Payroll tax toolbox
Useful links
- Payroll Tax Act 1971
- Apprenticeships—Queensland
- Community Development and Employment Project
- Vocational Education, Training and Employment Act 2000
- Workers’ Compensation and Rehabilitation Act 2003
- Income Tax Assessment Act 1936
- NSW Office of State Revenue
- Vic. State Revenue Office
- WA Office of State Revenue
- RevenueSA
- Tas. State Revenue Office
- ACT Revenue Office
- NT Revenue Office
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What’s on this page ...
Shares or options are taxable when they are granted to:
- employees
- directors or members of a governing body
- contractors
To determine the value of these wages, you must consider the following points.
When are the wages paid?
Shares or options are taken to be paid or payable on the day they are granted or the day they vest. This day is called the ‘relevant day’.
You can usually choose either the grant date or the vesting date as the relevant day to declare the value of a share or option. However, in certain situations, you may not have a choice.
Use the grant date if the market value of the share or option is nil on that day, or your wages are not liable for payroll tax.
If you do not include the value of the share or option on the return period containing the grant day, you must include them in the period containing the vesting day.
An option vests on the first day the employee:
- receives the share
or
- exercises the option.
What is the taxable value of the wages?
The value of taxable wages consisting of a share or option is the market value of the shares or options on the relevant day less any money the employee pays
Are the shares Queensland wages?
Shares or options are Queensland wages if:
- they are in a Queensland registered company
or
- the employee works wholly in Queensland for the month where the relevant day occurs.
Example 1
An employee has options in a Queensland company. The relevant day is 30 June 2009. The employee worked in both New South Wales and Victoria in June 2009.
The options are Queensland wages because they are options in a Queensland company. The wages are taxable in Queensland as the employee did not work wholly in another state.
Example 2
An employee has options in a New South Wales company. The relevant day is 30 June 2009. The employee works full time in Queensland in May and June 2009.
The options are Queensland taxable wages because the employee worked in Queensland in the month containing the relevant day.
Withdrawn shares or options
You may get a refund if a share or option you granted is:
- withdrawn or cancelled because a condition is breached
- exchanged for something that is not a share or option
If you already paid tax on those withdrawn shares or options, we will adjust your wages in the financial year or final period.
You cannot get a refund if the share or option expires just because the employee fails to exercise the rights attached to it.