouchers are given to an employee for excellent performance or upon completion of a milestone and, as such, have an ad hoc nature. Therefore, whilst an employee may receive more than one voucher in a particular year, vouchers which are identical or similar are not reasonably expected to be provided to an employee on a frequent and regular basis.

The sum of the notional taxable values of the minor benefit and associated benefits which are identical or similar to the minor benefit

The sum of the notional taxable values of the minor benefit and associated benefits which are identical or similar will vary.

The sum of the notional taxable values of any other associated benefits

No other associated benefits will be provided.

The practical difficulty in determining the notional taxable values of the minor benefit and any associated benefits

As the benefit is a gift voucher of a specific value, there will not be practical difficulties in determining the notional taxable values.

The circumstances surrounding the provision of the minor benefit and any associated benefits

In considering these factors, the benefit was not provided to assist with an unexpected event. However, it was provided as a reward for services.

Conclusion

On balance, having regard to the various criteria in subparagraphs of 58P(1)(f)(i) - 58P(1)(f)(v) of the FBTAA, it can be concluded that it would be unreasonable to treat the benefits provided under the rewards and recognition program that do not constitute the provision of entertainment as a fringe benefit.

Accordingly, a gift voucher given to an employee under the rewards and recognition program that has a notional taxable value of less than $300 and does not constitute the provision of tax exempt body entertainment will be a minor benefit under section 58P of the FBTAA.


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