Couriers & Cleaners To Report Contractor Payments
February 13, 2018
From 1 July 2018, the taxable payments reporting system will extend beyond the building industry to cleaning and courier businesses. This means that these businesses will need to report payments they make to contractors (individual and total for the year) to the ATO. By ‘payment’ the ATO means any form of consideration including non-cash benefits and constructive payments.
The building industry has had this form of “enhanced reporting” since 2012-13. The result was an additional $2.3 billion in income tax and GST liabilities collected through voluntary reporting in the first year alone.
What is a cleaning and courier service?
The terms ‘cleaning service’ and ‘courier service’ take their ordinary meaning.
Courier services include activities where items or goods are collected from, and/or delivered to, any place in Australia using a variety of methods including by truck, car, station wagon, van, ute, motorcycle, motorised scooter, bicycle or other non-powered means of transport, or on foot. Freight services, blood and blood product couriers, and passenger transport are not affected.
A cleaning service is any service where a structure, vehicle, place, surface, machinery or equipment has been subject to a process in which dirt or similar material has been removed from it. This includes office cleaning, road sweeping or street cleaning, swimming pool cleaning, park and facilities cleaning, or cleaning for certain types of cultural or sporting events.
Mixed business that supply services including courier or cleaning services will also be affected.
What you need to do
From 1 July 2018, you will need to keep a record of, and report, all payments to your contractors. The information you will be required to keep are:
- ABN (where known)
- Name
- Address
- Total paid to the contractor (including GST) for the financial year, and
- Total GST included in the gross amount that was paid.
The first annual report for affected cleaning and courier companies is due by 29 August 2019 for the 2018-19 year.
If an invoice you receive from a contractor includes both labour and materials, whether itemised or combined, you will need to report the total amount of the payment.
If your business is likely to be affected by the new requirements and you currently do not have systems in place that allow you to readily access the information required by the ATO, it’s important to start your planning now. Contact us at The Field Group – Accounting if you require assistance.
This document contains general advice only and is prepared without taking into account your particular objectives, financial circumstances and needs. The information provided is not a substitute for legal, tax and financial product advice. Before making any decision based on this information, you should speak to a licensed financial advisor who should assess its relevance to your individual circumstances. While The Field Group believes the information is accurate, no warranty is given as to its accuracy and persons who rely on this information do so at their own risk. The information provided in this bulletin is not considered financial product advice for the purposes of the corporations Act 2001.