If an employee's time spent travelling to various workplaces to carry out their duties is rewarded based on an hourly rate, classified by their employer as a "travel allowance," and subject to income tax, is it also subject to SG? Besides the so-called "travel allowance", the employer pays no other payments for travel time. The employer reimburses meals, vehicle usage, and overnight accommodation costs, which are not subject to income tax or SG.
Hiya @Dcresolutions 👋
It depends on the nature and circumstances of the payment. Is it paid under an Award? If so, which Award? I'll review the wording of the clause for the allowance.
Deanne
Deanne, thanks for your response. There is no award.
Comes back to classification of the allowance. Is it an "expense" allowance expected to be fully spent (paragraph 72, not OTE) or an unconditional allowance to be spent or not on the assumed expense (paragraph 65, OTE).
Unfortunately, @Dcresolutions, the ATO guidance for OTE with respect to Allowances is woeful in the extreme 🤬 Clearly, assisting employers and intermediaries to get super guarantee right isn't a priority 😉
Deanne
Deanne, thanks again for your response. I find myself out of my depth as an employee, yet the implications are significant. It appears that an employer can state that a payment is an allowance without providing any explanation or direction on how the employee should expend it, either in whole or in part. When employees are facing redundancy, this has implications for SG and LSL. I naively thought that the ATO would have an easily accessible adjudication process for matters like this. Once again, thanks for your response.
The Fair Work Ombudsman can assist with how much you are paid 🤓 Deanne
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