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Income Tax Act 2007

General collection rules - Employment-related taxes - Taxable value of fringe benefits

RD 54: Value of and payments towards fringe benefits

You could also call this:

“How to calculate the value of extra work benefits and account for payments made towards them”

You need to understand how to value fringe benefits and how payments towards them affect their value. A fringe benefit is something extra your employer gives you on top of your regular pay.

The value of a fringe benefit is usually just what it’s worth. But if you pay some money towards getting the benefit, the value goes down. The amount it goes down is either how much you paid or the full value of the benefit, whichever is less.

Sometimes, if someone connected to you (like a family member) pays for part of your fringe benefit, its value can also go down. This happens in special cases that are explained in section GB 32.

There are two situations where these rules don’t apply:

  1. If the benefit is a loan related to your job.
  2. If you’re paying to buy or make something better, and using that thing isn’t counted as a fringe benefit.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM1520110.

Topics:
Money and consumer rights > Taxes
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Part R General collection rules
Employment-related taxes: Taxable value of fringe benefits

RD 54Value of and payments towards fringe benefits

  1. The taxable value of a fringe benefit is the value of the benefit. Subsection (2) overrides this subsection.

  2. If an employee pays an amount for receiving a fringe benefit, the value of the benefit is reduced by the lesser of the value of the benefit and the amount paid.

  3. If section GB 32 (Benefits provided to employee’s associates) applies, the value of the benefit is reduced when a person associated with the employee pays an amount for the benefit.

  4. This section does not apply to—

  5. an employment-related loan:
    1. a payment to acquire or improve an asset if receiving or using the asset does not constitute a fringe benefit.

      Compare
      Notes
      • Section RD 54(2): amended, on , by section 85 of the Taxation (Livestock Valuation, Assets Expenditure, and Remedial Matters) Act 2013 (2013 No 52).
      • Section RD 54 compare note: amended (with effect on 1 April 2008), on , by section 516 of the Taxation (International Taxation, Life Insurance, and Remedial Matters) Act 2009 (2009 No 34).