ACT ditches controversial GP payroll tax rule
The ACT took the approach of Victoria and SA, starting last week.
The first jurisdiction to link payroll tax and bulk-billing — by exempting clinics that bulk-billed 65% of services — has flipped its approach.
As courts decided GP income could count as wages in 2023, the ACT Government announced a two-year tax amnesty for practices that met its bulk-billing target and signed up to MyMedicare.
Chief Minister Andrew Barr then launched a colourful attack on GPs and their representative groups, saying they lacked “ambition” on bulk-billing and misunderstood the tax-free threshold.
But in the 2025 ACT budget last month, he changed tack, at least with how the amnesty worked.
