18 February 2020

The Queensland Government recently announced a payroll tax rebate (“Employment Growth Rebate”) for eligible employers that employ additional full-time employees in Queensland.

Eligible employers may claim up to $20,000 per year where the employer can demonstrate an increase in its full-time employee numbers in Queensland over the 2019-20 and/or 2020-21 financial years.

The amount of the rebate will be calculated based on the employer’s annual payroll tax amount and the proportion that net employment increases. The rebate includes employees and workers such as contractors who are deemed employees for Queensland payroll tax purposes.

To be eligible for the rebate, employers will be required to provide additional information when lodging their 2019-20 and 2020-21 payroll tax annual returns.

What you need to do

If an employer wishes to claim the rebate in its 2019-20 payroll tax annual return, it will need to maintain the following records:

• A total of all Queensland full-time positions as at 1 July 2019. These positions which are filled by a full-time employee, other than a person deemed to be an employee under the payroll tax provisions who is either paid Queensland taxable wages or wages that are partially or fully exempt from payroll tax under the provisions.

• Monthly employee counts on the last day of each month in the 2019-20 financial year including all persons who are paid Queensland taxable wages in the month (including all employees and deemed employees under the payroll tax provisions) but excluding any employees and deemed employees whose wages are exempt from payroll tax in Queensland.

If you require more details on the employment growth rebate or assistance in making a claim when lodging your 2019-20 payroll tax annual return, please contact your tax adviser or get in touch with the Findex Tax Advisory team.