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As the lodgment date looms, the Tax Office delivers an A to Z on FBT.
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ATO calls on accountants to ensure smooth FBT returns
05 April 2023
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10 minute read
The ATO is calling on accountants to ensure their clients meet any outstanding requirements they might have before the FBT deadline.
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The preliminary item the Tax Office asked accountants to check was if their clients were required to lodge a tax return or not.
The ATO said clients must lodge an FBT return if within the FBT year they had FBT payable on fringe benefits they provided to their employees or had paid FBT instalments through their activity statements.
For those clients who paid FBT instalments, the Tax Office said it would only provide a refund where it was due after receiving lodgment of their return.
Accountants were also warned that they had to inform the ATO if a client did not need to lodge an FBT return for the year gone, with the notice required by the time their return would normally be due.
The Tax Office required an FBT notice of non-lodgment to prevent it from seeking a return from the client at a later date.
Accountants were also advised that clients who had to pay $3,000 or more in FBT for the most recent year would be required to pay their FBT in quarterly instalments for the next one.
This change would see the ATO send an activity statement to the client each quarter which would show them the due date for lodging and paying their activity statement and their FBT instalment amount.
For those clients using instalments, all activity statements had to be filed by 31 March before lodging their FBT return for the year.
The ATO reminded those without an accountant or tax agent that they had to lodge their FBT return and pay the amount owed by 21 May.
Accountants and tax agents had to have their clients’ FBT returns lodged by 25 June and any prospective clients had to sign up by 21 May to ensure they were eligible for the later lodgment date.
The ATO said most electronic lodgments would be processed within 14 days with paper lodgments being completed within 50 business days. If a refund was due it should be processed within 28 days.
The Tax Office also reminded accountants this would be the first FBT lodgment year where if their clients were employers they would not have to pay FBT on benefits provided for eligible electric cars and associated car expenses.
This would only occur if the vehicle met all of the following criteria:
- The car was a zero or low-emissions vehicle.
- The first time the car was both held and used was on or after 1 July 2022.
- The car was used by a current employee or their associates (such as family members).
- Luxury car tax had never been payable on the importation or sale of the car.
Accountants were prompted by the ATO that businesses with an aggregate turnover of $10 million or more, and less than $50 million, could also access FBT small business concessions.
These concessions included an FBT dispensation for small business car parking and the FBT exemption in relation to the provision of multiple work-related portable electronic devices.
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