Parking Australia Calls for Suspension of FBT on Car Parking
By Stuart Norman, Parking Australia CEO
Parking Australia wrote to the Federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg in mid-April, proposing the Federal Government suspend Fringe Benefits Tax (FBT) on car parking. Since then, Parking Australia have met with the Treasurer’s office to discuss our proposal. The Treasurer’s office is considering the proposal which they admit has benefits for employers, employees, and the parking industry.
With the focus of the Federal Government and some state governments being how to get Australia back to work, we believe our advocacy on this issue is timely. The Federal Government have made it clear that the they will not provide industry specific assistance to the parking industry and that they are loath to provide an industry with a tailored assistance package (unless you’re the aviation industry).
As such, we believe this proposal addresses that issue because FBT applies to all businesses with a turnover of more than $10m and who either purchase car parking (where the daily rate is more than $9.15 per day), or provide it on their own premises, which is within 1km of a commercial car park.
It is a positive proposal in that, employees would either receive free parking or heavily subsidised parking, making it more affordable and providing them with flexibility and choice in relation to how they get to work.
Employers would have the disincentive of purchasing or providing their staff with car parking taken away, also providing them with choice as to how they will encourage their staff to travel to work. We believe that removing FBT on car parking will assist business in providing a COVID safe working environment, making employees more productive and assisting the country’s economic recovery.
Parking Australia is providing further information to the Treasurer’s office for consideration, which we hope will see them make a decision in the coming two weeks.
In addition to this, Parking Australia has received some excellent media coverage on the issue. In particular, an article published in the Australia Financial Review: https://www.afr.com/policy/economy/car-park-operators-say-fringe-benefit-tax-relief-just-the-ticket-20200505-p54ptl
Congestion / Parking Space Levies
Parking Australia has had little success in urging the Victorian and West Australian Governments to ease their congestion / parking space levies. It is our hope that as parking becomes more of a focus with people beginning to travel more, that we will see both of these governments engage with Parking Australia and take action on these levies which are passed through to the consumer.
