Earn on your own schedule

GST changes from 1 December 2017

15November,2017 / Australia

From 1 December 2017, driver partners will contract with an entity based here in Australia (Raiser Pacific Pty Ltd (Rasier Pacific)) for Uber Services. This change is to ensure Uber remains compliant with specific local legislation. The updated terms that accompany this change will be available through the app from this date and you will need to accept them to continue accepting ride requests using the app.

For the most part, this should not change your experience of using the app to accept rides and earn money but we do want to explain how this change may impact your GST (Goods and Services Tax) obligations.

GST

As an Australian company, Rasier Pacific will be required by law to charge 10% GST on the services it provides you, regardless of whether you have an ABN and are GST registered.

As such, all fees that Rasier Pacific charges you, including the Service Fee, will now have GST added. The way this affects you depends on whether you have uploaded your ABN and confirmed you are registered for GST in your Uber partner account.

If you have: the fees that Rasier Pacific charges you (including the Service Fee and the Booking Fee, for example) will now have a 10% GST component added to them. While we cannot provide you with tax advice, you should be able to claim a GST credit for the GST charged on these fees.
If you haven’t: you should not see a change in the fees that Rasier Pacific charges you. This is because these fees already include 10% GST due to the special GST rules for “non-residents supplying digital products to Australian consumers” introduced earlier this year.

What does this look like in practice?

While every partner’s circumstances are different and you should always seek advice that is specific to your circumstances, to help illustrate the change, we have set out an example below of how this change would normally impact a driver partner who has uploaded his or her ABN and confirmed that he or she is registered for GST in their Uber partner account. This example is based on a $10 Total Fare for a partner who currently receives a 25% Service Fee. To keep the example simple, any other fees that may apply (such as the Booking Fee) have been excluded:

BEFORE 1 December 2017		FROM 1 December 2017
Trip Breakdown
Total Fare	$10.00	Total Fare	$10.00
Service Fee (ex GST)	-$2.50	Service Fee (ex GST)	-$2.50
GST on Service Fee	$0.00	GST on Service Fee	-$0.25
Driver Payout^a	$7.50	Driver Payout^a	$7.25
GST Return
GST on Sales^b	$0.91	GST on Sales^b	$0.91
GST on Expenses	$0.00	GST on Expenses	-$0.25
Net GST Liability^c	$0.91	Net GST Liability^c	$0.66
*EARNINGS AFTER GST*	$6.59	*EARNINGS AFTER GST*	$6.59

^a The total amount received after the Service Fee is deducted.

^b As the Total Fare includes GST, the GST amount is $10.00 * 1/11 (i.e. $0.91).

^c The net GST liability payable to the Australian Taxation Office (after reporting GST on the Total Fare and claiming a GST credit on the Service Fee).