Thread: Salary Package - phone & Car value ?

I can tell you what I get as far as this goes - although my Hilux is 100% mine 100% of the time, even on holidays - I don’t actually own a daily driver because of this, so slightly different to you. All fuel (technically they ask if we can pay for fuel if out of the state but I never have), rego, etc the car is valued at $24,000PA for 45,000km use - which is about what I do. Higher KM attract a higher rate but not sure what the difference is, I don’t have to worry about it. Vehicle is 2016 Hilux SR with Hard lid and bull bar. 4 year lease so will have it until Jan 2020 and it will probably be replaced with a similar spec Ranger then as we buy Fords now for some reason.

Phone wise last time I saw a bill (which we don’t often - occasionally we are asked to mark a bill showing personal phone calls for company fringe benefit reasons, not because we aren’t allowed to or have to pay for them). This was $340 for the month. Some data usage, but not much in the grand scheme of things.

Hope that helps?

I fall in this category, and hence the landy gets very little kays as a result. Work car is best car, as it doesn't cost me a cent.
Just moved into a 2019 Holden colorado. Duramax powahh.

The phone is a $70 a month plan, so that's $840 p.a. I don't have to pay.

For the car, purely on face value:
1 tank of diesel per week is $105, at say $1.50/L - so that's $5460p.a. just there.
The rego, insurance 2K p.a.
Maintenance, tyres, probably another 3K p.a.
So to me, a car is worth $10K... before you even look at the purchase cost of the vehicle. Which would be another $1K per month if it were to be purchased and the loan repaid.
I also don't suffer any depreciation losses on the vehicle, but as the vehicle is leased, there is no value for me when it is time to move it on.

So phone and car are approx $11K of things in my life I don't have to purchase.

On the tax side, there is the reportable fringe benefits on your payment summary, which is a value that gets grossed up (1.88x) to reflect what you'd have to pay if you were to have to pay for this yourself. While it's not taxable income per se, it affects things like medicare levy/private health rebate, HECS/HELP repayments, child support etc, if applicable... so there is a small cost.

After the tax concessions, maybe $10K 'value' ? Just my logic, there is probably an accounting method to work out actual value, but that's how I see it.

Originally Posted by Toxic_Avenger

I fall in this category, and hence the landy gets very little kays as a result. Work car is best car, as it doesn't cost me a cent.
Just moved into a 2019 Holden colorado. Duramax powahh.

The phone is a $70 a month plan, so that's $840 p.a. I don't have to pay.

For the car, purely on face value:
1 tank of diesel per week is $105, at say $1.50/L - so that's $5460p.a. just there.
The rego, insurance 2K p.a.
Maintenance, tyres, probably another 3K p.a.
So to me, a car is worth $10K... before you even look at the purchase cost of the vehicle. Which would be another $1K per month if it were to be purchased and the loan repaid.
I also don't suffer any depreciation losses on the vehicle, but as the vehicle is leased, there is no value for me when it is time to move it on.

So phone and car are approx $11K of things in my life I don't have to purchase.

On the tax side, there is the reportable fringe benefits on your payment summary, which is a value that gets grossed up (1.88x) to reflect what you'd have to pay if you were to have to pay for this yourself. While it's not taxable income per se, it affects things like medicare levy/private health rebate, HECS/HELP repayments, child support etc, if applicable... so there is a small cost.

After the tax concessions, maybe $10K 'value' ? Just my logic, there is probably an accounting method to work out actual value, but that's how I see it.

Thanks - you came up with the same figure as me .

Cherrd Ean

The other thing you need to consider is whether having access to the company car will lower the number of vehicles you already own. I've had company cars over the years and have done pretty well out of them from a running cost perspective but have still had the rego costs of my Landy at the time and my old ute so the fixed costs of those stay.
When I had a car the value increase to my salary was 16K per annum but this was a few years ago now.
One think you need to be aware of if you have a family is that the grossed up value is shown on your group certificate and counts against any middle class welfare that you may be entitled to such as childcare eligibility.
Regards,
Tote

Originally Posted by Ean Austral

Thanks - you came up with the same figure as me .

Cherrd Ean

Yep, Toxics equation is about right - the figures I used also take into account the purchase price of the vehicle which my company takes into account. Take that out and it's very close.

My phone bill is extreme as I can spend more than 4 hours a day on it at times. Not uncommon to call a customer and still be on the phone with them an hour later.

Your phones seem a bit expensive?

Our phones cost $49/month,unlimited calls(in Australia),heaps of data,don't know how much,but we never run out.Telstra.

We do buy our phones outright,though,so not included in plan.We find doing this suits us.

As for company vehicle,what others say is on the money.

All our cars are company vehicles

Originally Posted by scarry

Your phones seem a bit expensive?

Our phones cost $49/month,unlimited calls(in Australia),heaps of data,don't know how much,but we never run out.Telstra.

We do buy our phones outright,though,so not included in plan.We find doing this suits us.

As for company vehicle,what others say is on the money.

All our cars are company vehicles

Yeah, haven’t seen a bill in years - that was the last one I saw. Make around 50 calls a day plus data - no idea what it should cost nor care as I’ve never been hassled about it. 😁

The corpo plan we are on is a flat $70 per month. Includes a modestly recent handset, and all data and calls are shared through the pool of users IIRC. So, I've had some monster months, but still only ever sat at $70.
Another down side for me is the phone is locked with some MDM software so the phone can be remotely killed if lost, and big brother can watch my every move. Car is packed with dashcams, fire extinguishers, safety triangles and first aid kits to keep the HSE chaps happy.

As for a company car saving me on other cars... I own 3 cars, so this logic of savings elsewhere is false . I like to think of it as a safety net. if I get made redundant tomorrow, I've got a ride to get me to my next job interview, or something to sell if I need the cash. The joys of working for a, faceless big multinational.

Overall, if I was offered more money in lieu of the car, Id probably keep the car. It's an overall better deal IMO.