Welcome to a big week of fiscal responsibility and economic management…
Budget Night is Here!
What I mean of course is that tomorrow night is Budget Night, and thanks to daylight savings, is kicking off an hour earlier than usual at 6:30pm AEST (Qld time).
As usual, I’ll be live tweeting along with the speech, as well as all of the goodies buried deep within the Budget Papers themselves.
Follow the Action
To follow along and interact you can:
- Follow me on Twitter, and/or
- Follow the #jerotweetsthebudget hashtag (you don’t need an account for this link)
On the “off chance” that you don’t want to wake up on Wednesday morning feeling like a hungover Accountant, I’ll also be emailing out my usual Budget summary of all the important measures announced on Wednesday morning.
End-of-March Housekeeping
This week also brings us to the end of month, the end of the March 2022 quarter, and also, on Thursday 31 March it is the end of the Fringe Benefits Tax (FBT) year.
What is Fringe Benefits Tax?
Essentially, fringe benefits are benefits provided to employees (or their family) by employers, and can include paying for gym memberships or private health insurances, providing entertainment – e.g. tickets to concerts or events, or giving benefits under a salary sacrifice agreement (excluding salary sacrificed superannuation).
Most commonly are benefits in the form of car fringe benefits – where a business leases or owns a passenger vehicle that is used by an employee (including a Director or owner) for both business and private purposes.
What Do I Need to Do?
For most of you, this means recording the closing odometer reading on 31st of March of your vehicles and providing them to me – and feel free to continue doing so again this year and emailing those details through to me.
While for other businesses, the days of recording your odometer reading as at 31 March each year has gone, the end of the FBT year is a timely reminder to think about the following:
- How long has it been since you’ve done a full log book for the car? (Logbooks are vehicle specific and last a maximum of five years)
- Has the business use % of the car changed significantly – either upward or downward?
- Have you recently purchased a new vehicle and are yet to do a logbook?
Update Your Logbook Processes
Logbooks don’t even need to be the fluro yellow books you leave in the glovebox of the car, either. There are many software and mobile phone app options that are compliant with ATO requirements as well, which make recording your use of the car a breeze.
Got Questions?
As always, if you have any questions about Fringe Benefits Tax, or whether the benefits you provide to your employees are fringe benefits, please don’t hesitate to contact me.
