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The judgment for Loan Market’s payroll tax case has been reserved, with final orders to be handed down in due course.
The long-running court case between Loan Market Group Pty Ltd/Loan Market Pty Ltd and Revenue NSW regarding the application of payroll tax to certain brokers is yet to come to a conclusion, after the judge on Friday (6 September) reserved the judgment on final orders and costs.
The case – which has widespread implications for the entire broking industry and other payroll tax court cases in the industry, such as the Finsure case – seeks to determine whether brokers are working under a ‘relevant contract’ where payroll tax applies (as per section 32 of the Payroll Tax Act 2007 NSW).
While the Supreme Court of NSW had previously ruled in favour of Revenue NSW’s reading of the law and found that payroll tax should be paid on commissions and payments to brokers in certain instances, final orders were expected to be handed down on Friday (6 September).
However, LMG executive chairman Sam White has said that the judgment around costs has been reserved (i.e. coming at a later date, yet to be determined).
Once the final orders are issued, an appeals process will extend for 28 days.
He said: “This morning, we were in court to sort out the final issues and orders of our case with Revenue NSW.
“The outcome was the judgment being reserved, with final orders to be handed down in due course which highlights complexity of the issue.”
Uber case ruling could provide grounds for appeal
However, White said that another major relevant case – the payroll tax decision on Uber drivers – had its judgment handed down today, which sided with the taxpayer.
The Uber case – which covers the period 2015–20 and was brought by Revenue NSW as it seeks more than $81.5 million in tax payments – focused on the services provided by Uber drivers and how they are paid.
NSW Supreme Court Justice David Hammerschlag ruled on Friday that Uber did not pay drivers a wage and dismissed the assessments and tax sought by Revenue NSW.
The LMG executive chairman said that the judge in that case had “agreed that drivers provide a service and there’s a contract in play but didn’t think the payments were in relation to the identified service performed”.
“The decision was based on the contractual arrangements entered into by Uber, drivers, and passengers,” he said.
“We’ll be going through the decision details to consider the merits of a possible Loan Market appeal.”
As such, the case could be challenged further.
You can find out more about the payroll tax case and its implications for the broking industry in this news story from July or watch the full webinar for an in-depth discussion of what it means for broking.
[Related: Unpacking payroll tax: essential broker insights from industry experts]
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