***WORKSHEET TO BE COMPLETED AND RETURNED BY 15 APRIL 2010***

To assist us in preparing your 2010 FBT Return, we have prepared a checklist, which applies to most situations.  Please use this and the accompanying worksheets to note details of all fringe benefits supplied to employees (or their family members) for the year ending 31 March 2010. In particular, please note the requirement to take car odometer readings on 31 March 2010.  Our office has maintained records of odometer reading on 31 March 2009, where they were provided to us.

If you are an FBT instalment payer you will be required to pay your fourth instalment with your March quarter BAS/IAS by 12 May 2010.  If you know what your actual FBT liability will be for the 2010 FBT year, you may vary this fourth instalment.  Alternatively, you should pay the fourth instalment and resolve any balance upon lodgment of the FBT Return.  The due date for lodgment of the Annual FBT Return is 28 May 2010.

Given the tight deadline for lodgment of FBT Returns, and the additional time constraints imposed on us by the requirement to lodge March quarter BAS’s by 12 May 2010, would you please return the completed worksheets to us no later than the 15 April 2010, even if you have answered “no” to all questions.

Items to be Aware of

Please note that fringe benefits provided to workers generally form part of the value of wages to be declared for workers’ compensation & payroll tax purposes.  Please note this when your workers’ compensation renewal is next due

If you are subject to payroll tax it should be noted that an adjustment to the total payroll is necessary for the value of fringe benefits provided. Please take this into account when completing your next annual payroll tax reconciliation or reviewing whether you are over the payroll tax threshold.

We will send you a summary of the fringe benefits amounts to be added to your wages for workers compensation and payroll tax purposes at the end of this process.

As you may be aware, fringe benefits provided to employees will need to be shown on PAYG Payment Summaries for the year ending 30 June 2010.  The figure to be included will be based on fringe benefits provided during the fringe benefits tax year from  1 April 2009 to 31 March 2010. We will provide you with a schedule of reportable fringe benefits per employee for this purpose with your completed FBT return.

Recent changes made by the ATO now require salary sacrificed superannuation to be shown on PAYG Payment Summaries. This is similar to the reporting portable fringe benefits. We have added an additional section to the checklist asking for details of any superannuation payments made in addition to the minimum 9% of gross wages.

The ATO have released statements indicating that they intend to increase their audit activity of the provision of fringe benefits and fringe benefits tax returns. As the audit activity and any liability for non compliance rests the employer we are asking you to collect additional information from your employees to ensure that the details they provide to you are correct.

 
For motor vehicle fringe benefits we have included a pro forma statutory declaration for an employee to report either their kilometres travelled or their log book percentage. If you are intending to use the operating cost/ log book percentage you should obtain a copy of the log book and forward it to us. In many cases log books are not completed correctly and need to be verified before they are relied on.