FBT Reporting 2026: A practical preparation guide for Australian businesses

With Fringe Benefits Tax (FBT) year ending 31 March 2026, now is the time to ensure your systems, data, and governance processes are ready. FBT can quickly become complex — especially where travel, vehicles, entertainment, hybrid work and employee reimbursements are involved.

This guide outlines what you need to do now to reduce risk, improve compliance, and avoid last-minute stress for your organisation's 2026 FBT reporting.

1. Understand Your FBT Exposure

Start with a clear view of benefits provided to employees and associates:

• Motor vehicles (including novated leases)
• Expense reimbursements
• Corporate cards
• Entertainment and meals
• Travel and accommodation
• Remote/hybrid work benefits
• Living-away-from-home allowances (if applicable)

Action: Conduct an internal review of all benefit categories and assign clear ownership across Finance, Payroll and HR.

Organisations with centralised expense data and visibility across cost centres (which is something the SAP Concur expense management software can provide) are significantly better positioned to identify FBT exposure early.

Download our white paper 'Uncover savings from meal and entertainment expenses (FBT)' to understand how technology can help optimise the FBT meal and entertianment calculation processes and start delivering real savings back to your business.

2. Review Data Quality & Documentation

The ATO requires accurate, well-documented records. Common risk areas include:

• Missing employee declarations
• Incomplete logbooks
• Entertainment incorrectly coded
• Private vs business expense misclassification
• No substantiation for exempt benefits

Action:
✔ Review expense coding accuracy
✔ Confirm documentation retention policies
✔ Validate employee declarations are up to date
✔ Audit a sample of high-risk transactions

Having real-time visibility of expense data, rather than relying on spreadsheets at year-end, dramatically reduces this remediation work.

3. Align Finance, Payroll & Tax Early

FBT reporting often suffers from siloed processes. To prepare effectively:

• Confirm taxable values calculation methodology
• Validate payroll gross-up treatment
• Confirm how Reportable Fringe Benefits Amounts (RFBA) will be handled
• Ensure reconciliation between expense systems and general ledger

Action: Schedule a cross-functional FBT readiness review by end February 2026.

4. Strengthen Controls Around Entertainment & Travel

Entertainment remains one of the largest FBT risk areas, especially for organisations that don’t currently have a Travel & Expense management system in place

Consider:

• Are meals clearly categorised?
• Are client vs employee expenses distinguished?
• Are minor benefit thresholds tracked?
• Is your team consistent in applying the “otherwise deductible” rule?

Action:
Establish consistent coding rules and automated flags for high-risk categories.

For those with no current system in place, something to consider for future years is an automated process for expense classification and dashboard reporting which will significantly reduce the manual work involved and protect against audit exposure with FBT.

5. Leverage Technology to Simplify FBT Reporting

Manual FBT preparation typically results in:

• High spreadsheet reliance
• Data rework
• High audit risk
• Last-minute lodgement

Automated expense platforms which include FBT dashboard reporting will:

• Automatically flag FBT-relevant transactions
• Consolidate employee-level reporting
• Provide visibility into entertainment spend
• Track vehicle declarations and logbook data
• Deliver the data for year-end FBT reporting

6. Create a Pre–31 March Checklist

By end February 2026, you should have:

• Completed an interim FBT review
• Identified high-risk transactions
• Collected outstanding employee declarations
• Validated vehicle usage records
• Confirmed reconciliation process with Payroll
• Agreed on external tax advisor engagement (if applicable)

Early preparation reduces penalties, audit exposure and reputational risk.

Need Help?

FBT compliance in Australia is increasingly data-driven. Many organisations we speak with struggle with visibility and accuracy at FBT reporting time.

If your business could benefit from clearer visibility and simpler FBT reporting, reach out to us now and we can help guide you on what may be a good fit for your business to support not only the 2026 FBT year end but also your future FBT reporting obligations. Join our Essential 2026 FBT updates webinar for a deep dive and practical advice (see link below).

Essential 2026 FBT update from Deloitte & SAP Concur

Are you set up to maximise your FBT savings in 2026?

As we approach Fringe Benefits Tax (FBT) year-end, Deloitte & SAP Concur are here to help. In addition to technical updates, we will explore how to unlock efficiency in your FBT return preparation with SAP Concur.

Register now