After our local general practitioners (GP’s) met with Sandy regarding Payroll Tax last year, following efforts from our office and others, the previous Government announced an extension of the expression of interest application period for the Payroll Tax amnesty, which would run until 30 June 2025. In addition, the Queensland Revenue office released a public ruling to make it clear, that under normal business arrangements patient fees, including the Medicare benefit, and any out-of-pocket expenses would not be subject to payroll tax when they are paid directly by a patient to a GP for their services.

Following the 2024 State Election, the new Government introduced the Revenue Legislation Amendment Bill 2024, which among other changes amended the Payroll Tax Act to introduce a permanent exemption to payroll tax and the mental health levy for wages paid by medical practices to their general practitioners. The following in italics is an excerpt from Sandy’s debate speech in Parliament on the Bill:

This arose from a payroll tax court decision in New South Wales as well as from further guidance from the Queensland Revenue Office specifying that the structures used by GP medical clinics result in payments to GPs being treated as salaries and having payroll tax applied.

The previous government implemented an amnesty until 2025, which was welcomed by Noosa medical professionals, and this bill effectively makes it permanent. This change is welcome as it has been reported that the payroll tax would be passed on to patients, which would lead to even more Queenslanders attending emergency and casualty departments due to their inability to afford a visit to the doctor. Both the Australian Medical Association (AMA) and the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) indicated strong support for the change. However, the AMA did argue that the exemption should be extended beyond GPs to specialists as well. The department’s response was that this addition is beyond the scope of the bill but, ultimately, it should be looked at going forward as we have so many who need specialist care, including youth requiring mental health care.

The full version of Sandy’s speech is available at https://documents.parliament.qld.gov.au/speeches/spk2025/Sandy_Bolton-Noosa-20250219-852686696789.pdf. As mentioned above, the department’s response regarding extending the exemption to specialists was that it was beyond the scope of the bill. We have followed up with the Health Minister requesting that they advise whether this is being investigated going forward and will update once a response has been received.

If any Noosa Electorate residents have any feedback on the above information, please email us via noosa@parliament.qld.gov.au to inform future advocacy.

Further Information

For our previous Noosa 360 updates on GP Payroll Tax, please visit www.sandybolton.com/?s=Payroll+Tax

Direct advocacy regarding payroll tax can be directed to the Queensland Treasurer via treasurer@ministerial.qld.gov.au. Please cc’ our office in via noosa@parliament.qld.gov.au and forward any response you receive to us.

With funding for primary healthcare including Medicare rebates being a National matter, those with concerns relating to the financial viability of their local GPs and private medical specialists and any decisions they have made in relation to bulk-billing, are encouraged to contact their local Federal MPs to advocate for improved funding models and supports for all primary health providers.