Taxation Determination TD 2021/3
Date of effect: 1 April 2021




Examples: Example 1: calculation of reasonable amounts for food and drink - within Australia 10. Jasper, his wife and their two children (both under 12 years of age) temporarily move to Brisbane from Sydney for a period of five months (from 1 May 2021 to 30 September 2021, which is 21 weeks and 6 days) for Jasper to work on a project for his employer. Jasper receives a LAFHA from his employer. 11. Jasper does not need to substantiate his family's food and drink expenses during the five-month period if his total expenses do not exceed $12,393 ($567 per week multiplied by 21 6/7 weeks). 12. If Jasper's family's total food and drink expenses for the period exceed $12,393, Jasper will have to substantiate all of the expenses incurred, or his employer will be liable to FBT on the amount of LAFHA paid to Jasper that is in excess of $12,393. | Example 2: calculation of reasonable amounts for food and drink - overseas 13. Maria is seconded from Australia to Canada by her employer for 25 weeks, starting work there on 1 April 2021. Maria agrees to temporarily move with her husband and child. Maria receives a LAFHA from her employer for the period of the secondment. 14. Maria does not need to substantiate her food and drink expenses if the total expenses do not exceed $15,137 ($605 per week multiplied by 25 weeks). Table 2 lists Canada as being in Cost Group 4, and using Table 3, the reasonable amount for food and drink is $346 per week. A factor of 1.75 for two adults and one child is applied to this rate as per Table 4. 15. If Maria's total food and drink expenses for the period exceed $15,137, Maria will have to substantiate all of the expenses incurred, or her employer will be liable to FBT on the amount of LAFHA paid to Maria that is in excess of $15,137. Date of effect 16. This Determination applies to the FBT year commencing 1 April 2021. Commissioner of Taxation 3 March 2021 Background 17. This Determination is intended to be read in conjunction with Taxation Determination TD 2013/4 Fringe benefits tax: reasonable amounts under section 31G of the Fringe Benefits Tax Assessment Act 1986 for food and drink expenses incurred by employees receiving a living-away-from-home allowance fringe benefit, for the fringe benefits tax year commencing on 1 April 2013 (now withdrawn). TD 2013/4 sets out the amounts that the Commissioner considers reasonable under section 31G of the FBTAA for food and drink expenses incurred by employees receiving a LAFHA fringe benefit for the FBT year commencing on 1 April 2013. Reasonable amounts were determined for employees within Australia based on the 2009-10 Household Expenditure Survey (HES) [2] conducted by the Australian Bureau of Statistics and indexed to take into account movements in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) since the survey was completed. Reasonable amounts for employees overseas were determined by reference to the annual Taxation Determination which sets out reasonable travel and overtime meal allowance expense amounts. For the FBT year commencing on 1 April 2021, reference is made to Taxation Determination TD 2020/5 Income tax: what are the reasonable travel and overtime meal allowance expense amounts for the 2020-21 income year? Reasonable amounts for food and drink - within Australia 18. In determining the reasonable amounts for food and drink for substantiation purposes for employees living away from home in Australia, reference was made to the publicly available 2015-2016 HES [3] . The HES food and drink expenditure (including alcoholic beverages) for households in the highest-income quintile has been adopted. The HES amounts have been indexed to take into account movements in the food sub-group of the CPI since the survey was completed, to determine the reasonable amounts for food and drink for FBT substantiation purposes. Reasonable amounts for food and drink - overseas 19. As explained more fully in TD 2013/4, the reasonable amounts for food and drink for a LAFHA paid to employees living away from home outside Australia are based on the annual Taxation Determination which sets out reasonable travel allowance amounts. The most recent Determination, which sets amounts for the 2020-21 income year, is Taxation Determination TD 2020/5. © AUSTRALIAN TAXATION OFFICE FOR THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA You are free to copy, adapt, modify, transmit and distribute this material as you wish (but not in any way that suggests the ATO or the Commonwealth endorses you or any of your services or products). Not previously issued as a draft

Appendix: Background: 17. This Determination is intended to be read in conjunction with Taxation Determination TD 2013/4 Fringe benefits tax: reasonable amounts under section 31G of the Fringe Benefits Tax Assessment Act 1986 for food and drink expenses incurred by employees receiving a living-away-from-home allowance fringe benefit, for the fringe benefits tax year commencing on 1 April 2013 (now withdrawn). TD 2013/4 sets out the amounts that the Commissioner considers reasonable under section 31G of the FBTAA for food and drink expenses incurred by employees receiving a LAFHA fringe benefit for the FBT year commencing on 1 April 2013. Reasonable amounts were determined for employees within Australia based on the 2009-10 Household Expenditure Survey (HES) [2] conducted by the Australian Bureau of Statistics and indexed to take into account movements in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) since the survey was completed. Reasonable amounts for employees overseas were determined by reference to the annual Taxation Determination which sets out reasonable travel and overtime meal allowance expense amounts. For the FBT year commencing on 1 April 2021, reference is made to Taxation Determination TD 2020/5 Income tax: what are the reasonable travel and overtime meal allowance expense amounts for the 2020-21 income year? | Reasonable amounts for food and drink - within Australia: 18. In determining the reasonable amounts for food and drink for substantiation purposes for employees living away from home in Australia, reference was made to the publicly available 2015-2016 HES [3] . The HES food and drink expenditure (including alcoholic beverages) for households in the highest-income quintile has been adopted. The HES amounts have been indexed to take into account movements in the food sub-group of the CPI since the survey was completed, to determine the reasonable amounts for food and drink for FBT substantiation purposes. | Reasonable amounts for food and drink - overseas: 19. As explained more fully in TD 2013/4, the reasonable amounts for food and drink for a LAFHA paid to employees living away from home outside Australia are based on the annual Taxation Determination which sets out reasonable travel allowance amounts. The most recent Determination, which sets amounts for the 2020-21 income year, is Taxation Determination TD 2020/5. © AUSTRALIAN TAXATION OFFICE FOR THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA You are free to copy, adapt, modify, transmit and distribute this material as you wish (but not in any way that suggests the ATO or the Commonwealth endorses you or any of your services or products). Not previously issued as a draft


If this Determination applies to you, and you correctly rely on it, we will apply the law to you in the way set out in this Determination. That is, you will not pay any more tax or penalties or interest in respect of the matters covered by this Determination. | [Note: This is a consolidated version of this document. Refer to the Legal Database (www.ato.gov.au/Law) to check its currency and to view the details of all changes.] | Ruling: 1. This Determination sets out the amounts that the Commissioner considers reasonable under section 31G of the Fringe Benefits Tax Assessment Act 1986 (FBTAA) for food and drink expenses incurred by employees receiving a living-away-from-home allowance (LAFHA) fringe benefit for the fringe benefits tax (FBT) year commencing on 1 April 2021. | 2. Where the total of food and drink expenses for an employee (including eligible family members) does not exceed the amount the Commissioner considers reasonable, those expenses do not have to be substantiated under section 31G of the FBTAA. Where an employee receives a LAFHA fringe benefit, for the employer to reduce the taxable value of the fringe benefit by the exempt food component, the expenses must be either: | 3. If the total of an employee's food or drink expenses exceeds the amount the Commissioner considers reasonable, the substantiation provisions under section 31G of the FBTAA will apply. | 4. Table 1 [1] sets out the weekly amounts the Commissioner considers to be reasonable food and drink amounts for a LAFHA paid to employees living away from home within Australia for the FBT year commencing on 1 April 2021. These amounts are for the total of food or drink expenses and include any amounts that may have been allowed for home consumption. | Two adults and two children | Two adults and three children | Three adults and one child | Three adults and two children | ('Adults' for this purpose are persons who had attained the age of 12 years before the beginning of the FBT year.) | 5. In relation to larger family groupings, the Commissioner accepts the reasonable food and drink amount based on the Table 1 figures plus: | 6. Tables 2, 3 and 4 set out the weekly amounts the Commissioner considers to be reasonable food and drink amounts for a LAFHA paid to employees living away from home outside Australia for the FBT year commencing on 1 April 2021. Table 2 sets out the cost group to which a country has been allocated. Table 3 sets out the reasonable amount for food and drink expenses for each cost group. | 7. If the employee lives away from home in a country that is not shown in Table 2, the employee can use the amount for Cost Group 1 in Table 3. | Table 2 - list of countries: If a country is not listed in this table use the amount for Cost Group 1 in Table 3. | For the amounts that apply to each cost group see Table 3. | Congo Democratic Republic | Food and drink for one adult | 8. Where the employee is accompanied by other family members while overseas, the reasonable food and drink amount per week for the family is worked out by multiplying the amount shown in Table 3 by the relevant factor in Table 4. | 9. In relation to larger family groups, the Commissioner accepts the reasonable food and drink amounts can be increased:


Previous rulings: TD 2016/4 TD 2017/5 TD 2018/3 TD 2019/7 TD 2020/4
Related rulings: TD 2013/4 TD 2019/11 TD 2020/5
Legislative references: FBTAA 1986 31G FBTAA 1986 31G(1)(b) FBTAA 1986 31G(2) TAA 1953
Other references: Australian Bureau of Statistics (2011) Household Expenditure Survey, Australia: Summary of Results - 2009-10 financial year, abs.gov.au Australian Bureau of Statistics (2018) Household Expenditure Survey, Australia: Summary of Results - 2015-16 financial year, abs.gov.au