NSW Opposition joins pleas for payroll tax amnesty

The New South Wales Opposition has joined a growing list of advocates pleading with political leaders to delay changes to payroll tax for GPs.
 
The state Liberal Party has announced it will move an amendment in Parliament later this week, to provide an immediate amnesty for medical professionals.
 
At least six practices in NSW have already received retrospective payroll tax notices, including one for $450,000.
 
Earlier this month the Victoria and NSW governments confirmed the tax changes, in which practices earning a revenue over a certain threshold could have payroll tax liabilities for tenant GPs operating out of the clinic.
 
NSW Shadow Treasurer Damien Tudehope said retrospective audits are creating a crisis for clinics and must be addressed.
 
‘The best solution to this urgent problem is to provide an amnesty from all such payroll tax for the past five years and an exemption for the next two years while a satisfactory solution is found,’ Mr Tudehope said.
 
The move has been welcomed by the RACGP, after it wrote to NSW Premier Chris Minns last week calling for an exemption, or for an amnesty in the short-term.
 
RACGP President Dr Nicole Higgins said the loss of anymore practices would be devastating for patients and communities.
 
‘Politicians of all stripes need to get on the same page and fix this before it’s too late,’ she said.
 
‘Practices operate on very thin margins, and the vast majority will be forced to pass these costs on to patients.
 
‘We need a national solution to this, because it also threatens to undermine the Federal Government’s investment and reforms to improve access to GP care, such as tripling bulk-billing incentives.’
 
Meanwhile, RACGP NSW/ACT Chair Professor Charlotte Hespe welcomed the announcement and urged the NSW Government to support the amendment.
 
‘Our government needs to act in the best interests of patients and support this amendment to provide an immediate amnesty from payroll tax on payments to GPs, to ensure these essential medical services don’t close,’ Professor Hespe said.
 
‘Without urgent action, this situation will escalate. We now know that six practices have received demands for retrospective payroll tax, but there will be more that haven’t come forward to us.’
 
South Australia will introduce the changes but has committed to an amnesty until June next year.
 
The Queensland Government has also agreed to an amnesty until June 2025, while Western Australia will not implement the taxes at all.
 
Last week, the college teamed up with the Australian Medical Association to write to Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews pleading for ‘urgent intervention’ on its tax rollout.
 
A Victorian amnesty is yet to be announced.
 
Practice owners have already warned they will be unable to absorb the costs of additional payroll tax, with one Victorian operator saying the changes would wipe out more than half of all medical centres.
 
A previous newsGP poll found just 3% of general practices could absorb the costs associated with the changes in payroll tax, and 78% would need to increase patient fees.
 
NSW Parliament will resume on Wednesday.
 
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Chris Minns general practice payroll tax