Bonuses, commissions, consultant payments
Bonuses
Bonuses that do not relate to any particular month are taken to be paid in relation to services performed in the month in which they are paid. So a bonus paid annually in June could relate to services rendered for the entire financial year or a bonus paid quarterly could be for the preceding three months.
There is no proportioning of bonuses across states or territories. If an employee works across different states or territories in a month, but receives their bonus in a NSW account, then the liability for payroll tax will be in NSW.
Example
An employee has a Victorian bank account but works full time in NSW in May and June. The annual bonus paid on 30 June then becomes liable for NSW payroll tax, as the employee worked only in NSW, in the month the bonus was paid.
An employee has a NSW bank account and receives an annual bonus on 30 June having worked in both Victoria and South Australia in June. All of the bonus is liable in NSW, as the employee is paid in NSW and did not work wholly in any one State or territory.
Contractor and consultant payments
The contractor provisions, were included in the legislation to tax contractor payments when contractors provide services similar to employees. There are six general exemptions and three specific exemptions available. The purpose of these exemptions is to filter out independent contractors who provide their service to the public generally. Read contractors for more information.
Commissions
Commissions are all payments based on sales and are liable even if they are the only payments received by an employee.
For more information
