Draft revenue ruling on payroll tax exclusion for contractors open for comment

Published on 06 January 2020

Revenue Ruling PTA-021, which deals with the payroll tax exclusion for contractors who ordinarily provide services to the public, has been redrafted following an inter-jurisdictional review and is now open for public comment.

Under the Payroll Tax Act 2007:

• Certain contractors are deemed to be employees with payments for work under a relevant contract deemed to be wages and  therefore taxable if they also meet the nexus provisions under section 11 of the Act.
• An exclusion from payroll tax is provided under section 32(2)(b)(iv) of the Act for payments to contractors who ordinarily perform services to the public.  

Following the decision in Nationwide Towing & Transport Pty Ltd v Commissioner of State Revenue in October 2018, Revenue Ruling PTA-021 was withdrawn, with interim advice in respect to applying section 32(2)(b)(iv) published on our website. 

The redrafted revenue ruling - Revenue Ruling PTA-021v2 - is available for public comment until 5pm on Monday 3 February 2020.

We welcome your comments, including suggestions to improve its clarity, via email at consultation@sro.vic.gov.au.