澳大利亚公共会计师协会（IPA AU）认为极有必要彻查澳大利亚员工福利税（FBT）相关政策规定，并表示该工作本应尽早完成。
“如果政府希望在降低税收监管的复杂性方面有所进展，没有哪个税种会比FBT更合适，”IPA AU高级税务顾问托尼﹒格雷克表示，“在澳洲的所有现行税种中，属FBT的合规成本最高，它为小企业的运营施加了大量合规负担。”
“含非营利部门在内的所有小企业雇主团体都面临着FBT制度的复杂性。我们正在与许多试图穿越规则泥潭的主体进行探讨，如何进行安全洽谈以符合这些规则的方式。”
“IPAAU相信，将FBT从雇主转移至雇员，能够更为公平地解决当前许多问题。基于员工水平对员工福利征税，可能会更为中立的处理现金和非现金收入，同时降低雇主和雇员的合规成本。”
“《亨利评论》支持这样一个提案，即简化现行规则，提升透明度。”
“长久以来，FBT条款也具有许多破格现象，需要负责任的政府加以解决。针对外出用餐和私人租用娱乐设施无上限豁免FBT的规定，极具歧视性，出于公平起见需要立即严格控制。”
“这些不设限优惠政策的使用违背了公平原则，例如，为避税而允许某人从税前收入中支取AU$40 000薪酬举办婚礼，此举很难站住脚。”
“如果改由雇员支付FBT，便需要考虑一种替代机制以筹集FBT税收优惠资金。由非营利部门税收优惠工作小组提议的机制可提供更为透明的激励，为非营利部门吸引并留住人才。”
IPAAU已将该建议列入其先期预算提案内容。请登录IPA AU全球官方网站了解详情。
报道原文：
Media Release: Start with FBT if youwant to remove red tape
Wednesday, 19 March 2014
An overhaul of thefringe benefits tax (FBT) is warranted and overdue, says the Institute of PublicAccountants (IPA).
"Look nofurther than FBT if the Government wants to make some inroads to its commitmentto reducing regulatory red tape," said IPA senior tax advisor, Tony Greco.
"FBT has theunenviable title of having the highest compliance cost of any tax. It places asignificant compliance burden on small business operators.
"Thecomplexity of the FBT system applies to all small business employer groups,including the not-for-profit sector. We are talking about a lot ofentities trying to navigate a quagmire of rules to safely negotiate ways tocomply with these tax rules.
"The IPAbelieves that shifting FBT from employers to employees would provide a moreequitable solution to many of the current problems. Taxing fringe benefits atthe employee level has the potential to deliver greater neutrality in thetreatment of cash and non-cash remuneration while reducing the compliance costsfor both employers and employees.
"The Henryreview supports such a proposal to simplify the current rules and provide formore transparency.
"There arealso a number of anomalies in the FBT rules which have been allowed to existfor too long and should be addressed by any responsible government.
"The use of uncapped access to FBT exemptions for restaurant meals and thehire of entertainment facilities for private purposes are highly discriminatoryand need to be immediately reined in on equity grounds".
"Theexploitation of these uncapped concessions offends the principle of fairness.For example, allowing someone to salary sacrifice a $40,000 wedding frompre-tax income to avoid a significant amount of tax is difficult tojustify.
"If theincidence of FBT is transferred to employees, then an alternative mechanism forfunding FBT tax concessions will need to be considered. The fundingalternatives proposed by the Not-for-Profit Sector Tax Concession Working Grouphave merit as they offer more transparent incentives for attracting andretaining talent in the not-for-profit sector.
These alternativesneed to be considered in the interests of simplicity, fairness andtransparency," said Mr Greco.
The IPA has madethis recommendation as part of its pre-Budget submission. Further detailscan be found at the IPA website.
