On Tuesday, 9 May 2023, Treasurer Jim Chalmers handed down the 2023-24 Federal Budget. As with all Budgets, these are announcements only and have not been legislated. The details are still to be worked through, and both Houses of Parliament need to pass legislation before the announcements take effect.

The announcement by the Government of additional funding totalling $11.3 billion over 4 years to deliver a pay increase to over 250,000 workers is a very positive initiative that will be supported by all stakeholders in the aged care sector.

The additional funding includes staff in residential and community aged care services. Due to the complexity of the residential aged care funding streams and it being the major portion of the additional funding, we have focussed this analysis on residential aged care.

Click here to download a PDF copy of the Aged Care Funding Budget Announcement and StewartBrown's Analysis.

The StewartBrown December 2022 (six months) Aged Care Financial Performance Survey incorporates detailed financial and supporting data from 1,138 aged care homes (92,312 beds/places) and 66,703 home care packages across Australia. The quarterly survey is the largest benchmark in the aged care sector and provides invaluable insight into the trends and drivers of financial performance at the sector level and at the aged care home or programme level.

Click here to download a PDF copy of the Stewartbrown Aged Care Financial Performance Survey report for December 2022 (six months).

The Fringe Benefits Tax (“FBT”) year ended on 31 March 2023 and each employer is required to calculate their liability for FBT. Where a liability for FBT exists, an annual return is required to be lodged and any tax paid by 21 May 2023. However, if the return is lodged electronically by a Tax Agent the due date of lodgement and for payment is 25 June 2023.

Where an employee reimburses their employer for the value of a taxable fringe benefit(s) provided to them (thereby reducing the FBT liability to nil) there is no requirement to lodge an annual FBT return. However, we strongly advise lodging a nil return in these instances as this starts the time period in which the ATO can challenge your FBT assessment. Where no FBT annual return is lodged, the ATO have no time limit and can raise an FBT assessment at any time. As with all tax lodgements, appropriate documentary evidence must be maintained. Where FBT reimbursements are paid by the employee to the employer they are subject to GST and 1/11th of these amounts must be disclosed on your business activity statement for the quarter in which the reimbursement is received. We will advise you of any such amounts, where applicable, when we prepare your FBT return.

To assist you in understanding your FBT obligations we enclose the following:

1. An update of the main changes during the year, which you may need to consider when determining your FBT liability.
2. A summary of taxable benefits typically provided to employees, in order to assist you in determining whether you may be providing such benefits to your employees.
3. A summary of the on-going income statement reporting obligations.

We remind you that where motor vehicles are provided to employees or their associates for their private use, odometer readings must be recorded as at 31 March each year for each motor vehicle. We enclose a form which should be used to record this information. Also included is a form for your completion in respect of entertainment expenditure. We require this information in order to assist in the calculation of your FBT liability, if any.

If you have any queries in respect of your potential FBT liability or would like StewartBrown to perform a FBT ‘health check’ on your business, please contact one of the StewartBrown Managers or Partners to discuss.

Click here to download a PDF copy of the Stewartbrown 2023 FBT edition of our client newsletter.