Disclaimer
This edited version has been archived due to the length of time since original publication.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 your private ruling

Authorisation Number: 1012511522728

Ruling

Subject: Living-away-from-home allowance

Question 1

Is the payment for the removal and transport of the employee's household effects to Australia an exempt benefit under section 58B of the Fringe Benefits Tax Assessment Act 1986 (FBTAA)?

Answer

Yes

Question 2

Will the temporary accommodation provided to the employee be an exempt benefit?

Answer

No

Question 3

Will the initial flights to Australia for the employee and their family be an exempt benefit under section 58F of the FBTAA?

Answer

Yes

Question 4

Can the taxable value of the living-away-from-home allowance paid to the employee be reduced by the exempt accommodation component?

Answer

No

Question 5

Is the motor vehicle allowance paid to the employee subject to the Pay As You Go (PAYG) withholding system?

Answer

Yes

Question 6

Is the annual flight to their homeland eligible for concessional treatment under section 61A of the FBTAA?

Answer

Yes

This ruling applies for the following periods:

Year ended 31 March 2014

Year ended 31 March 2015

Year ended 31 March 2016

Year ended 31 March 2017

The scheme commences on:

The scheme has commenced.

Relevant facts and circumstances

This ruling is based on the facts stated in the description of the scheme that is set out below. If your circumstances are materially different from these facts, this ruling has no effect and you cannot rely on it. The fact sheet has more information about relying on your private ruling.

The employee is from overseas (the Employee).

The Employee has been appointed a Managing Director of the Company and has been granted an Australian Temporary Work 457 Visa for a period not exceeding 4 years.

The employment commencement date was dd/mm/yyyy.

The following benefits were provided to the employee:

Payment

Details

Date

Relocation Costs

Payment for the removal and transport via sea freight of household effects from their homeland to Australia

 

Temporary Accommodation

Fully furnished accommodation provided until employee leased a property

 

Initial Airline Travel

Air travel from their homeland to Australia for the employee & his immediate family

 

Living Allowance

Allowance to cover the costs of renting a residence in Australia.

House lease commenced

Motor Vehicle Allowance

Paid fortnightly

 

Fuel Card

Use of a fuel card

 

Air Travel

Annual return flights for the employee and his family to their homeland

 

Relevant legislative provisions

Fringe Benefits Tax Assessment Act 1986 Section 31

Fringe Benefits Tax Assessment Act 1986 Section 31B

Fringe Benefits Tax Assessment Act 1986 Section 31C

Fringe Benefits Tax Assessment Act 1986 Section 31D

Fringe Benefits Tax Assessment Act 1986 Section 58B

Fringe Benefits Tax Assessment Act 1986 Section 58F

Fringe Benefits Tax Assessment Act 1986 Section 61A

Fringe Benefits Tax Assessment Act 1986 Section 61C

Fringe Benefits Tax Assessment Act 1986 Sub-section136(1)

Fringe Benefits Tax Assessment Act 1986 Section 143A

Fringe Benefits Tax Assessment Act 1986 Section 143C

Reasons for decision

Question 1

Is the payment for the removal and transport of the employee's household effects to Australia an exempt benefit under section 58B of the Fringe Benefits Tax Assessment Act 1986 (FBTAA)?

Section 58B of the FBTAA, deals with the treatment of removal and storage of household effects, as a result of an employee's relocation.

This section exempts from fringe benefits tax, benefits arising in relation to removal and storage costs incurred by the employee, who moves from one locality to another in the course of employment or in order to commence employment.

Subsection 58B(1) of the FBTAA states:

In considering these requirements:

Therefore, as all of the requirements are met, the payment for the removal and transport of the employee's household effects will be an exempt benefit under section 58B of the FBTAA.

Question 2

Will the temporary accommodation provided to the employee be an exempt benefit?

When the employee initially came to Australia you provided the employee with fully furnished accommodation until the employee was able to rent accommodation.

In your ruling application, you asked whether the provision of this accommodation is exempt under section 61C of the FBTAA.

Subsection 61C of the FBTAA states:

In considering these requirements, paragraph (b) requires the temporary accommodation to be required solely because the employee is required to change his or her usual place of residence in order to perform the duties of employment.

The FBTAA does not define usual place of residence. However, subsection 136(1) of the FBTAA defines 'place of residence' to mean:

In the absence of a legislative reference it is relevant to refer to the ordinary meaning of 'usual'. The Macquarie Dictionary defines 'usual' to mean:

Guidelines for determining an employee's usual place of residence are provided by Miscellaneous Taxation Ruling MT 2030 Fringe benefits tax: living-away-from-home allowance benefits (MT 2030).

Paragraphs 11 and 12 of MT 2030 state:

Paragraphs 15 to 18 refer to various decision of Taxation Boards of Review relating to the former 51A of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1936 (ITAA 1936). In referring to these decisions paragraph 14 of MT 2030 states:

Further discussion occurs at paragraphs 19 to 25. Paragraph 20 provides the following general rule:

As an example of the application of this general rule paragraph 22 states:

These principles and the various cases that have considered usual place of abode or usual place of residence were discussed by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal in Compass Group (Vic) Pty Ltd (as trustee for White Roche & Associates Hybrid Trust) v FC of T [2008] AATA 845; 2008 ATC 10-051. At paragraphs 55 and 56 Deputy President S A Forgie said:

In considering the general rules set out in MT 2030 and the factors discussed by the AAT:

These factors indicate the employee has an intention to return to their homeland at the conclusion of the four year period. Therefore, on the basis of paragraph 22 of MT 2030 the residence in their homeland is considered to be the usual place of residence.

Therefore, as the usual place of residence has not changed, the requirement in paragraph 61C(1)(b) is not met and the concession provided by section 61C will not apply to the accommodation provided to the employee in April and May 2013.

Although the concession provided by section 61C of the FBTAA cannot apply as the usual place of residence has not changed, there is an alternative exemption that may apply where an employer provides accommodation to an employee who is required to live away from their usual place of residence to perform the duties of employment.

This exemption is contained within subsection 47(5) of the FBTAA which states:

Where

(a) a residual benefit consisting of the subsistence, during a year of tax, of a lease or licence in respect of a unit of accommodation is provided to an employee of an employer in respect of his or her employment; and

(b) the unit of accommodation is for the accommodation of eligible family members and is provided solely because the duties of that employment require the employee to live away from his or her normal residence; and

(ba) the employee satisfies:

(i) sections 31C (about maintaining an Australian home) and 31D (about the first 12 months); or

(ii) section 31E (about fly-in fly-out and drive-in drive-out requirements); and

(c) the accommodation is not provided while the employee is undertaking travel in the course of performing the duties of that employment; and

(d) any of the following conditions is satisfied:

(i) subsection (7) applies in relation to the provision of transport for the employee in connection with travel in the period in the year of tax when the lease or licence subsisted, being travel between the employee's usual place of residence and the employee's usual place of employment;

(ii) if the employee satisfies sections 31C and 31D - the employee gives to the employer, before the declaration date, a declaration, in a form approved by the Commissioner, purporting to set out the matters in subparagraphs 31F(1)(a)(i) to (iii);

(iii) if the employee satisfies section 31E - the employee gives to the employer, before the declaration date, a declaration, in a form approved by the Commissioner, purporting to set out the matters in subparagraphs 31F(1)(b)(i) to (iii);

In considering these requirements, the requirements of paragraphs (a) and (b) are met as the benefit is a residual benefit that consists of the provision of accommodation to an employee who is required to live away from his or her normal residence to perform the duties of employment.

Paragraph 47(5)(ba) of the FBTAA requires the employee to satisfy sections 31C and 31D of the FBTAA or section 31E of the FBTAA.

In general terms, section 31C of the FBTAA requires the employee to be living away from the place in Australia where he or she usually resides when in Australia. In addition, the employee or spouse must have an ownership interest in the unit of accommodation and the accommodation must be available for the employee's immediate use and enjoyment during the period the duties of employment require the employee to live away from it.

Section 31D of the FBTAA limits the exemption to a 12 month period the employee is required to live at a particular location.

Section 31E sets out the circumstances in which an employee will be considered to be a fly-in fly-out and drive-in drive-out employee. Where the employee is a fly-in fly-out and drive-in drive-out employee, it is not necessary for the requirements of sections 31C and 31D to be met.

In general terms, an employee will be a fly-in fly-out and drive-in drive-out employee if he or she works for a number of days and has a number of days off (but not the same days in consecutive weeks) and on completion of the working days travels from the usual place of employment to his or her normal residence and on completion of the days off, returns to the usual place of employment. As these requirements are not met, the application of subsection 47(5) will require the requirements of sections 31C and 31D to be met unless the arrangement comes within the transitional provisions contained in items 27 and 28 of the Tax Laws Amendment (2012 Measures No. 4) Act 2012.

In general terms, the transitional rules delayed the introduction of sections 31C and 31D where the accommodation was being provided under an employment arrangement that was in place on 8 May 2012. As the employee did not commence employment until dd/mm/yyyy an employment arrangement was not in place on 8 May 2012 and the transitional provisions will not apply. Therefore, it is necessary to consider whether the requirements of sections 31C and 31D of the FBTAA are met.

Section 31C of the FBTAA states:

This section requires the employee to be living away from the place in Australia where he or she usually resides. This requirement is not met as the employee was not required to live away from neither the accommodation that you provided in mm and mm/yyyy, nor the house that the employee rented from mm/yyyy.

Therefore, paragraph 47(5)(ba) is not satisfied. As this paragraph is not satisfied, the accommodation provided in April and May 2013 will not be an exempt benefit.

Question 3

Will the cost of the initial flights to Australia for the employee and his family be an exempt benefit under section 58F of the FBTAA?

In general terms, section 58F of the FBTAA provides that the provision of relocation transport will be an exempt benefit.

Section 143A of the FBTAA defines relocation transport as:

(e) if the transport is for the spouse, or a child, of the employee - the transport is not provided to enable the spouse or child to accompany the employee:

(f) if the transport is for the employee - the transport is not provided while the employee is undertaking travel in the course of performing the duties of that employment; and

In considering these requirements:

Therefore, the requirements in section 143A of the FBTAA are met and the transport is relocation transport. As the transport is a residual benefit that is in respect of relocation transport the initial flights to Australia will be an exempt benefit under section 58F of the FBTAA.

Question 4

Can the taxable value of the living-away-from-home allowance paid to the employee be reduced by the exempt accommodation component?

In general terms, there are three alternate methods that can be used to calculate the taxable value of a living-away-from-home allowance. The three methods are set out in:

As discussed above, in relation to the accommodation provided to the employee in mm and mm/yyyy, the requirements of section 31C are not met and the employee is not a fly-in fly-out and drive-in drive-out employee.

Therefore, the relevant method to calculate the taxable value of the living-away-from-home allowance is the method set out in section 31B of the FBTAA.

Section 31B of the FBTAA states:

As this section does not provide for the amount of the allowance to be reduced by either, the exempt food or exempt accommodation components, the taxable value of the living-away-from-home allowance fringe benefit will be the amount of the allowance.

Question 5

Is the motor vehicle allowance paid to the employee subject to the Pay As You Go (PAYG) withholding system?

Taxation Ruling TR 92/15 Income tax and fringe benefits tax: the difference between an allowance and a reimbursement (TR 92/15) provides guidance as to when a payment will be an allowance. Paragraphs 1 to 3 state:

Paragraph 6 of TR 92/15 explains an allowance to be:

The payments are a pre determined amount payable each fortnight. In applying TR 92/15, these payments will be an allowance which will be part of the employee's assessable income.

The ATO publication, Withholding from allowances contains a list of allowances that are subject to PAYG withholding. The list includes motor vehicle allowances paid for non-deductible travel.

For your information we have enclosed a copy of Withholding from allowances.

Question 6

Is the annual flight to their homeland eligible for concessional treatment under section 61A of the FBTAA?

The general effect of section 61A of the FBTAA is to provide a reduction in the taxable value of fringe benefits that arise from holiday travel provided in accordance with an award or industry custom to employees posted overseas. The amount of the reduction will be either 50% of the gross taxable value, or 50% of the benchmark travel amount.

For the reduction to apply the fringe benefits have to be in respect of overseas employment holiday transport. Overseas employment holiday is defined in subsection 143C(1) of the FBTAA. Subsection 143C(1) states:

(B) another place;

In considering these requirements:

As each of these requirements are met, the flights are taken to be in respect of overseas employment holiday transport and the reduction in section 61A of the FBTAA will apply to the calculation of the taxable value of the fringe benefit.


Copyright notice

© Australian Taxation Office for the Commonwealth of Australia

You are free to copy, adapt, modify, transmit and distribute material on this website as you wish (but not in any way that suggests the ATO or the Commonwealth endorses you or any of your services or products).