Average Weekly Wage Rate for the Determination of Payroll Tax Liability for Trust Distributions Using the Market Rate Wage for 2005-06

Revenue Ruling
Public Ruling

Ruling Number:	PUB-PT-2006-4
Title:	Average Weekly Wage Rate for the Determination of Payroll Tax Liability for Trust Distributions Using the Market Rate Wage for 2005-06
Tax Line:	Pay-roll Tax
Legislative Reference:	Pay-roll Tax Act 1971
Previous Ruling:	PUB-PT-2005-6
Date of Ruling:	18/07/2006
Attachments:

NOTES:
A. It has recently been brought to my attention that the figures quoted in the previous revenue ruling on this issue, Revenue Ruling PUB-PT-2005-6 ('the previous Ruling'), relating to the "Full-time adult ordinary time earnings - original" as published in the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) publication 6302.0 - Average Weekly Earnings Australia are in fact the rates that applied in February 2004 instead of the rates that applied in February 2005 as originally intended. Therefore I have decided to withdraw the previous Ruling and issue this Revenue Ruling (PUB-PT-2006-04) with the correct ABS figures. This replacement ruling will have the same commencement date as the previous Ruling - that is, 1 July 2005.

B. Readers should also refer to Revenue Ruling PUB-PT-2006-3, Inclusion of Distributions Under Trusts as Wages for Payroll Tax Purposes in conjunction with this Revenue Ruling.

PREAMBLE

1.	Revenue Ruling PUB-PT-2006-3 advises employers how to determine that part of a trust distribution to a beneficiary which is liable for payroll tax under Section 2AAA of the Pay-roll Tax Act 1971.
2.	Where there is no applicable industrial instrument rate, the market rate that applies is the average weekly earnings figure “Full-time adult ordinary time earnings – original” for Tasmania, for the February quarter prior to the beginning of the financial year, as published in the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) publication 6302.0 - Average Weekly Earnings Australia.
3.	When the average weekly earnings is the applicable “market rate wage”, an employer may choose one of three methods to determine the “market rate wage”, but the same method must be used for all work done by that person for the whole of a particular financial year. The three alternative methods are:
	· The weekly rate applied for each week or part of a week during which the beneficiary provided services, regardless of the number of days or hours of service provided during that week; or · The daily rate applied for each day on which the beneficiary provided services during the relevant period, regardless of the number of hours of service provided during each day; or · The hourly rate.
4	The purpose of this ruling is to advise the average weekly wage rate published by the ABS since February 2005, which will apply for each tax year from the 2005-06 financial year where there is no applicable industrial instrument rate.
RULING
5	The rate published by the Australian Bureau of Statistics in February 2005 and applicable for 2005-06 payroll tax purposes is a weekly rate of $884.10, which is equivalent to $176.82 per day or $22.10 per hour.

Peter Coe
COMMISSIONER OF STATE REVENUE