You could salary package certain items under the Fringe Benefits Tax (FBT) exemption cap. Eligibility depends on your employer and your role (for example, only some Queensland Health and Legal Aid Queensland positions are entitled to the FBT exemption cap).
The FBT exemption cap limits the amount you can salary package within a FBT year (1 April to 31 March), without incurring FBT.
The cap applies to the combination of salary packaging benefits and non-salary packaging benefits (the latter being any fringe benefit provided by the employer outside of the salary packaging arrangements). However, any non-salary packaging benefits will be applied to the FBT exemption cap first.
Once you reach the FBT exemption cap, all future benefits will have FBT applied. For Queensland Government employees, the cost of any FBT will be the responsibility of the employee, including any liability that may be incurred as a result of salary packaging. To find out if you are eligible for the FBT exemption cap, please review your employee information booklet which can be found here.
What is the amount of the FBT exemption cap?
Currently, eligible employees can salary package a range of benefits up to either $9,010 or $15,900 each FBT year. The applicable amount assumes that the payments are not subject to GST. Where payments are subject to GST, this amount will be reduced to $8,172 or $14,421 respectively.
Please be aware that any non-salary packaging benefits will reduce these limits.
In accordance with the Commonwealth FBT legislation not everyone is eligible to access the FBT exemption cap. For more details, please refer to your employee information booklets which can be found here.
Our knowledgeable experts have answers to most common questions: check out our full FAQs list