Providing equipment to work from home

FBT 2025: What you need to know

Many businesses continue to offer flexible work from home arrangements. employees are often provided with work-related items to assist them to work from home.

In general, where work related items are provided to employees and used primarily for work, FBT shouldn’t apply.

For example, portable electric devices such as laptops and mobile phones provided to employees shouldn’t trigger an FBT liability as long they are primarily used by your employees for work. Multiple similar items can also be provided during the FBT year where required – for example multiple laptops have been provided to the employee – but only if the business has an aggregated turnover of less than $50m (previously, this threshold was less than $10m).

If the employee is using equipment provided by the business for their own private use, normally FBT would apply to the private use. However, the FBT liability can be reduced based on the business use percentage.  

Reducing the FBT record keeping burden

Record keeping for FBT purposes can be onerous. From 1 July 2024 however, your business will have a choice to keep using the existing FBT record keeping methods, use existing business records where those records meet the requirements set out by the legislative instrument, or a combination of both methods:

• Travel diaries – see LI 2024/11

• Living-away-from-home-allowance – FIFO/DIDO declarations – see LI 2024/4

• Living-away-from-home – maintaining an Australian home declaration – See LI 2024/5

• Otherwise deductible rule – expense payment, property or residual benefit declaration – See LI 2024/6

• Otherwise deductible rule – private use of a vehicle other than a car declaration – See LI 2024/7

• Car travel to an employment interview or selection test declaration – See LI 2024/14

• Remote area holiday transport declaration – See LI 2024/10

• Overseas employment holiday transport declaration – See LI 2024/13

• Car travel to certain work-related activities declaration – See LI 2024/9

• Relocation transport declaration – See LI 2024/12

• Temporary accommodation relating to relocation declaration – See LI 2024/8

FBT housekeeping

It can be difficult to ensure the required records are maintained in relation to fringe benefits – especially as this may depend on employees producing records at a certain time. If your business has cars and you need to record odometer readings at the first and last days of the FBT year (31 March and 1 April), remember to have your team take a photo on their phone and email it through to a central contact person – it will save running around to every car, or missing records where employees forget.

Need FBT help?

Please contact Collins Hume on 02 6686 3000 or access any of our free FBT factsheets here »