So it’s time for the Work Christmas Bash, pop a few Champagne corks to celebrate jobs well done.
Here at WWAMD we believe that is important for all your employers playing Santa this season that they don’t suffer from a FBT tax hangover.
Though the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) is not renowned for letting the good times roll. There are a few tips the ATO allow to help all you Santa’s bring some cheer back into the celebrations and keep the celebrations FBT free.
So to all you Santas the two most important things to remember when it comes to the Work Christmas Party and Gifts are:
- Minor Benefits
- $300
To keep your Christmas Party FBT free, the celebrations must be a minor benefit and the benefit is infrequent or irregular. The value of the benefit must not exceed $300 per person, which includes the total of meals, drinks, entertainment, taxi, and any associated benefits for the Staff Christmas Function.
Good news for the more generous Santas, for those of you that decide to also reward your Staff with a gift, providing that the Christmas Party and the gift are both less than $300, they are consider separate for FBT purpose. So if each is less than $300 they are both generally FBT Free.
However Santa you will not be able to claim it as a tax deduction or be able to claim GST on these.
If Santa decides to fill his staff’s pockets with cash gifts before too many Christmas ales, just remember that cash gifts are consider to be wages and salary and PAYG withholding and super guarantee obligations will be triggered, as the ATO will treat cash gifts as a bonus and ordinary time earnings.
Anyway from all of us here at WWAMD to all you Santas Have a great Christmas Party and keep your celebration FBT Fee. For Further Information Contact us here at WWAMD or follow this link