Payroll Tax (Pandemic) Order 2020

The order rests on a small set of core definitions and thresholds that determine eligibility for lodgement and payment waivers.

• Relevant business employer (clause 4). An employer is a relevant business employer if, for the 2019-2020 financial year, taxable wages paid or payable comprise 50 per cent or more of the employer’s total wages. For employers in groups, the test is applied at the group level: taxable wages for the group must comprise 50 per cent or more of the group’s total wages for 2019-2020 (clause 4(a) and (b)). The order therefore distinguishes between taxable wages and total wages when assessing who is a "relevant business employer" (clause 3(1) defines "total wages" to include taxable wages and interstate wages).

• Small and medium business payroll tax employer (clause 5). This is a subset of relevant business employers. To qualify an employer must (a) be a relevant business employer, (b) have had its business affected by COVID‑19 during 2019-2020, and (c) have total wages in 2019-2020 of $5,000,000 or less (applied to the employer or the group as relevant) (clause 5(a)-(d)). The order places the $5 million threshold on total wages for the full 2019-2020 financial year.

• Industry specific payroll tax employer (clause 3(1)). This is defined as a relevant business employer who employs at least one eligible employee. The waiver available to these employers is targeted to wages of eligible employees (see clause 6(3)).

• Eligible employee and industry definitions (clause 3(1)). An eligible employee is an employee who works solely or predominantly in one or more specified industries: tourism, hospitality or seafood. The order supplies sectoral definitions. Hospitality is defined by types of goods and services provided primarily direct to the public: short‑stay accommodation, preparation and service of meals or cooked food, and preparation and service of beverages. Tourism is defined as provision of goods and services primarily to tourists; "tourist" is narrowly defined as a person visiting or travelling in Tasmania on holiday principally for sightseeing or entertainment. Seafood covers taking, handling, farming or sale of seafood but explicitly excludes the retail sale of seafood and the importing of seafood from other jurisdictions. Short‑stay accommodation is defined by use for monetary gain and ordinary intended occupancy periods not exceeding 4 weeks.

• Temporal and procedural operation. The order waives Part 7 returns for particular months (March-May 2020) and waives payment obligations for the whole 2019-2020 financial year for qualifying employers and employees (clause 6(1)-(3)). The order takes effect on notification in the Gazette (clause 2) and is to be interpreted with the Acts Interpretation Act 1931 as if it were by‑laws (clause 3(2)).

• Relationship to the Payroll Tax Act 2008. The order explicitly treats the Payroll Tax Act 2008 as the underpinning Act (clause 3(1)). It thereby operates by reference to obligations and parts of that Act, specifically Part 7 (lodgement of returns) which the order exempts for certain months for the named employer classes (clause 6(1)).

These concepts create a map for administrators and taxpayers: decide group membership, aggregate 2019-2020 total wages and taxable wages, apply the 50 per cent rule for relevant business employer status, apply the $5 million threshold and the COVID‑19 "affected" test for small and medium employers, identify eligible employees by industry and work patterns, and then apply the specified waivers for the calendar months and financial year periods in the order.

The order targets a defined subset of employers and employees tied to the 2019-2020 financial year and to a small set of industries. The immediate beneficiaries are employers who meet the order’s definitional criteria; other parties are affected indirectly.

• Small and medium business payroll tax employers. To be in this class an employer must be a relevant business employer (clause 4), must have been affected by COVID‑19 during 2019-2020 (clause 5(b)), and must have total wages for 2019-2020 of $5,000,000 or less (clause 5(c)-(d)). Employers in a group are assessed on the group total wages figure (clause 5(d)). Employers who meet all elements are not required to lodge Part 7 returns for March-May 2020 (clause 6(1)) and are not required to pay payroll tax on taxable wages for 2019-2020 (clause 6(2)).

• Industry specific payroll tax employers. These are relevant business employers who employ at least one eligible employee (clause 3(1) definition of industry specific payroll tax employer). For this class, the order waives Part 7 lodgement obligations for March-May 2020 (clause 6(1)) and waives payroll tax payment obligations in respect of taxable wages paid or payable to eligible employees for 2019-2020 (clause 6(3)). The payroll‑tax waiver for industry specific employers does not extend to wages paid to non‑eligible employees.

• Eligible employees. Individuals who “work solely or predominantly” in tourism, hospitality or seafood industries are the focus for the industry‑specific wage waiver (clause 3(1)). The instrument’s industry definitions are activity‑based and include subordinate criteria: eg, hospitality must be primarily provided direct to the public and short‑stay accommodation is defined by intended occupancy periods of not more than four weeks (clause 3(1)). The tourism definition is linked to services primarily provided directly to tourists, while the tourist definition is limited to persons visiting or travelling in Tasmania on holiday principally for sightseeing or entertainment (clause 3(1)).

• Employer groups. Group status matters for aggregation and threshold tests. Both the 50 per cent taxable wages test for relevant business employer status (clause 4(b)) and the $5 million total wages threshold for small and medium business payroll tax employer status (clause 5(d)) are applied at the group level where the employer is a member of a group. That produces a consolidated assessment obligation for related entities.

• Payroll tax administrator and government. The Department of Treasury and Finance administers the order (instrument footer). The order operates as a waiver of revenue that would otherwise be payable under the Payroll Tax Act 2008; the direct fiscal effect falls to the State, administratively handled by Treasury.

• Non‑beneficiaries. Employers that do not meet the relevant definitions , for example, employers with total wages over $5,000,000, employers who are not “relevant business employers” under the 50 per cent test, employers that were not affected by COVID‑19 during 2019-2020, or employers whose employees do not meet the eligible employee tests , receive no waiver under this order. Likewise, industry specific employers remain liable for payroll tax on wages paid to non‑eligible employees.

The order’s effect therefore depends on payroll data and factual assessments running back to the 2019-2020 financial year, and on how narrowly or broadly administrators and employers interpret terms such as “affected by COVID‑19” and “predominantly”. Those factual determinations will decide which employers and which wages are within the waiver scope.

This order modifies certain duties and creates associated rights (entitlements) for defined classes of employers and employees. The duties waived are specific and the rights are correspondingly narrow.

Duties waived

• Lodgement duty for Part 7 returns for March-May 2020 (clause 6(1)). Small and medium business payroll tax employers and industry specific payroll tax employers are not required to lodge returns under Part 7 of the Payroll Tax Act 2008 for those three months. This is a suspension of the lodgement obligation only for the months specified, not a general suspension for other months.

• Payment duty for small and medium business payroll tax employers (clause 6(2)). Small and medium business payroll tax employers are not required to pay payroll tax in respect of taxable wages paid or payable to any employee for the 2019-2020 financial year. That is an across‑the‑board payment waiver for taxable wages in that financial year for employers meeting the clause 5 criteria.

• Payment duty for industry specific payroll tax employers (clause 6(3)). Industry specific payroll tax employers are not required to pay payroll tax in respect of taxable wages paid or payable to eligible employees for the 2019-2020 financial year. This payment duty waiver is limited to eligible employees (those working solely or predominantly in tourism, hospitality, seafood per clause 3(1)).

Rights created (entitlements)

• Entitlement not to lodge for specified months. Eligible employers have the right to withhold Part 7 lodgements for March-May 2020 without contravening the lodgement requirement under the Payroll Tax Act, as modified by the order (clause 6(1)). This right arises automatically where the employer falls within the named classes.

• Entitlement not to pay payroll tax for 2019-2020 (clause 6(2) and (3)). Where an employer qualifies, the order operates as a right to decline payment of payroll tax for the relevant wages and period specified.

Operational consequences and required administrative actions

• Assessment of status. The primary duty for an employer seeking the relief is to determine whether it fits the order’s definitions. That requires calculating total wages and taxable wages for the 2019-2020 financial year, including whether the employer is part of a group for consolidation of figures (clauses 3(1), 4 and 5). Wage aggregation rules are not set out in detail in the order; the instrument assumes the ability to attribute payroll figures to employer or group.

• Evidence of being affected by COVID‑19. Small and medium business payroll tax employers must satisfy the order’s factual requirement that their business was affected by COVID‑19 during 2019-2020 (clause 5(b)). The order does not define what constitutes “affected”, leaving the evidentiary standard and practical proof to administrative processes or later determinations.

• Identification of eligible employees. Industry specific employers must identify eligible employees who work solely or predominantly in the specified industries (clause 3(1)). The order supplies industry definitions with activity criteria, which impose an evidentiary and classification duty on employers.

Interaction with the underlying Payroll Tax Act and interpretation rules

• The instrument expressly references the Payroll Tax Act 2008 as the Act for the purposes of the order (clause 3(1)). Consequently, duties normally arising under the Act will be modified only to the extent set out in the order; other duties and powers under the Act remain unless otherwise provided.

• Interpretation. Clause 3(2) imports the Acts Interpretation Act 1931 as if the order were by‑laws. This affects how ambiguous terms in the order are to be interpreted administratively and legally.

Record‑keeping and proof

• The order creates practical duties for employers to retain records that demonstrate compliance with the definitions and thresholds: payroll records for 2019-2020, group membership evidence, evidence that the business was affected by COVID‑19, and records showing employees’ work patterns and industry classification relevant to eligible employee status.

In short, the order removes discrete lodgement and payment duties for defined groups, but it places evidentiary and classification duties on employers to establish entitlement to the waivers. The broader set of payroll tax duties under the Payroll Tax Act 2008 continues to exist except where this instrument expressly provides otherwise.

The order itself contains no express penalty provisions or enforcement mechanisms. It operates by disapplying particular obligations under the Payroll Tax Act 2008 for the defined employers and wages. The enforcement and penalty landscape therefore depends on the interaction between this order and the existing enforcement regime in the Payroll Tax Act 2008.

What the order does state

• Waiver of lodgement and payment obligations (clause 6(1)-(3)). Where an employer falls within the order’s definitions, the employer is “not required” to lodge the specified returns for March-May 2020 and/or “not required” to pay payroll tax for the specified wages and financial year. That is an affirmative waiver, expressed in negative terms.

What the order does not do

• It does not amend or repeal enforcement provisions, penalty regimes, interest on late payment, assessment, objection or review processes contained in the Payroll Tax Act 2008. The instrument is silent on whether existing assessment, amendment or recovery powers of the payroll tax authority under the Act are modified in other ways. Clause 3 sets out that the Act is the underlying statutory framework and clause 3(2) invokes interpretation rules, but no express carve‑outs for enforcement sections are included in the order text supplied.

Implications

• Administrative enforcement. Because the order is administered by the Department of Treasury and Finance (instrument footer), the practical application of the waivers, the acceptance of self‑assessments, the treatment of disputed eligibility, and the handling of record requests and audits will be managed by Treasury under the existing powers and processes of the Payroll Tax Act 2008. The order does not specify whether Treasury may require documentary proof before recognizing an employer’s entitlement to the waiver. That is an implementation detail that arises from the administrative interaction between the order and the Act.

• Potential for subsequent review or challenge. The order does not provide for clawback, repayment conditions, or carve‑outs in respect of later found ineligibility. Because the order simply states that certain employers are not required to pay, questions about retrospective assessments or corrections would need to be resolved under the Payroll Tax Act 2008 and standard administrative law mechanisms. The order does not itself state whether its waivers prevent later assessment under the Act, nor does it expressly preserve or remove rights to object to any administrative decision in this domain.

• No new criminal or civil penalties in the order. There are no new offences or penal sanctions created by this order; any sanctions would be those already present in the Payroll Tax Act 2008 and its enforcement regimes.

Practical enforcement considerations for practitioners

• Expect reliance on the Payroll Tax Act 2008’s procedures if disputes arise about who qualifies. The order’s silence on enforcement specifics means that the established audit, assessment, objection and recovery mechanisms in the Act will be the likely route for resolving contested claims.

• Record retention will be important. Absent an express evidentiary regime in the order, employers should expect to provide payroll records and supporting material if Treasury questions entitlement to the waived obligations.

• Administrative discretion. The narrow and factual definitions in the order (for example, the undefined “affected by COVID‑19” requirement) create situations where administrative discretion will determine outcomes; enforcement is therefore likely to involve fact‑specific administrative assessments rather than new statutory sanctions.

In summary, the order grants waivers; it does not itself create new enforcement powers or penalties. Enforcement questions and any disputes over eligibility will be determined using the Payroll Tax Act 2008 framework and departmental administrative processes.

The order is drafted to operate by reference to and alongside existing statutory frameworks. The principal statutory interactions are with the Payroll Tax Act 2008, the Acts Interpretation Act 1931 and the Rules Publication Act 1953; the instrument also sits in the administrative domain of the Department of Treasury and Finance.

Payroll Tax Act 2008

• Primary reference. Clause 3(1) defines “Act” to mean the Payroll Tax Act 2008. The order therefore modifies obligations that arise under that Act by creating exceptions to specified duties (for example, Part 7 lodgement and payroll tax payment). Where the order exempts certain obligations, the underlying and otherwise applicable provisions of the Payroll Tax Act 2008 continue to exist for parties not covered by the order.

• Part 7 lodgement. The order explicitly removes the requirement to lodge returns under Part 7 of the Act for the months March-May 2020 for the specified employer classes (clause 6(1)). That is a targeted modification of a specific procedural duty in the Payroll Tax Act 2008.

• Enforcement and assessment. The order does not expressly displace the Act’s assessment, objection and recovery powers. Those remain available to the extent they are not inconsistent with the waiver granted by the order. The order does not purport to amend or suspend other parts of the Act.

Acts Interpretation Act 1931

• Interpretation as by‑laws. Clause 3(2) directs that the Acts Interpretation Act 1931 applies to the interpretation of this order as if the order were by‑laws. That means the order should be read using the interpretation rules and presumptions in the Acts Interpretation Act, which will affect questions about expressio unius, temporal application, definitions, and interpretation of ambiguous terms. The order thereby invites the use of that established interpretive framework rather than ad hoc or informal interpretation.

Rules Publication Act 1953

• Formal publication. The instrument is displayed and numbered in accordance with the Rules Publication Act 1953. It was notified in the Gazette on 9 April 2020. These procedural interactions relate to the formal validity and commencement of the instrument and confirm that the order was made and published in the recognized manner for subordinate instruments.

Administrative law and departmental processes

• Administration by Department of Treasury and Finance. The instrument identifies the Department of Treasury and Finance as the administering agency. Operational implementation, including how employers demonstrate entitlement, how returns are handled if employers have already lodged, and whether refunds or credits will be issued, will be managed by Treasury under the powers and procedures set out in the Payroll Tax Act 2008 and relevant administrative law principles.

Other laws and taxation regimes

• No express cross‑reference to other tax laws. The order does not reference Commonwealth taxation laws, superannuation obligations, workers compensation, Fair Work or other employment‑related statutes. The narrow language suggests the relief is confined to payroll tax obligations under the Payroll Tax Act 2008 and does not alter obligations under other regulatory regimes. Employers should not assume that relief under this order alters their obligations under other legal regimes.

Temporal and retrospective implications

• Retrospective application to March 2020. Because clause 2 provides that the order takes effect on notification in the Gazette and the instrument was notified on 9 April 2020, the waiver of the March 2020 Part 7 lodgement occurs by way of instrument effect after the month in question. This produces a retrospective suspension of the March 2020 lodgement obligation. That temporal interaction may raise administrative questions about returns already lodged or payments already made for March 2020 and the process for refunds or amendments under the Payroll Tax Act 2008.

In sum, the order functions as a subordinate instrument that adjusts application of obligations under the Payroll Tax Act 2008 for specified employers and periods, is to be interpreted under the Acts Interpretation Act 1931, was validly published under the Rules Publication Act 1953, and is administered by the Department of Treasury and Finance. It does not purport to change obligations under other legal regimes.

The text of the instrument supplied records its notification date and formal publication details but contains no internal amendments or later variations within the document itself.

• Notification and publication. The order was notified in the Gazette on 9 April 2020 (instrument footer). The instrument is displayed and numbered in accordance with the Rules Publication Act 1953 (final line above the notice of Gazette).

• No amendments included in the instrument text. The text as supplied contains the operative clauses and definitions but contains no schedule of subsequent amendments nor any notation indicating later amendments to the order. The instrument does not list any repeal, modification, or savings provisions beyond its own clauses.

• Administration. The instrument is administered by the Department of Treasury and Finance (instrument footer). Any later policy changes or amendments to the payroll tax regime that affect this order would appear either as subsequent subordinate instruments, amendments to the Payroll Tax Act 2008, or administrative policy changes implemented by the administering department. None of those are contained in the supplied text.

• Procedural context. Clause 2 sets commencement as the day of Gazette notification. In practice the commencement date recorded in the Gazette (9 April 2020) is therefore the operative start date for the order. The order uses 2019-2020 financial year figures as its reference period for multiple definitions (clauses 4 and 5), which fixes the factual baseline for eligibility and entitlements.

If users need to know whether the order was subsequently amended, revoked or superseded after the date of Gazette publication, that is not information present in the text supplied. The instrument itself contains no amendment log, no expiry clause, and no sunset provision. It provides relief targeted at the March-May 2020 months and the 2019-2020 financial year; those temporal markers in the instrument likely limit its ongoing operational relevance beyond those periods unless formally extended or replaced by subsequent instruments.

The instrument text supplied contains no reference to litigation or judicial interpretation. It does not record any court challenges, declaratory proceedings, or binding judicial decisions referring to the order. The order does not include any notes of judicial consideration, case citations, or references to legal proceedings.

Because the order was a short, targeted subordinate instrument providing waivers focused on the 2019-2020 financial year and March-May 2020 lodgements, any litigation that might have arisen would be external to the instrument and would need to be located in judicial records or tertiary sources. Those sources are not part of the instrument text provided.

Practitioners seeking litigation history should take the following steps outside the instrument:

• Check tribunal and court databases for disputes concerning Payroll Tax (Pandemic) Order 2020 or for matters involving the Department of Treasury and Finance and payroll tax determinations for 2019-2020. The instrument itself does not supply that material.

• Review administrative decisions and any published rulings by the payroll tax authority under the Payroll Tax Act 2008 that interpret the order’s application (for example, decisions on what constitutes “affected by COVID‑19” or the classification of employees as “eligible employees”) if such decisions exist.

• Examine whether any objections, reviews or judicial review proceedings were commenced in the period following the order’s notification, particularly focused on eligibility tests, group aggregation or the retrospective lodgement waiver.

The supplied instrument is silent on litigation; no litigation history is recorded in the text itself.

The order delivers targeted relief, but the text contains several drafting features and factual thresholds that create practical pitfalls and points of uncertainty for employers, advisers and administrators.

1. Reliance on 2019-2020 financial year figures as the sole eligibility baseline (clauses 4 and 5). Both the 50 per cent taxable wages test for relevant business employer status (clause 4) and the $5 million total wages test for small and medium business payroll tax employer status (clause 5(c)-(d)) look to the 2019-2020 financial year. Employers whose wage profile changed materially after that year are locked into that baseline for determining eligibility for the waivers. That can produce counterintuitive outcomes for businesses that expanded, contracted, merged or reorganised after 2019-2020.

2. Taxable wages versus total wages distinction (clauses 3(1), 4 and 5). The order uses both “taxable wages” and “total wages” and defines “total wages” to include taxable wages and interstate wages (clause 3(1)). Practically, employers must disaggregate their wage figures for 2019-2020 and correctly allocate interstate components. The order provides no computation rules or schedules for apportionment where wages have mixed characteristics, which increases the administrative burden and creates audit exposure.

3. Undefined phrase “affected by the disease known as COVID‑19” (clause 5(b)). The order requires small and medium business payroll tax employers to show their business was affected by COVID‑19 during 2019-2020, but it does not define “affected”. That absence of definition is a material ambiguity. Employers and administrators will need to resolve what types of effects qualify (eg, revenue declines, closures, supply chain interruption, decreased bookings) and what evidentiary standard is required. Expect this to be an area of documentary review and discretionary determination by Treasury or the payroll tax authority.

4. “Works solely or predominantly” test for eligible employees (clause 3(1)). The order makes eligibility for the industry‑specific wage waiver dependent on employees working “solely or predominantly” in the named industries. The term “predominantly” is not quantified. Employers with staff who perform mixed duties across eligible and non‑eligible activities face classification challenges. The order’s lack of definitive guidance invites disputes and requires careful record‑keeping of employee duties and time allocation.

5. Narrow industry definitions and the tourist definition (clause 3(1)). The tourism and hospitality definitions require that goods and services be “primarily provided” to tourists or directly to the public. The order also defines “tourist” narrowly as someone in Tasmania on holiday principally for sightseeing or entertainment. Employers whose clientele include local residents, business travellers, long‑stay guests, or patrons whose principal purpose is not sightseeing or entertainment may find their workers excluded from the eligible employee category. Similarly, the seafood industry exclusion for retail sales and importing narrows the scope for businesses in that sector.

6. Group treatment can deny relief to otherwise small entities (clauses 4 and 5). The order treats employers who are members of a group by reference to group totals for both the 50 per cent test and the $5 million threshold. Small legal entities that are part of a larger payroll group may fail the $5 million test and therefore be ineligible for the small and medium employer waiver. Conversely, the 50 per cent taxable wages test at the group level can produce different outcomes than a single‑entity assessment.

7. Retrospective effect and March 2020 lodgement (clauses 2 and 6(1)). The order takes effect on the day of Gazette notification (clause 2). Because it was notified on 9 April 2020 it has retrospective effect in applying the lodgement waiver for March 2020. Employers who lodged March returns before notification will need to know the administrative mechanism for amending or obtaining credits or refunds. The order itself does not detail the process for correcting previously lodged returns or paid tax.

8. Narrow scope of employee‑level waiver for industry specific employers (clause 6(3)). The industry specific employer waiver applies only to taxable wages paid or payable to eligible employees. Employers with a mix of eligible and non‑eligible employees remain liable for tax on the non‑eligible wages. That requires granular payroll segmentation and may increase payroll administration costs.

9. No express guidance on refunds, credits or offsets. The order states employers are “not required to pay” but does not provide a mechanism for refunding amounts already paid, or for applying credits against other liabilities. Employers who have already paid tax under the Payroll Tax Act 2008 will need to follow the Act’s procedures and Treasury administrative processes to obtain refunds or to adjust accounts.

10. Interpretation as by‑laws (clause 3(2)). Clause 3(2) requires the Acts Interpretation Act 1931 to be applied as if the order were by‑laws. Practitioners must therefore be ready to argue interpretative matters within that framework rather than rely on informal or operational policy guides. That raises points about how to construe “primarily provided”, “predominantly”, and “affected by COVID‑19”.

Each of these points is a concrete operational or legal risk traceable to the language of the order. Employers and advisers should not assume automatic or broad coverage beyond the literal terms of the order; instead they need to apply the definitions and thresholds to their 2019-2020 payroll data and document the factual basis for any claim to relief.

This section offers a practical, source‑grounded roadmap for employers and advisers seeking to determine and document entitlement under the Payroll Tax (Pandemic) Order 2020. It sticks to the duties the order creates or waives and to the evidentiary tasks implicit in the instrument.

1. Establish whether you are a relevant business employer (clause 4)

• Calculate the employer’s total wages for the 2019-2020 financial year. Clause 3(1) defines “total wages” to include taxable wages and interstate wages; use your payroll records to compute the aggregate.

• Calculate taxable wages for 2019-2020. The order assumes the concept of taxable wages ties back to the Payroll Tax Act 2008. Use the same basis and definitions you would use for Part 7 returns to ensure consistent figures.

• Apply the 50 per cent test. If taxable wages comprise 50 per cent or more of total wages for the employer, the employer is a “relevant business employer” (clause 4(a)). If your employer is part of a group, aggregate the group’s taxable and total wages and apply the 50 per cent test at the group level (clause 4(b)).

2. If relevant business employer, determine whether you qualify as a small and medium business payroll tax employer (clause 5)

• Confirm relevant business employer status as above.

• Confirm whether the business was “affected by the disease known as COVID‑19 during the 2019-2020 financial year” (clause 5(b)). Because the order does not define “affected”, document contemporaneous evidence showing impact, for example revenue declines, cancellations, closures, staff stand‑downs, or other material business interruptions. Keep dated internal records, correspondence with suppliers or customers, booking data, and any government notices.

• Confirm the $5,000,000 total wages cap. For single employers confirm that the total wages in 2019-2020 do not exceed $5,000,000 (clause 5(c)). For employers in a group, apply the $5,000,000 cap at the group level (clause 5(d)).

3. If relevant business employer with at least one eligible employee, identify industry specific payroll tax employer status (clause 3(1))

• Identify employees who “work solely or predominantly” in tourism, hospitality, or seafood. Maintain contemporaneous job descriptions, time sheets, rosters, duty statements and other evidence showing the activities performed and the proportion of work devoted to eligible activities.

• Apply the industry definitions in clause 3(1) strictly: for hospitality, ensure the goods and services are “primarily provided direct to the public” and that short‑stay accommodation meets the occupancy period criterion; for tourism ensure services are primarily provided to tourists as defined; for seafood ensure activities relate to taking, handling, farming or sale but not retail sale or importation.

4. Apply the relief consequences (clause 6)

• Lodgement waiver (clause 6(1)). If you are a small and medium business payroll tax employer or an industry specific payroll tax employer, you are not required to lodge Part 7 returns for March-May 2020. However, retain records showing entitlement. If returns have already been lodged for those months, prepare documents to support a request for amendment or refund under the Payroll Tax Act 2008 administrative procedures.

• Payment waiver (clause 6(2) and (3)). If you are a small and medium business payroll tax employer you are not required to pay payroll tax in respect of taxable wages paid or payable to any employee in 2019-2020. If you are an industry specific payroll tax employer you are not required to pay payroll tax in respect of taxable wages paid or payable to eligible employees in 2019-2020. Segregate payroll records to identify which wages fall within the waiver and which do not.

5. Prepare documentation and contemporaneous evidence

• Maintain a package of documentary evidence that supports all elements used to determine entitlement, including wage calculations, group structures, payroll journals, timesheets, staff duty records, business performance metrics showing COVID‑19 impact, invoices, booking cancellations, and communications showing reduced activity.

• Keep a written record of the methodology used to classify employees as “eligible”, including any measure used to determine “predominantly” where employees have mixed duties.

6. Administrative engagement with Treasury

• Contact the Department of Treasury and Finance if there is ambiguity about eligibility, to request guidance on how the department will apply “affected by COVID‑19” or to establish a process for amending returns or obtaining refunds for amounts already paid.

• File any requests for refunds or account adjustments under the procedures set out in the Payroll Tax Act 2008, since the order does not itself prescribe a refund mechanism.

7. Consider group structuring and M&A consequences

• If your entity is part of a corporate group, review group aggregation rules and consider whether restructuring or reorganisation that occurred during or after 2019-2020 changes group membership for the relevant year. Use group consolidated payroll figures for the tests specified in clauses 4 and 5.

8. Preserve other obligations

• The order only affects payroll tax obligations identified in clause 6. Continue to meet obligations under other legislation, including superannuation, PAYG withholding, workers compensation, employment law and any state or Commonwealth obligations that are not addressed by this order.

9. Audit readiness

• Expect possible audit review. Because the order provides waivers based on factual tests and retrospective figures, Treasury may request supporting evidence. Keep records for the statutory retention period for tax records and for a reasonable period after the date of the waiver.

10. Seek formal advice when necessary

• Given the undefined and potentially dispositive elements in the order (for example “affected by COVID‑19” and “predominantly”), consider obtaining a written ruling from Treasury if such a mechanism exists, or seek private legal or accounting advice to document the basis of any position taken.

In implementing these steps, practitioners should ensure all calculations and conclusions are defensible against the definitions and thresholds in the order itself, and should not assume relief beyond the literal wording of clauses 4, 5 and 6. The administering department is the final arbiter in the application of the order; documentation and clear record‑keeping are the primary tools to secure the intended relief.