GST Madness

Straight from the ATO Website.......

A crazy tax system..... you think !

What are pizza rolls?

Pizza rolls are savoury bread rolls similar to cheese-topped and cheese and bacon rolls. They are also called Italian rolls.

Pizza rolls are sold on the day they are baked.

Generally, pizza rolls:

• can be cut and filled
• have a traditional bread dough base
• have a topping or filling that is less than 30% of the roll’s depth
• don’t have any of the three characteristics of pizza, pizza subs or pizza pockets.

Characteristics of pizzas, pizza subs and pizza pockets

Pizzas, pizza subs and pizza pockets:

• cannot be cut and filled, do not need filling or topping added and are ready to eat
• are made with dough (sometimes called ‘pizza dough’) with more oil and less yeast than traditional bread dough
• have a topping or filling that is more than 30% of the product’s depth.

How do you treat pizza rolls for GST?

Pizza rolls can be either taxable or GST-free.

When pizza rolls are GST-free

Schedule 1 in the GST law lists foods that are taxable.

A food is GST-free if it is:

• not listed in Schedule 1
• for human consumption.

Pizza rolls are:

• not listed in Schedule 1
• for human consumption
• GST-free if they are not
• similar to pizza, pizza subs, pizza pockets (see below)
• sold ready filled and ready to eat like a sandwich or roll.

When pizza rolls are taxable

Pizza rolls are taxable if the rolls are similar to pizza, pizza subs, pizza pockets (see below).

What is ‘similar food’ to pizza rolls?

Similar food has:

• a general likeness to pizzas, pizza subs or pizza pockets
• all of the three common characteristics of pizzas, pizza subs and pizza pockets.

Example: GST-free rolls

Alex’s Gourmet Foods sells pizza rolls which are baked fresh daily. Customers buy the rolls to take away.

The dough base is flour, salt, oil, yeast and water. The toppings are tomato, bacon, pineapple, herbs and cheese. The topping makes up 20% of the roll’s depth. The customer can add more filling to the roll if they want to.

The rolls are GST-free because the:

• rolls can be cut and filled
• topping depth is less than 30% of the depth of the product.

Example: Taxable rolls

Leo’s Universal Foods sells pizza rolls which are baked fresh daily. Customers buy the rolls to take away.

The dough base is flour, a lot of olive oil, a very small amount of yeast, water and salt. The toppings are tomato, bacon, pineapple, herbs and cheese. The topping makes up 35% of the roll’s depth. The customer can’t cut through the roll to add more filling.

The rolls are taxable because the:

• rolls don’t need extra topping or filling
• topping makes up 30% of the product’s depth
• rolls are similar to pizza, pizza subs and pizza pockets.

theBizWiz

http://www.boulterassociates.com.au/
http://www.informgroup.com.au/