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You may be able to claim a deduction on your annual wages.
If your wages are below $1,000,000 a year, you do not have to pay payroll tax.
For annual wages over $1,000,000, the deduction reduces by $1 for every $4. When your wages are more than $5,000,000, you cannot get a deduction.
Changes to the amount of wages you pay throughout the year will affect the deduction you can claim in each return period.
| Deduction | Return |
When deduction calculated | Claim this deduction if you are: |
|---|---|---|---|
| Actual periodic | Periodic | Every periodic return (usually a month) |
|
| Fixed periodic | Periodic | At the beginning of the financial year |
|
| Annual | Annual | At the end of a financial year |
|
You can calculate your actual periodic deductions based on the wages you pay during a return period.
The current annual exemption threshold is $1,000,000, so the maximum deduction per month is $83,333.
You can claim a deduction if your taxable wages for the month are less than $416,666. If you do not employ people for a month, you will get the deduction in your final/annual return.
If you pay payroll tax monthly and your taxable wages for the month are less than $416,666, calculate your deduction as shown. This example uses monthly Queensland taxable wages of $158,521.
This is based on your estimated wages for a financial year.
In most cases, you only need to calculate your fixed periodic deduction at the start of each financial year and deduct that same amount from your wages in each return period during that year.
The deduction is based on 1 July of the year—or, if certain events happen, the:
From 1 July 2009, you no longer have to notify us of your fixed periodic deduction.
If you are not in a group and pay payroll tax monthly, calculate your fixed periodic deduction as shown. This example uses estimated Queensland taxable wages of $387,254 and estimated Australian taxable wages of $1,326,816 for the financial year.
If you are the Designated Group Employer, calculate your fixed periodic deduction using the estimated total Australian wages of the group.
If you pay payroll tax other than monthly (e.g. quarterly or 6-monthly), multiply the result of the above calculation by the number of months in your return period to obtain your fixed periodic deduction. For example, if you pay quarterly, your fixed periodic deduction based on the above example would be $22,350 x 3 = $67,050.
Your annual deduction is automatically calculated if you lodge online.
If you are not in a group, calculate your annual deduction from your Queensland taxable wages, using your total Australian wages for that year.
If you are not a member of a group, calculate your annual deduction as shown. This example uses Queensland taxable wages of $1,356,789 and Australian taxable wages of $1,789,776.
If you are the Designated Group Employer, calculate your annual deduction using the estimated total Australian wages of the group.
This example only applies if you employ for the full financial year. For part year periods that commence other than 1 July and continue to 30 June (due to a staus change or an employment start date other than 1 July), the deduction will be proportioned accordingly.