In the run up to the end of the FBT year, here are some specific benefits under family business arrangements that the ATO has deemed to be outside the scope of FBT law.
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.