Everything governing car parking fringe benefits in one table — what each authority does, its current status, and a link to the source. Reviewed at each change and at every 1 April. Last reviewed 10 September 2026.
In Commissioner of Taxation v Toowoomba Regional Council [2026] FCAFC 50 the Full Court held that “commercial” does not require a profit motive, and that a shopping centre car park was a commercial parking station. Anything you relied on from the 2025 first-instance decision needs revisiting before your next lodgement.
| Authority | What it does | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Legislation | ||
| Fringe Benefits Tax Assessment Act 1986Division 10A, Part III — ss 39A–39GG | The whole car parking fringe benefit regime. Everything below either interprets or applies these provisions. | legislation.gov.au → |
| Definition of commercial parking stations 136(1) | Sets what can be a comparator at all. Requires a permanent commercial facility offering all-day parking to the public for a fee, and excludes on-street metered and voucher parking outright, whatever it charges. | legislation.gov.au → |
| The threshold gates 39A(1) | Determines whether a benefit exists at all. Needs a station within 1 km whose lowest all-day fee exceeds the threshold, parking over four hours between 7am and 7pm, and a home-to-work trip that day. | legislation.gov.au → |
| Commercial parking station methodss 39C, 39D | Values the benefit at the lowest all-day fee within 1 km, established separately for every individual day. An averaged rate cannot be substituted into this method. | legislation.gov.au → |
| Average cost methods 39DAWE USE THIS | Values the benefit at the mean of the lowest fee on the first and last days a benefit was provided. Needs two surveys and no data from the employer. | legislation.gov.au → |
| Periodic rate conversions 39E | Converts a weekly, monthly or other periodic fee to a daily equivalent by dividing by the business days in the period. This is where unpublished permit rates enter the calculation — and where most of the saving comes from. | legislation.gov.au → |
| Representative fee testsss 39AA, 39AB | Tests the fee against the average charged by the same operator for the same product over a four-week window beginning or ending on the day. It is a consistency test over time, not a comparison against other car parks — so a standing permit rate is not disqualified merely for being far below the casual daily rate at the same site. What it catches is the one-day promotion. | legislation.gov.au → |
| ATO rulings, determinations and guidance | ||
| Car parking benefitsTR 2021/2CURRENT | The governing ruling. Replaced TR 96/26 from 1 April 2022 and widened the definition to bring in office, shopping centre and hospital facilities even where all-day parking is not the main purpose. | ATO legal db → |
| Car parking benefits (draft)TR 2019/D5 — 13 November 2019SUPERSEDED | The draft that became TR 2021/2, replacing the withdrawn TR 96/26. Cite the final ruling, not this. Retained here because its para 16 stated that a facility is commercial only if "run to make a profit" — the proposition the Full Court rejected in April 2026. | ATO legal db → |
| Restrictions on the lowest feeTR 2021/2 para 53CURRENT | The exhaustive list of what the lowest representative fee cannot be: nil; worked out from longer-term parking where users are prevented from entering and exiting daily; or a fee that is not available to the public on the day. Note the test is availability, not advertising. | ATO legal db → |
| Early bird and car-pooling ratesTR 2021/2 para 52 | Expressly permits early bird and car-pooling rates to be the lowest representative fee, provided a reasonable number of spaces are set aside for the purpose. “Reasonable number” is not defined. | ATO legal db → |
| Meaning of all-day parkingATO ID 2014/12 | A minimum of six continuous hours between 7am and 7pm. Shorter periods cannot be added together to reach it. Decides which tariff tiers can be considered at all — and therefore why free short-stay periods are irrelevant to the test by definition. | ATO legal db → |
| Car parking benefits (superseded)TR 96/26WITHDRAWN | The predecessor ruling, withdrawn from 1 April 2022. Read as excluding car parks whose tariffs discouraged long stays. Any position still resting on it is out of date. | ATO legal db → |
| Electronic car parking registersCR 2023/14 | Class ruling covering an electronic register used to identify FBT-exempt days. Relevant if you are weighing the 12-week register against the statutory formula. | ATO legal db → |
| Objections — supporting information for car parkingATO administrative guidanceKEY | What the ATO asks an employer to produce for a car parking valuation. It expressly names the monthly rate as a rate type and phoning the operator as a discovery method, then asks whether the rate is still available to the public. The clearest statement that a rate need not be advertised to be used. | ato.gov.au → |
| FBT — a guide for employers, Chapter 16Example 13; §§16.1.8, 16.2.1, 16.2.4.4 | The ATO's own worked example converts a $272 monthly fee over 22 business days to $12.36 a day, noting the cars "are able to enter and exit multiple times a day". Also confirms all-day parking must be a continuous six hours, not shorter periods added together. Not a public ruling. | ATO legal db → |
| Private ruling 105151810105115 May 2019ARCHIVED | The ATO accepted a facility charging $6.81 a day equivalent, prepaid annually, as the valuation rate where every other station within 1 km charged $11–$12 — despite a waiting list and enquiry-only access. Not binding, predates TR 2021/2, and the rate there was promoted online. Indicative only. | ATO legal db → |
| FBT rates and thresholdsUpdated annually | The car parking threshold, indexed each FBT year. $11.03 for the year ended 31 March 2026; $10.77 for 2025. The gate moves every 1 April. | ato.gov.au → |
| Car parking and FBTATO guidance | The ATO's plain-language overview of when car parking benefits arise and how they are valued. A reasonable starting point before the ruling itself. | ato.gov.au → |
| ATO Legal DatabaseFull text search | The primary source for every ruling, determination, interpretative decision and case record listed on this page. | ato.gov.au → |
| Case law | ||
| Commissioner of Taxation v Toowoomba Regional Council[2026] FCAFC 50 — 27 April 2026CURRENT | Governs the classification question today. The Full Court unanimously allowed the Commissioner's appeal and held a shopping centre car park was a commercial parking station. “Commercial” means engaged in, or in the nature of, commerce — it does not require an intention to make a profit. | Analysis → |
| Toowoomba Regional Council v Commissioner of Taxation[2025] FCA 161 — 6 February 2025OVERTURNED | First instance. Logan J found for the taxpayer, holding the facility was not commercial because it was not run for profit. Reversed on appeal in April 2026, but relevant to positions taken in the intervening period. | ATO record → |
| Commissioner of Taxation v Virgin Australia Regional Airlines Pty Ltd[2021] FCAFC 209 | Prompted the February 2023 Addendum to TR 2021/2, which inserted paragraphs 15A–15H. Relevant to whether a car is “parked” at a work car park and to fly-in fly-out arrangements. | AustLII / FedCourt |
| Commissioner of Taxation v Qantas Airways Ltd[2014] FCAFC 168 | Airport car parks and the availability of all-day parking. Part of the line of authority that drove the ATO to withdraw TR 96/26 and issue TR 2021/2. | AustLII / FedCourt |
| Virgin Blue Airlines Pty Ltd v Commissioner of Taxation[2010] FCAFC 137 | Penalty-rate and destination car parks. Established that a tariff structured to deter long stays does not, by itself, take a facility outside the definition. | AustLII / FedCourt |
| Professional commentary | ||
| FBT car parking outside the CBDGrant Thornton | Practical read on what the Full Court decision means for suburban and regional employers. | Read → |
| Full Federal Court confirms shopping centre car parkBDO | Summary of the appeal reasoning and the practical consequences for FBT returns. | Read → |
| New Federal Court decision on FBT and car parkingPwC | Commentary issued on the first-instance decision, useful for understanding what shifted on appeal. | Read → |
| ATO wins appeal in FBT dispute with Toowoomba councilAccountants Daily | News coverage of the 27 April 2026 decision. | Read → |
| Policy drift in car parking FBT after ToowoombaAccountants Daily | On where the law now sits and the pressure the decision places on employers outside city centres. | Read → |
| A FBT round upWebb Martin Consulting | Broader FBT commentary covering car parking alongside other current issues. | Read → |
Where no direct link is shown, the judgment is available through AustLII or the Federal Court judgments database, both of which block automated linking.
Each determination we issue states which of the above were applied, and their status on the date of issue. If a decision is later overturned — as one was in April 2026 — you can see immediately whether your position depended on it.
Where a facility is finely balanced under these authorities, we say so and set out the basis, rather than presenting a judgment call as a settled fact.
This page is a reference index maintained for our own survey work and published for convenience. It is not legal or tax advice, and it is not a substitute for reading the source material or taking advice on your own circumstances.
Every rate determined under these authorities, with the evidence and the workings, within 24 hours.