I have organised it through Smart Salary (they have financial advisors) they basically sent me the forms and I fax the relevant bits back. They are paying out my loan today, so I will have the balance in my account today also. This gives me two months before payments start coming out of my pay (2 month deferred).

I am very impressed by the process, it has been very fast and thorough, and any questions I had were answered and easy to understand.

I'll let you know how the next couple of months go.

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Not a bad perk is it? Just wish I wanted a ute that did not attract FBT, and I would be laughing.

Scotty

Well so far so good, the reporting section of SmartSalary's website is excellent. They have a graph for your kms vs estimated which keeps track of whether you are meeting the minimum or not. There is also a full run down of all your up to date figures for the lease. The claim process is as easy as it could be (fill in the form, attach receipts and fax it in), and its listed on the activity statement a day or two later as a reimbursment. I am really happy with how this all works, its a lot easier than I first thought it would be. I'm still waiting on my fuel cards so I'll be able to try them out and figure out which one I'll keep. I think I'll keep the BP one as its cheaper and I can claim other things quite easily.

Seriously, anyone who has the ability to salary sacrifice and isnt, SHOULD look into it. More $ in the pocket at the end of the day has to be a winner!

do you see the benifits straight away or do you have to wait until the end of the month/ year?

on a similar subject what do others think about roling the car loan into a home loan? have many done this? pros? cons?

cheers

Financially you will see the benefits straight away. They calculate everything to do with running your car and work it out over the term of the lease, then deduct the required amount from your pay before you are taxed. This means you basically dont spend any of your "take home" pay on fuel or running costs. The way you see the benefit is through not having to fork out for these things. Your pay amount will be lower, but the difference between salary sacrificing and not is about 16% for me in my favour.

Just for example, in a month say I earn $3200 (after tax), spent $300 on fuel, $120 on rego/insurance/maintenance cost (yearly cost divided by 12) and $650 for car repayments:

Without salary sacrifice that comes out of my monthly take home pay so I have $2130 to spend on everything else in my life.

With Salary sacrifice those expenses are taken before tax, so my take home pay after tax is around $2450 which I use to spend on everything else.

The other advantage for me is I dont have to pay GST on car expenses, so that component is a straight refund to me at the end of each fortnight.

That is my understanding of how it works anyway, and it shows when you do the sums. Its easy to lose track of how much you spend on your car as day to day expenses like fuel and rego quickly get forgotten. But when you do the figures you start to see how much of your pay goes down the drain

Got my Fleet Card in the mail today... apparently I drive an Orange Falcon Sedan

And they got my name wrong

Financially you will see the benefits straight away. They calculate everything to do with running your car and work it out over the term of the lease, then deduct the required amount from your pay before you are taxed. This means you basically dont spend any of your "take home" pay on fuel or running costs. The way you see the benefit is through not having to fork out for these things. Your pay amount will be lower, but the difference between salary sacrificing and not is about 16% for me in my favour.

Just for example, in a month say I earn $3200 (after tax), spent $300 on fuel, $120 on rego/insurance/maintenance cost (yearly cost divided by 12) and $650 for car repayments:

Without salary sacrifice that comes out of my monthly take home pay so I have $2130 to spend on everything else in my life.

With Salary sacrifice those expenses are taken before tax, so my take home pay after tax is around $2450 which I use to spend on everything else.

The other advantage for me is I dont have to pay GST on car expenses, so that component is a straight refund to me at the end of each fortnight.

That is my understanding of how it works anyway, and it shows when you do the sums. Its easy to lose track of how much you spend on your car as day to day expenses like fuel and rego quickly get forgotten. But when you do the figures you start to see how much of your pay goes down the drain

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What did it cost you to set it up through smart salary? My total car expenses would be around $800 - $1000 a month would it be worth me setting up something as I don't do alot of K's?

What did it cost you to set it up through smart salary? My total car expenses would be around $800 - $1000 a month would it be worth me setting up something as I don't do alot of K's?

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You have to do at least 15000km/yr or the FBT will kill you.

I do 25000km/yr which means my FBT liability is lower (11%), so I'm only paying ~$400 a month in tax on lease payments of $1900 a month for three years. Compared to what I would have had to pay in income tax on that amount, I'm much better off. Plus, no GST!

FYI: I just re-leased my Black Beast for another three years, so my leasing costs will drop markedly from next month.

Edited October 26, 200619 yr by Lord Cyric

There was an initial fee of $75 to start the process with smart salary, but that is taken out of pre tax dollars also, so you dont really notice it. Depending on the lease company you use there will also be a fee for them.

I'm doing at least 25000km a year so it will be fine tax wise. I am using the contribution method so there is no bill come tax return time, which means I will still get a refund on my expenses.

Hi guys,

Suppose, I get an brand spanking new BFII XR6-T on a novated lease for a period of 4years. And make my pre-tax payments towards the expenses of the car. What happens at the end of the 4 years?

Thanks guys!

I think ( not sure ) the penalty is you have to pay GST on the sale price of the car. If you keep the car, I got NFI.

Sorry, not alot of help.