QLD Patient Tax Update

Shortly after the recent Queensland election, we wrote an article in relation to the changes to payroll tax which emerged under the former State Labour government and which the now new government promised to act upon. In that article, we made various comments in relation to this, including:

• The new government will move quickly to abolish the tax for general practices on payments to general practitioners

• The various other State Revenue offices may take steps to reduce the effect of these payroll tax changes as well

Well, we are happy and pleased to report there is movement towards these realities.

The Queensland Situation

The pledge of the new Queensland LNP government was that in its first week in office, it would instruct  the Queensland Office of State Revenue to abolish the payroll tax impact on payments to general practitioners. On 6 December 2024, the office issued 2 payroll tax rulings:

• PTAQ 014.1.1                Payroll Tax Exemption for Wages paid to General Practitioners

• PTAQ 000.6.4                Relevant Contracts – Medical Centres

The exemption ruling is a very straightforward 2-page document simply stating the Payroll Tax Act will be administered on the basis that wages liable to payroll tax do not include wages paid by a medical practice to a general practitioner. The document clearly defines a General Practitioner and Medical Centre. The ruling takes effect 1 December 2024. Mr Crisafulli, thank you for making good on this election promise.

The Relevant Contracts ruling also issued on that day is a much longer document of 30 pages which aims to address the payroll tax question for entities which conduct a medical centre business. This includes Radiology, Dental and other specialties that operate under the government definition of a Medical Centre. This ruling is also effective from 1 December 2024. It is now the definitive ruling for all practices not covered by the exemption. A first reading indicates there have been no changes to the previously published position other than the exemption for general practitioners.

The Other States

In my last offering, I proposed the view other states may also make changes, and this has proven true with other states beginning to make changes to this situation as well: 

• Victoria - the exemption for payments made to contactor GPs and employee GPs by general practice medical clinics (in relation to bulk-billed consultations) - Effective 1 July 2025

• NSW - an exemption for unpaid Payroll Tax that was payable on wages paid or payable to relevant GPs - Effective prior to 4 September 2024

• NSW - Medical centres making payments to contractor GPs can claim a rebate on payroll tax if they meet the relevant proportion of GP services under prescribed billing arrangements which in Metro Sydney is at least 80% of GP services in the medical centre and at least 70% for the rest of the state

• South Australia - An exemption from Payroll Tax on the wages of GPs related to bulk billed services - effective 1 July 2024

• Other States - No changes noted at this time

More to Be Done

It is pleasing to see some progress has been made in respect of removing this patient tax not only in Queensland but around the country. Thank you to all of you who have been part of the change - as a legislator, lobbyist, supporting your medical association or petitioning your local member. But there is more to be done. Payroll Tax is a tax which has a harmonisation agreement with most (not all) states and territories which aims to have one set of rules which apply across the nation. As you can tell from the table, this is not yet the case in this instance.

As usual, this piece cannot be relied upon as formal advice, so I encourage the reader to reach out to Doctors Wealth or speak to their advisor regarding the implications of this.