Living Away From Home Allowance - Tax Treatment

It is possible to offset the extra cost and not a disadvantage that you can put outside your usual place of work assigned to the job tasks. This allowance is at home living allowance (LAFHA).

Legally, there is no deadline for the provision LAFHA. Generally, the ATO view that the maximum length of time staff are living away from home for two years for domestic workers and four years for international staff. However - it is not regulated by law and therefore it is only a guide.

Before providing benefits LAFHA in some cases, employers try line by a private tax. This is understandable, if the facts are unusual or complicated as the responsibility of the employer. In a recent case where it is the employer / employee successfully considers the following facts:

* The employee was promoted during the first contract period.
* The employment contract was extended for a further 2 years.
* The employee intends to return to another district in the United Kingdom, after his contract expired.

The taxable value of life Away From Home Allowance is calculated by deducting the value of housing and food components exempt.

The LAFHA differs from the relocation allowance. The resettlement allowance is paid to workers who changed their usual place of residence as part of their work under the PAYG system with a fee estimate of tax withheld at source. LAFHA is on the other hand, a temporary situation and is subject to tax benefits (FBT).

The exempt food component the amount of compensation is paid, employee compensation incurred for the additional supply by the fact that the alternative work site. The amounts claimed are reasonable and justifiable. Estimated cost of food will be charged:

1. According to the guidelines of the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
2. the real cost of food in a given period by the average expenditure on food at the original location recorded.
3. ATO guidelines.

Other factors to consider:

* The composition of the family of the employee;
* Cost of food to another location;
* The usual food expenditures.

The property is an exempt component, the amount of compensation, which represents the reasonable costs of accommodation in the other site.

Just as the food component, there are no strict guidelines for determining this amount, but it must be reasonable and justifiable.

The ATO, you have a life away from home allowance offers an explanation of each year to enjoy the FBT concessions. Without this declaration, full payment of the fee is LAFHA object.