Payroll tax amnesty for contracted general practitioners

Payments you make to contractors may be taxable if your arrangement is considered a relevant contract for payroll tax purposes.

Medical practices are liable to pay payroll tax on payments made to contracted general practitioners (GPs) unless an exemption applies.

Why have an amnesty?

Given a potential lack of awareness of the payroll tax treatment of contractors among GPs, the Queensland Government will provide a payroll tax amnesty on payments made to contracted GPs until 30 June 2025.

An amnesty operates differently to an exemption. Under an amnesty, a liability for tax still exists, but certain amounts relating to the tax may not actually have to be paid. Because of this, you may have to provide records so we can assess your liability, even though tax may not have to be paid under the amnesty.

• Applying for the amnesty doesn’t automatically make you liable for payroll tax.
• It provides the opportunity to better understand your payroll tax obligations.
• It gives you time to become compliant if you need to.
• If it becomes clear that you’re not liable for payroll tax, you can opt out of the amnesty process and you won’t have to take any further action.
• If you didn’t express your interest by 10 November 2023 and it is later found you are liable for payroll tax on your contracted GP payments, you will have to pay the full tax amount, interest and any penalties.

We encourage all businesses to talk to their advisers or contact our team for more information.

What this means for you

Medical practices that successfully apply for the amnesty will not be required to pay payroll tax on payments made to contracted GPs up to 30 June 2025 and for the previous 5 years (i.e. 2018–25).

The amnesty is limited to payments made to contracted GPs. For the purposes of the amnesty, a GP is registered as a general practitioner with the Medical Board of Australia. To satisfy this requirement, the doctor must have more than just general registration with the Medical Board. They must be able to show (with supporting evidence if requested):

• specialist registration in general practice
  or
• general registration and have been registered on the Vocational Register of General Practitioners on 16 June 2021.

If this requirement cannot be satisfied, the Commissioner of State Revenue will consider other supporting evidence that a doctor registered with the Medical Board is a GP; for example, a registered doctor who is a fellow of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners yet to receive specialist registration in general practice.

The amnesty is not available for payments to:

• contracted GPs where an exemption applies (because no payroll tax liability would arise if the payment is exempt)
• GPs who are common law employees
• other medical doctors or allied health professionals
• other types of contractors.

See the following documents:

• administrative arrangement that sets out the eligibility for the amnesty
• Commissioner of State Revenue’s guidelines on how the amnesty will be administered
• payroll tax amnesty fact sheet that outlines your options
• public ruling on relevant contracts—medical centres (PTAQ000.6).

If you are currently paying payroll tax on payments to contracted GPs without being subject to Queensland Revenue Office (QRO) audit activity, there is no change.

If you make payments to contracted GPs and an exemption applies, there is no change.

If you are a new medical practice, you need to comply. Read about payroll tax on payments to contractors.

If you are an established practice and have not been paying payroll tax on your payments to contracted GPs—or have been subject to audit activity in relation to those payments—you may be eligible to apply for the amnesty.

Applying for the amnesty

There are 2 stages to apply for the amnesty:

1. Expression of interest
2. Information requirements.

To be eligible, you first needed to complete an expression of interest form by 10 November 2023. If you did, we’ll contact you to confirm what happens next.

Information requirements

You will have until 30 June 2025 to review your arrangements and:

• make a voluntary disclosure
• register for payroll tax (if you have not yet registered).

The voluntary disclosure must contain information for the Commissioner to assess your eligibility for the amnesty and your payroll tax obligations:

• This will generally mean annual wage information, including total of payments to contracted GPs, for the
  • financial year in which the disclosure is made
  • previous 5 financial years.
• For certainty about the payroll tax treatment of your arrangements, you can also provide copies of agreements with contracted GPs to us along with why you consider payments are exempt.

This information will vary depending on whether you are undergoing (or have undergone) audit activity. We will work with you to help you satisfy the requirements of the amnesty and use the information we already have to minimise impacts to your practice.

If we need more information to confirm your eligibility for the amnesty, we will contact you.

Ongoing obligations

As a medical practice, you must continue meeting all payroll tax obligations (e.g. lodging returns).