The Wife Is A Genius

[richdave]

I was discussing with the wife why I had to make a post tax contribution to the running of the car so that the company avoided any FBT, and that any out of pocket expenses for "up keep" I incur are deductible against this post tax contribution on a dollar for dollar basis. She replied......."so you can get $4k of mods for free then since you gotta pay the money one way or the other" :idea: :D

I'll now have to see how flexible the Lease company will be

[ZMAN]

Gotta love your wife's thinking....

[Cro]

Wow, let us know how you go mate.

I wouldn't mind spending that much on an upgraded brake set :D

[Cam]

I was discussing with the wife why I had to make a post tax contribution to the running of the car so that the company avoided any FBT, and that any out of pocket expenses for "up keep" I incur are deductible against this post tax contribution on a dollar for dollar basis. She replied......."so you can get $4k of mods for free then since you gotta pay the money one way or the other" :idea: :D

I'll now have to see how flexible the Lease company will be

Sounds good.. but Id be surprised if the legislation didnt define 'upkeep' so as to prevent this.

[hammer007]

The Tax Office tends to be fairly restrictive in this area - a lot will depend on how your lease / salary package managers interpret the guidelines from the ATO (never managed to find out where these are detailed however).

Had an interesting issue with my EF XR6 - my package administrators rejected a claim for reimbursement of fitting a towbar as they said this constituted an 'upgrade'. However had I had the towbar fitted as part of a service they would have been none the wiser.

My tip - exhaust changes = exhaust repairs in my book.

[bdennis]

Original post edited....

Ultimately you pay for mods. The only diff being that you use pre tax money. There are a few ways to get around the system..

[Guest Isher]

Guys,

I think you will find that the FBT you contribute post tax is actually used by the lease company toards your on-road costs (ie fuel.)

Its called the "Contribution Method"

I'm sure I read it somewhere that yes, you do have to pay teh FBT so your employer does not have to burden the cost, however you can use these contributions to pay the running costs of the car..

Basically, if you estimate that it will cost you $9000 pa to put the car on the road (fuel, maint etc) you have to pay this in your car lease. However.... if you have to pay $4000 in FBT from your post tax salary so your employer does not have an FBT liability, this $4000 is then used to pay your on road costs so you only contribute $5000 from your pre tax dollars to make up the $9000 pa required.

Am I making sence here??

Sorry guys, no 300KW APS upgrades going for free here! :nugget:

Regards,

isher

[Falchoon]

I know Barry (BS888) has put a rear wing and full Herrod exhaust on his leased XT without problems. I think different lease companies have different policies on the matter.

[richdave]

Its called the "Contribution Method".........

Am I making sence here??

Sorry guys, no 300KW APS upgrades going for free here! :nugget:

What you are saying makes sense, however, in march this year my lease company sent me a nice letter asking if I had "contributed" to the maintenance and/or running costs of the car. Further more they stated that the ATO required that I provide tax invoices for all claims except fuel/oil where I was only required to make a declaration. I am quite sure that if I "repair" my ECU or exhaust and have a tax invoice to that effect I will have no problems....we'll see I guess.

First I have to cover off on the insurance before I change anything.

[Guest Isher]

I am quite sure that if I "repair" my ECU or exhaust and have a tax invoice to that effect I will have no problems....we'll see I guess.

I think that's the only way you could get it done. By getting your mechanic to invoice you for some legit maintance while actually carrying out something else like an up-grade or mod.

Barry: I suspect that is what BS888 has done.

Basically you are relaying on the ignorance of the lease company and informing them that your mod was a legitimate 'service'.

It don't worry me but it is still not 'free'. Either way you will be contirbuiting to the cost as part of your salary package contribution. If you allocated $9000 pa to running costs (as caculated by you depending on the number of km's you travel pa..) and you spend $4000 on mods (invoiced as legit maint to get teh salary package company to pay you back..) you will still need to make up the difference at some stage if your running costs excede the $5000 pa remianing in the kitty for legitimate expences.

Regards,

Isher