Declaring wages

Employers with an icare Workers Compensation policy are legally required to report their actual wages to icare at the end of each policy period. This helps ensure that your Workers Compensation premiums are calculated both accurately and fairly, including any premium refunds.

If an employer fails to submit their actual wage records, icare may undertake a wage audit, and/or the State Insurance Regulatory Authority (SIRA), may take the following regulatory action:

• issue a penalty notice under Clause 141 of the Workers Compensation Regulation 2016
• issue an official caution
• issue late payment fees
• request a wage audit to be conducted for up to the last 5 years
• recover costs associated with a wage audit
• prosecution.

The Wages Definition Manual provides a comprehensive guide of the wages that should be taken into account when declaring wages.

Wages can include the amounts paid between the policy start date and policy expiry date for any of the items below:

• salary/wages
• overtime, shift and other allowances
• over award payments
• bonuses, commissions
• payments to working directors (including directors' fees)
• payments to pieceworkers
• payments for sick leave, public holidays and the associated leave loadings
• value of any substitutes for wages
• employer-paid or payable superannuation contributions (including the superannuation guarantee levy)
• grossed-up value of fringe benefits (allowances subject to fringe benefits tax are counted at the grossed-up value, that is the value of the benefit multiplied by the relevant Australian Tax Office fringe benefit formula)
• long service leave payments (including lump sum payments instead of long service leave)
• termination payments (lump sum payments in respect of annual leave, long service leave, sick leave and related leave loadings)
• trust distributions to workers where the distribution is in lieu of wages for work done for the trust
• JobKeeper payments (only for hours worked). Please see our COVID-19 information page for more details.

What not to include

The following types of payments do not need to be declared as wages:

• payments to non-working directors
• compensation payments under the Workers Compensation Act 1987
• any GST component in a payment to a worker
• JobKeeper payments where your worker is not working and not earning wages. Please see our COVID-19 information page for more details.

The extent to which motor vehicle and accommodation allowances are excluded from wages is published by the State Insurance Regulatory Authority(external link) in its Annexure D of the Workers Compensation Market Practice and Premiums Guidelines(external link).

How to declare wages for…

Apprentices

Apprentice wages entitle you to a premium reduction, so they need to be declared separately from other workers.

Learn more about premium reductions for employers of apprentices

Contractors

If you have contractors who are deemed workers, include the full contract value (ex GST) in your wages declaration.

If you know the breakdown of labour, tools, plant and materials include the $value as required; if not, just place an ‘x’ in the appropriate column at Section A of the Declaration of Actual Wages Form and icare will use a default % value of the contract payment.

Where a payment to a worker (including deemed workers) is made in lieu of wages (regardless of the terminology used to describe that payment), the payment is counted as wages.

The State Insurance Regulatory Authority (SIRA) has a tool to help guide you as to whether a person is a worker, a deemed worker or contractor for Workers Compensation purposes.

Asbestos wages

Where a worker has exposure to, or handles, asbestos or asbestos-containing products, employers are required to declare wages for the time the worker was exposed (in hours), including when using Personal Protective Equipment.

Employers should maintain a record of the hours of exposure for wage declaration and wage auditing purposes.

Not-for-profits

Non-profit organisations, public benevolent institutions and charities may have different fringe benefit thresholds. These organisations should maintain with their wage records the appropriate fringe benefit thresholds for their organisations and should continue to declare worker benefits that aren't subject to fringe benefits tax at the net value. 

Non-wage based activities

If you're a taxi operator, you'll need to provide the following additional information:

• a list of vehicles held at the beginning of the period of insurance (including plate number/s)
• purchase/sale dates of any vehicles that have changed hands in both the previous and current 12 months
• indicate if vehicles are metropolitan or country, and the average number of bailee shifts/week per plate.

Please provide this information and any other supporting information provided by the Taxi Council on a separate sheet and attach it to your Declaration of Actual Wages form.

Wage declaration audits

From time to time, icare conducts audits on wage declarations for current and past policy periods, so it’s in your best interest to send your actual wages in on time.

Learn more about wage audits