With the 2017 FBT year only 4 days old, let’s have a look at some of the benefits that do not attract FBT.
The items that do not attract FBT include:
- a birthday present given to a child who works in a business run by the parents
- a wedding gift given by parents to an adult child who had some years earlier worked after school in the family business
- an interest-free or concessional loan given to such a child for the purpose of buying a matrimonial home
- the value of meals and accommodation provided to children of a primary producer in the family home where they work on the family farm
- the rental value of a farm homestead occupied by a family whose private company conducts the farming business in which they work and holds the title to the homestead
- the value of accommodation provided free in the family home to a child apprenticed to his/her parent as a motor mechanic, and
- the administration costs of an employer in providing fringe benefits.
And some “left field” FBT fun facts
The following are examples of obscure or misunderstood FBT rules.
- Shopping centre car parks that provide free parking for an initial period (the first two hours, for example), and thereafter charge a fee based on time (to discourage all-day parking), are not considered by the ATO to be “commercial parking stations” for the purpose of determining if there is a car parking fringe benefit.
- Where a mobile phone or similar item is treated as an exempt work-related item and the monthly call costs are exempt, the exemption will extend to internet data usage fees
- Where a loan is made in respect of employment to an employee who is also a shareholder of a private company, there will be no loan fringe benefit if the loan amount (or residual un-repaid balance) is deemed to be a dividend made to the borrower.