How remuneration works

Included. Record this in section A of your declaration of rateable remuneration.

Included. Record this in section A of your declaration of rateable remuneration.

Included. Record this in section A of your declaration of rateable remuneration.

Included. Record this in section A of your declaration of rateable remuneration.

Included. Record this in section A of your declaration of rateable remuneration.

Superannuation contributions are included in your remuneration if you made contributions to:

• a superannuation fund or scheme 
• a superannuation guarantee charge 
• any other form of superannuation provident or retirement fund 
• defined benefit funds as required by actuarial determinations

You can record these contributions in section D of your declaration of rateable remuneration.

If you completed a fringe benefits tax (FBT) return for the Australian Taxation Office (ATO), you need to include fringe benefits as part of your remuneration.

Go to part 14 of your completed FBT return and identify your:

• type 1 aggregate amount before gross up (if any)
• type 2 aggregate amount before gross up (if any)
• type 2 gross-up factor
• aggregate non-exempt amount (if any)

The formula you use to calculate your fringe benefits amount is:

Type 1 aggregate amount (before gross-up) x Type 2 gross-up factor + Type 2 aggregate amount (before gross-up) x Type 2 gross-up factor + Aggregate non-exempt amount.

You can record these in section C of your declaration of rateable remuneration.

A salary sacrifice arrangement refers to an arrangement between an employer and employee where the employee agrees to forego part of their future salary or wage in return for some other form of non-cash benefits of equivalent cost to the employer.

A salary sacrifice arrangement must -

• be entered into before the employee performs the work
• be an agreement between the employee and employer, and
• ensure the employee no longer has access to the sacrificed salary.

Under a salary sacrifice arrangement -

• the employee pays income tax on the reduced salary or wage
• salary sacrificed (pre-tax) superannuation contributions are classified as employer contributions (not employee contributions)
• the employer may be liable to pay fringe benefits tax (FBT) on the fringe benefits provided

If there is a salary sacrifice arrangement, then -

• the reduced salary or wage on which the employee pays income tax is required to be included as remuneration
• the pre-tax superannuation contribution is classified as the employer contribution and is required to be included as remuneration
• see above guidance on Fringe benefits

In your declaration of rateable remuneration, you can record -

• the salary in section A
• the superannuation contributions in section D
• the fringe benefits in section C

Included. Record this in section A of your declaration of rateable remuneration.

Working parents of children who were born or adopted on or after 1 January 2011 are entitled to paid parental leave from the Paid Parental Leave Scheme. This is government-funded paid parental leave, and is not included in remuneration.

If the worker receives any payments on top of the Paid Parental Leave Scheme entitlement, these payments are included in remuneration.

All other maternity and parental leave payments are also included in remuneration.

Included. Record these payments in section A of your declaration of rateable remuneration.

Not included.

Included.

A motor vehicle allowance is money you pay a worker to compensate them for using their personal vehicle for business purposes. To calculate what portion of this allowance is not included in your remuneration (also known as the exempt amount), you multiply the number of business kilometres by the applicable rate for the period.

• 2024/25 the exempt rate is $0.85 per business km
• 2023/24 the exempt rate is $0.78 per business km
• 2022/23 the exempt rate is $0.72 per business km
• 2021/22 the exempt rate is $0.72 per business km
• 2020/21 the exempt rate is $0.68 per business km
• 2019/20 the exempt rate is $0.68 per business km
• 2018/19 the exempt rate is $0.66 per business km

After you've calculated the exempt amount, you subtract it from how much you paid your worker. If the amount you paid your worker is greater than the exempt amount, then the difference is included in remuneration. You can record this in section A of your declaration of rateable remuneration.

For more information contact your agent.

If you're paying or reimbursing a worker for living away from home (for example, paying for things such as accommodation, meals, and incidental expenses such as telephone costs), and that payment is subject to fringe benefits tax, then it's included in remuneration. This is usually paid when the worker has relocated for work purposes. You can record this in section A of your declaration of rateable remuneration.

If the worker is temporarily away from home for work purposes, this is considered accommodation or travel allowance.

If you're paying a worker an accommodation allowance for more than 30 continuous days, the worker must maintain a personal domestic dwelling for their own use in order for the below exempt rate to apply.

• 2024/25 the exempt rate is $318.90 per night
• 2023/24 the exempt rate is $310.70 per night
• 2022/23 the exempt rate is $289.15 per night
• 2021/22 the exempt rate is $285.65 per night
• 2020/21 the exempt rate is $283.45 per night
• 2019/20 the exempt rate is $280.75 per night
• 2018/19 the exempt rate is $278.05 per night

Any amount paid per night over the exempt rate is included in your remuneration. You can record this in section A of your declaration of rateable remuneration.

Any allowances other than motor vehicle, living away from home, overnight accommodation or travel allowance are included in your remuneration. Record these in section A of your declaration of rateable remuneration.

Reimbursements are not included in remuneration if they meet the following:

• The worker is being reimbursed for an expense that they already incurred. Or, if the payment is being made in advance, the worker provided you with a receipt of the expense and refunded any excess from the advance payment.
• The expense was incurred by the worker in the course of your business.
• The precise amount is reimbursed and nothing more.

If the above does not apply to a reimbursement you made, contact your agent for advice.

Included. Record these in section E of your declaration of rateable remuneration.

Payments made to a worker when their employment is terminated (for example, payments in lieu of notice, accrued holiday pay, long service leave or severance/redundancy pay) are not included in remuneration.

However, if the worker resigns and works their 'notice' period, the payment for this period is included in remuneration. You can record these in section E of your declaration of rateable remuneration.

This obligation exists for the entire duration of the worker's jury service, regardless of its length, and applies no matter the size of the employer's business. You can record this in section E of your declaration of rateable remuneration.

From time to time, an employer may be eligible to receive a subsidy or partial reimbursement of wages paid from government authorities where the nature of employment accords with particular government policies.

If an employer receives a subsidy or partial reimbursement from a government authority (whether State or Federal) in respect of wages paid to workers, the gross wages are included as remuneration. The source of the funds used to pay wages to workers is not relevant.

Example:

An employer receives a hiring credit for a new worker, the employer receives a credit of $200 per week. The employer pays the worker a wage of $600 per week. The employer is required to declare the full $600 as this is considered rateable remuneration.

Not included.

Not included.

Not included.

Any payments made by a personal services entity to an individual performing the services are included in remuneration, provided they meet the definition of remuneration either under the common law or under another provision of the Act. For more information, refer to the Contractor guideline flowchart.

If a payment is being made to a business owner who is also a worker for that business, this may be included in remuneration depending on the reason for that payment.

• If they're being paid only because they're a worker (and not because they're a shareholder), then this is included in remuneration.
• If they're being paid a profit distribution (money left over after deducting all expenses), then it doesn't matter if they're both a business owner and a worker for that business – that payment is not included in remuneration.

Trust distributions and company dividends are not included in remuneration when paid to beneficiaries or shareholders, even if they are also workers.

These payments must be clearly shown in the books of account as profit distributions and not business expenses.

If the business has made a loan to someone who is also a worker of the business and the loan is considered income for that person for income tax purposes, it's not included in remuneration. If the loan is considered a loan benefit under fringe benefits tax legislation, the taxable value (calculated using the formula for Type 2 Benefit) is included in remuneration. Contact the ATO for more information on income tax and fringe benefits tax.

If the loan repayment is offset against the beneficiary's or shareholder's remuneration, the offset amount is included in remuneration. If the loan repayment is offset against trust distributions to the beneficiary or dividends to the shareholder, the offset amount is not included in remuneration.

Include any rateable amount in section E of your declaration of rateable remuneration.

If the worker is granted a share or an option and:

• the share or option is an Employee Share Scheme (ESS) interest within the meaning of section 83A-10 of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997
• the ESS interest is granted to the worker under an ESS within the meaning of that section

The share or option is not included in remuneration.

Certain payments to contractors are included. For more information on determining if your contractor is considered a worker for WorkCover purposes, see Understanding who is and isn't your worker.

For assistance with calculating your contractor remuneration, see Calculating contractor remuneration.

You can record these payments in section B of your declaration of rateable remuneration.

Some apprentice or trainee pay may not be included in remuneration, but it depends on several factors. For more information see Apprentices and trainees.

If your payments to apprentices or trainees are included, record them in section A of your declaration of rateable remuneration.

Exempt remuneration should not be included in items A to E of rateable remuneration for the current FY or in your estimate for the next FY.

Depending on the circumstances, remuneration you pay to a cross border worker may or may not be required to be included in your premium calculation in Victoria. For more information on determining if the remuneration you pay to your cross-border worker is required to be included in Victoria:

Cross-border workers

An Incorporated Contractor Arrangement is where there is a contract between a principal and a company under which the principal engages the services (except owner driver services) of the company.

For information on owner drivers, see Premium guideline: Owner drivers | WorkSafe Victoria

For information on determining if an individual is deemed to be a worker of a principal, see Understanding who is and isn't your worker.

For assistance with calculating your contractor remuneration, see Calculating contractor remuneration.

If you have an arrangement where an employment agency contracts a service provider (whether an individual or company) to arrange for services to be provided to you, then fees you pay to the employment agency are not included in remuneration.

Included.

A royalty is a payment made in consideration of the grant of a right. For example, the production and sale of an invention will attract a royalty payment for the inventor or the person who holds the rights to that invention. Royalty payments are often made to authors of books published, songwriters and artists where music is sold and to scientists/inventors where an invention is produced and sold.

A royalty payment has the following features:

• It is a payment made in return for the right to exercise a beneficial privilege or right (e.g. to remove minerals or natural resources such as timber, to use a copyright or to produce a play)
• The payment is made to the person who owns the right to confer that beneficial privilege of right
• The consideration payable is determined on the basis of the amount of use made of the right acquired
• The consideration payable will usually be paid as and when the right acquired is exercised. However, a lump sum payment will be a royalty where it is a pre-estimate or an after- the- event recognition of the amount of use of the right acquired.

A royalty payment is not included as remuneration.

Residual payments or repeat fees are often paid to actors for the re-screening of films or television programs. These are not royalty payments.

A residual payment or repeat fee is included as remuneration if it is paid or payable by an employer to an individual who is a current worker of the employer.