Most employers pay FBT on the first parking rate they could find. It is almost never the lowest one they were entitled to use — and the gap is usually worth thousands. We find the lowest rate the legislation actually allows, and we prove it section by section.
One station opens the liability. A different one sets the price. Most surveys find the first and stop.
Rates are per space, per day, across 228 deemed benefit days. Small differences in the rate are not small numbers by the time they reach the return.
That is a 25× return on the report fee, from a single site, in a single year. Multi-site employers see it multiply.
Illustrative. Assumes the statutory formula, a type 1 gross-up of 2.0802 and the FBT rate of 47%. Your figures will differ — the point is the multiplier, not the number.
The lowest lawful rate is usually an unpublished monthly permit, not the tariff board. We ask operators directly and convert it properly under s 39E. That is the whole difference between $8.00 and $4.55.
Every figure traces to the provision it comes from — s 39A for the threshold, s 39DA for the average, s 39E for the conversion — applied in line with TR 2021/2 and the current case law. Not a rate lookup with a tax label on it.
A regional site costs the same as a Sydney CBD tower. No location loading, no urgent-report surcharge, no per-station fees. Five or more locations drops to $240 each automatically.
We hold every working paper for seven years and explain any rate to you, your auditor or the ATO for as long as we hold it. No hourly rate, no support tier, no time limit.
Every rate ships with its source, its date and its arithmetic. If someone asks where the number came from in three years, the answer is in the file — not in a supplier's database you cannot see.
Standard turnaround is one business day from order. If a rate cannot be evidenced properly in that window we call you before the deadline. We will not ship a number we cannot stand behind.
If nothing within a kilometre clears the threshold, you get a documented finding that says so — and your liability at that site is zero. Same fee, and usually the most valuable report we write.
This is the most actively litigated corner of FBT. The definition of a commercial parking station has moved twice in five years, and moved again on appeal in April 2026. A rate determined under superseded guidance is not a saving; it is an exposure.
Guidance reviewed at each change and at every 1 April. Last reviewed 10 September 2026. Each report states the authorities applied and their status on the date it was issued.
It is asked two or three years later, by an auditor or a reviewer, usually of someone who was not there when the return was prepared. That is the moment your rate has to hold up — and most rate reports cannot help you, because they never showed their working in the first place.
Every capture, route map, operator email and calculation is retained for seven years from delivery, indexed by client and FBT year.
Your accountant, your auditor, or the ATO directly. We explain how a rate was determined and produce the evidence behind it, at no charge.
It is not an upsell, a retainer or a premium plan. It is included in the $300, because a rate you cannot substantiate was never worth buying.
The one thing we do not do is act for you. We are not registered tax agents, so we explain our own findings rather than make submissions or represent you in a dispute — that is your tax agent's role, and we work alongside them.
No optional extras, no evidence pack upgrade, no charge for the follow-up call three years from now.
The short version. A car parking benefit is a gate, then a valuation, then an average — and the station that opens the gate is usually not the one that sets the price.
A station within 1 km must charge more than $11.03 as its lowest all-day fee. If none does, there is no benefit — and that finding alone can remove the whole liability.
The value comes from the lowest all-day fee at any qualifying station in that set — including early bird, weekly and monthly products that are rarely published anywhere.
A monthly permit divided by the business days in the period — the state's public holidays removed, not merely weekends.
You provide car parking to staff and need a defensible rate for the return. We handle the survey and the evidence; your accountant handles the return. Volume pricing from five locations, and a single order covers them all.
Order on behalf of clients at volume pricing, with reports issued in the client entity's name and evidence packs your file reviewers can actually work from. Talk to us about firm terms →
One location, one FBT year. Two surveys, full evidence pack, seven years of audit support, delivered in 24 hours.
Applied automatically at checkout. For multi-site employers and firms ordering across a client book.
Reconstructing rates for a lodged year. Free assessment first — we tell you if it is not worth pursuing. More →
Because the tariff board is rarely the lowest rate available to the public. Early bird products, weekly and monthly permits are usually cheaper — and permits are frequently not published anywhere, so a survey based on websites never finds them. Under s 39E a periodic fee converts to a daily rate by dividing by the business days in the period.
This is not a loophole. The ATO’s own guidance on what to produce for a car parking valuation expressly names the monthly rate as a rate type and phoning the operator as a discovery method, and Chapter 16 Example 13 works a $272 monthly fee down to $12.36 a day. The test in TR 2021/2 [53] is whether the fee is available to the public, not whether it is advertised.
Before relying on a permit we confirm it is genuinely come-and-go, and that it was available on the relevant day — both go in the evidence pack with the conversion. See the worked example →
No. The definition of a commercial parking station widened under TR 2021/2, and widened again on 27 April 2026 when the Full Federal Court held that a car park does not need to be run for profit to qualify. The threshold also indexes every year, and stations open and close. What changed →
Call us. We hold the evidence pack and working papers for seven years and will explain how any rate was determined — to you, your adviser, your auditor or the ATO — at no additional charge. That is included in the fee, not sold separately.
What we cannot do is represent you or make submissions on your behalf. We are not registered tax agents; we supply the rate and the evidence, and your tax agent takes it from there.
Give us the car park address and the dates a benefit was provided. We survey the rest and come back within 24 hours — with the evidence.