Last week, Virgin Blue received a ruling from the ATO regarding fringe benefits tax on a Virgin Blue-subsidised staff car park two kilometres from Melbourne Airport’s terminal. Despite the distance, which takes staff 20-25 minutes to walk on less-than-ideal pedestrian facilities, the judge ruled that the car park was ‘in the vicinity’ of the airport, and thus liable to the Fringe Benefits Tax.
The decision could have implications for other employers providing off-site parking at airports or other businesses whose staff park at an employer-subsidised car park. Several other factors in addition to proximity need to be satisfied for the FBT liability to arise, including the presence of a commercial parking station within one kilometre of the site where the cars are parked, charging above a certain threshold.