Chief Operating Officer Portfolio

Fringe benefits tax (FBT)

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Contact the Tax team in Corporate Finance if you have questions about fringe benefits tax.

UniFi processes

Fringe benefits tax (FBT) is automatically calculated in UniFi on a monthly basis on transactions posted to the FBT-able accounts below. FBT is posted into account 800410 – Fringe Benefit Tax expense, using the same chartstring as the original transaction, at the end of the month.

If the balance of FBT expense account 800410 is unusual for the month, review individual transactions posted in the below FBT-able accounts and find the similar values that would trigger FBT. Generally FBT is about 107% or 88% of the original GST exclusive amount, depending on GST input tax credits.

FBT expense accounts

The amount of the FBT charged is based on all of the transactions posted in these fringe benefit expense accounts:

  • 650141: Staff Appointment and Visa Costs - FBT
  • 650151: Other Staff Expense/Cost - FBT
  • 650230: Self Educ & HECS Reimb - FBT
  • 707160: Private/Spouse Domestic Travel - FBT
  • 707260: Private/Spouse International Travel - FBT
  • 707410: Corporate Hospitality - FBT
  • 707430: Staff Gifts and Awards >$300 - FBT
  • 707445: Employee Hospitality - FBT
  • 707465: Fee-for-service Hospitality - FBT.

Correcting an error

Operational units must not post any manual journals to 800410.

When FBT errors arise, the process for manual corrections is:

  1. Update the hospitality calculator (XLSX, 1 MB) or any other supporting documents to support the reason for changes in posting, as an audit trail.
  2. Post a corrective journal based on the amount in Unifi to the FBT-able expense account (not 800410)
  3. Contact the Tax team in Corporate Finance for any GST adjustments, if applicable (for example, changes in number of visitors on hospitality calculator).
  4. Do nothing with 800410 as the FBT will automatically take effect in the corresponding 800410 account when the correcting credit or debit entry is posted to the FBT-able account.

Example

$100 was originally posted to 707410 - Corporate Hospitality - FBT

  • Due to a change in the visitor numbers, this amount needs to be reclassified to 707415 - Corporate Hospitality - non-FBT
  • After the hospitality calculator was updated, the amount for posting in 707415 is $110, as GST on visitors entertainment cannot be claimed.

Corrective journal required to be posted by the Finance Officer (based on the current value in UniFi):

  • Dr 707415 - Corporate Hospitality - non-FBT $100
  • Cr 707410 - Corporate Hospitality - FBT $100

The Finance Officer must email the Tax team in Corporate Finance with the full chartstring, amount, description, and the old and new hospitality calculators to adjust the GST portion that could no longer be claimed from the ATO. As a result, $10 GST will be posted to 707415, bringing the transaction total amount in 707415 to $110.

In 800410 of the same chartstring, $107.55 will be reversed out automatically at the end of the month.