What is a living away from home allowance fringe benefit?.
A living away from home allowance is an allowance the employer pays to an employee to compensate for additional expenses incurred, and any disadvantages suffered, because the employee is required to live away from their usual place of residence in order to perform their employment-related duties.
The term ‘additional expenses’ does not include expenses the employee would be entitled to claim as an income tax deduction.
Examples of employees on appointments of finite duration who will generally be living away from their usual place of residence are foreign nationals employed in Australia (expatriate employees).
The employee would be regarded as living away from the usual place of residence provided that they intend to return there at the end of the term of the transfer.
An employee is regarded as living away from their usual place of residence if they could have continued to live at the former place if they did not have to work temporarily in a different locality.
The residence does not have to be the employee’s permanent place of residence.
Employees who move to a new locality with an intention to return to their old locality at the end of the appointment would generally be treated as living away from their usual place of residence.
A 457 Visa holder is normally allowed to claim this allowance from the Employer, and it is the Employer who has to handle all the paperwork.
You do need to complete a declaration stating what your Usual Place of Residence is for each period, and an example of this is a PDF file located at: