GP payroll tax relief across Australia
General practitioners are the one clinical group that has payroll tax relief in Australia, and the only group the relief is scoped to. This page sets out the cross-jurisdiction position: which jurisdictions provide relief, in what form, on what conditions, and from when. Each state page under this section owns the mechanics and threshold detail for that state, and this page links to it rather than repeating it.
The short answer
Five jurisdictions provide relief on payments to general practitioners and three do not. Queensland exempts GP wages outright. Victoria, South Australia and the ACT exempt the bulk-billed proportion of GP payments. New South Wales gives a rebate rather than an exemption, and only where a bulk-billing test is cleared. Western Australia, Tasmania, Northern Territory have no medical-specific relief at all.
| Jurisdiction | Relief | Covers | Condition | In force from |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New South Wales | GP rebate (after tax) | GPs and GP registrars only | 80% bulk billed in metropolitan Sydney, 70% elsewhere | 2024-09-04 |
| Victoria | Bulk-billed GP exemption | GPs and GP registrars only | To the extent GP services are bulk billed | 2025-07-01 |
| Queensland | Full GP exemption | GPs and GP registrars only | None (unconditional) | 2024-12-01 |
| Western Australia | No medical relief | Not applicable | Not applicable | N/A |
| South Australia | Bulk-billed GP exemption | GPs and GP registrars only | To the extent GP services are bulk billed | 2024-07-01 |
| Tasmania | No medical relief | Not applicable | Not applicable | N/A |
| Australian Capital Territory | Bulk-billed GP exemption | GPs and GP registrars only | To the extent GP services are bulk billed | 2025-07-01 |
| Northern Territory | No medical relief | Not applicable | Not applicable | N/A |
Generated from the rule registry the calculator consults, for 2026/2027. Where no date is shown, the jurisdiction has no medical-specific provision and its relevant contract rules apply in full.
An exemption and a rebate are not the same thing
An exemption reduces taxable wages before tax is calculated. A rebate is applied after the tax has been assessed, and then reduces the amount payable. The two are not interchangeable, and the difference is not cosmetic.
In a group that spans states, an exemption shrinks the wage base that feeds the apportionment calculation, while a rebate leaves the wage base intact and credits the tax afterwards. A practice that models the New South Wales position as an exemption, when it is a rebate, will understate both its wage base and, until a claim is accepted, its cash obligation. The correct mental model for NSW is a full assessment followed by a targeted credit.
Cliff, not slopeThe NSW rebate has a hard edge
New South Wales eligibility is a single test with no partial credit. A practice whose GP services are at least 80% bulk billed in metropolitan Sydney, or at least 70% elsewhere, qualifies for the full rebate. At 79% in metropolitan Sydney it qualifies for nothing at all, not a proportionate amount. The bulk-billing rate is measured across GP services delivered by both contractor and employee GPs, but once the test is cleared the rebate applies only to the payroll tax attributable to contractor GP payments.
This is the most decision-relevant fact on the page. A practice that estimates its bulk-billing rate rather than measuring it is gambling on the wrong side of a step.
What counts as a GP for these provisions
Every medical relief provision introduced between 2024 and 2026 is scoped to general practitioners and GP registrars. Non-GP medical specialists, dentists, physiotherapists, psychologists and other allied health practitioners are outside all of them, in every jurisdiction. A practice with a mixed clinical team cannot apply its GP bulk-billing rate to the rest of the team, and the GP relief does not soften the liability on non-GP payments.
If your practitioners are not GPs, your position is different. The non-GP guidance pages set out the relevant contract framework that applies to those groups, with no bulk-billing relief available.
Employee and contractor GPs, and deemed wages
Relief attaches to GP wages whether the GP is an employee or engaged as a contractor, in the jurisdictions that name both. Queensland and Victoria cover employee and contractor GPs expressly. South Australia and the ACT frame their exemptions around payments or wages relating to bulk-billed GP services, and New South Wales measures its bulk-billing test across employee and contractor GP services while rebating the tax on contractor payments.
Where a practice engages a GP as a contractor under a service arrangement, the amount remitted to the GP is treated as deemed wages following Thomas and Naaz Pty Ltd v Chief Commissioner of State Revenue [2023] NSWCA 40. The deemed wage is the amount remitted to the GP (gross billings less the service fee), not the gross billings, and it is added to the practice's staff wages and tested against the same threshold. An ABN does not change that. The relief provisions reduce the tax on those deemed wages where the practice qualifies; they do not remove the deemed wage itself.
Standing note: This is a self-assessment worksheet prepared for discussion with a registered tax agent or specialist adviser. It is not tax advice and not a determination. The medical practice payroll tax area is contested, with live retrospective assessments. Obtain a specialist opinion before any voluntary disclosure.
Each jurisdiction's position
5 of the 8 jurisdictions provide GP relief. Each state page carries that state's framework, commencement date, conditions and verification date.
Reviewed by eHealth Systems Pty Ltd