The auto industry appears united in slamming the change in fringe benefit tax rules (FBT) announced by the Rudd Government.
“Business confidence has taken a slug this week as business owners realise the carbon tax has been replaced by a ‘car bad’ tax of $4000 a year,” says Nigel Malcolm, CEO of Fleetcare, Australia’s largest independent fleet management company.
Malcolm says that Fleetcare has been inundated with calls from client companies seeking clarification on the tax changes and expressing alarm and indignation about the unexpected ‘”ax-grab” by the government.
Fleetcare estimates that more than 70% of managed fleets use the statutory method to account for car use (i.e. not the log book method).
Malcolm says: “A business owner now faces the stark choice between telling staff they will earn $4000 less because of the tax, or taking that same amount of money out of company profits.
“Log books offer no real solution because business must bear the cost of managing and verifying travel logs.
“That’s 12 weeks of data per car every five years. But if a driver’s job changes, if they’re given a new business territory, if their home or business address changes or there is any material change for the driver, then the driver will need to do another log book. When you have a fleet of vehicles of any size, it’s a massive undertaking.”
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