Planning a grand Christmas bash for your business? Don’t let your festive cheer be overshadowed by an unexpected Christmas Grinch, better known as the Fringe Benefits Tax (FBT). Let’s unwrap this potential tax tangle and ensure he doesn’t visit you this silly season.
Firstly, there’s a key rule to understand. If your party meets the following conditions, you’re in the clear:
- Your celebration is kept on your business premises
- The party is within regular working hours
- Your invite list is exclusively for your current employees
If you stray away from these conditions, things start to get a bit more complex.
Once your festive event moves away from your workplace or includes partners and associates, you could consider the minor and infrequent rule to minimise/avoid FBT. This rule requires you as the employer to keep the cost per attendee below $300. That is the total amount per head, so including venue/drinks/food etc. So once your party is off-site, FBT might come into play and become a costly tax bill if you aren’t careful.
To avoid FBT entirely, you have 2 options:
- Keep your party costs under $300 per head; or
- Host your end-of-year celebration at your office within regular business hours.
Avoid any post-Christmas tax surprises and contact our friendly team today >> support@walkerhill.com.au.
