Commonwealth Numbered Regulations - Explanatory Statements

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FRINGE BENEFITS TAX AMENDMENT REGULATIONS 2000 (NO. 4) 2000 NO. 251

STATUTORY RULES 2000 No. 251

Issued by the Authority of the Assistant Treasurer

Fringe Benefits Tax Assessment Act 1986

Fringe Benefits Tax Amendment Regulations 2000 (No. 4)

Section 135 of the Fringe Benefits Tax Assessment Act 1986 (the Act) provides that the Governor-General may make regulations for giving effect to the Act.

The regulations amend the Fringe Benefits Tax Regulations 1992 (the Regulations) to exclude travel between home and work in a marked emergency vehicle from having to be reported on an employee's group certificate.

All employers are now required to report fringe benefits on their employees' group certificates. The Act identifies certain fringe benefits which do not need to be reported. These benefits are referred to as 'excluded fringe benefits' and currently include benefits such as meal entertainment and car parking fringe benefits. Paragraph 5E(3)(i) of the Act provides for other fringe benefits to be excluded in the future by way of regulation. The Regulations currently exclude a number of benefits from fringe benefits tax (FBT) reporting such as certain benefits provided to members of the Australian Defence Force.

The need for the Regulations follows from the Government's decision to provide a further exclusion from the requirement to report fringe benefits on group certificates. New subregulation 3B(5A) prescribes a benefit which arises from an employee's use of a car for travel between the employee's place of residence and a place where he or she is required to carry out their duties of employment (eg, responding to a call out) to be an excluded fringe benefit, where the car is an emergency services vehicle described in subsection 7(2A) of the Act. Broadly, subsection 7(2A) applies to a car that is:

*       used by an ambulance service, a firefighting service or a police service and is visibly marked for that use; and

*       fitted with flashing warning lights and sirens.

The changes will ensure that car fringe benefits arising from travel between home and work in a marked emergency vehicle will not be subject to FBT reporting on an employee's group certificate. Therefore, the amounts will not be taken into account when determining the individual's liability for certain tax surcharges or other obligations, or eligibility for certain government payments and concessions.

The regulations commenced on gazettal and apply to group certificates issued for the year of income ended 30 June 2000 and later years.