Royal Australian College of GPs
Today, Queensland’s government revealed a full exemption from payroll tax for independent general practitioners.
The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners welcomed the move. Recorded radio news grabs and further context are linked below, from:
- RACGP Queensland Chair Dr Cath Hester
- RACGP President Dr Michael Wright
- RACGP NSW&ACT Chair Dr Rebekah Hoffman
Further context:
- Practices run on very thin margins. Our surveys found just 3% of practices could absorb the costs of payroll tax on GPs.
- Practices have always paid payroll tax on their employees (receptionists, nurses etc) but it never applied to GPs because they work independently. This changed after a final ruling by the NSW Court of Appeal in 2023 deemed independent practitioners as employees for payroll tax purposes.
- Queensland was the first state to listen to the RACGP and provide an amnesty to prevent practices going bankrupt due to retrospective tax.
- It was also the first state to issue a new Revenue Office ruling that patients’ fees paid directly to a GP for their services will not be subject to payroll tax.
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/Public Release.
