Fringe Benefits Tax (FBT) is the tax payable on all taxable employer-provided benefits or “fringe benefits”. Southgate calculates the FBT on a Novated Lease using the Statutory Formula Method. This calculation is based on the cost price of the vehicle and the number of days in the year the vehicle is packaged (1st April to 31st March).

Car running costs can be salary packaged under a Novated Lease and are exempt from FBT, as the FBT payable only relates to the base cost of the vehicle, not the running costs.

The cost of a novated motor vehicle lease to an employee’s salary package is the total operating cost of the vehicle plus any applicable FBT.

Calculating FBT on a Novated Lease vehicle

There are two steps involved in the calculation of FBT on a Novated Lease, outlined below.

Step 1: Calculate the taxable value of the motor vehicle using the following formula:

Taxable Value = [(A x B) x C ÷ D] – E

Where:
A = base value of the motor vehicle
B = statutory percentage
C = number of days in the FBT year where the vehicle was available for private use by the employee
D = the number of days in the FBT year
E = the recipient contribution (RCM)

A fixed Statutory Percentage of 25% is applied during the calculation of Fringe Benefits Tax, regardless of the actual number of kilometres travelled by the vehicle during the FBT Year.

Step 2: Calculate the Fringe Benefits Tax using the following formula

The ‘gross up factor’ will be 2.0802 when GST is applicable to leasing arrangement (Type 1 benefit).

Example: Calculating FBT using the Statutory Formula Method (without RCM)

Assumptions:

• Vehicle cost base = $30,000 (excludes on-road costs)
• Annual kilometres = 15,000kms (20% statutory percentage)
• 2.0802 gross-up factor (Type 1 benefit)
• No recipient contribution

Step 1: Calculate the Taxable Value

Step 2: Calculate the FBT