The Assistant Commissioner said that the ATO's compliance focus would include:
- car benefits - in particular the private use of employer-provided motor vehicles;
- correct calculation and reporting of living-away-from-home allowance (LAFHA) – common errors include claiming reductions for ineligible employees, failing to obtain required declarations from employees and failing to substantiate expenses;
- incorrect claiming of FBT exemption or FBT rebate by ineligible employers;
- employee reward programs in particular to directors and whether some of the rewards provided are in fact salary and wages rather than benefits;
- housing benefits; and
- benefits provided to directors of private companies.
Legislative changes applying from 1 April 2016, include:
- a new small business concession for work-related portable devices which allows an exemption for multiple similar items in the same FBT year;
- a new limit on concessional treatment of salary packaged meal entertainment benefits for not-for-profit employers;
- the requirement for all employers to report salary packaged entertainment benefits on employee payment summaries; and
- a single basic car rate of 66 cents per kilometre will apply to all cars for the purposes of the otherwise deductible rule for business use of employee cars.