The Australian Tax Office (ATO) has recently released the Exempt car benefits and exempt residual benefits: compliance approach to determining private use of vehicles compliance guide to assist in determining fringe benefit tax (FBT) exemptions related to cars.

According to the ATO’s website, you can use this guideline to help when:

• You allow employees limited private use of an eligible vehicle that:
  - Adds no more than 2km to their trip between home and work
  - Doesn't exceed 1000km in total for the FBT year (1 April – 31 March), and where any one return journey doesn't exceed 200km
• You provide the vehicle to your employees to do their job and it isn't part of their salary package arrangement
• The value of the vehicle is less than the luxury car tax threshold

The guideline includes examples to help you understand how it may apply to benefits you provide in the 2019 FBT and later years. Even if you don't meet the requirements of the guideline, you can still rely on the FBT law to determine if you can access the FBT exemptions.