Economic Activity Survey - Transport, Postal and Warehousing

TRANSPORT INDUSTRY

This online help page is for businesses operating in the transport industry selected in the Economic Activity Survey 2020-21. It includes guidance for completing the following sections of the survey form:

GENERAL INFORMATION
AASB 16 accounting standard for leases
AASB 15 revenue from contracts with customers
How many registered transport vehicles did this business/organisation own or lease as at 30 June 2021?

EMPLOYMENT
How should I report employment?
Working proprietors and partners if this is an unincorporated business (e.g. sole trader, partnership or joint venture)
Employees (including salaried directors if this is an incorporated business (e.g. Pty Ltd)
Covid-19 support measures
What about persons working for the business under contract?

INCOME ITEMS
What should be included under Income from services?
What should be reported as income from transport services?
What should be reported as income from transport support services?
Income received from businesses/organisations and the general public for transport services
Income received from federal, state and local government for providing transport services
Income received from businesses/organisations and the general public for providing non-transport services
Funding from federal, state and/or local government
What should be reported for COVID-19 (novel coronavirus) operational funding support measures?
How should I report income from JobKeeper Payments?
How should I report income from Boosting Cash Flow for Employers?
Other COVID-19 support payments and subsidies
How should I reported funding for other operational costs (e.g. wages and salaries, rent, food)?
What is the difference between Sales of goods not produced and Sales of goods produced by this organisation?
Rent, leasing and hiring income
Other income
Asset sales

EXPENSE ITEMS
How should I report Labour costs?
How should I report Employer contributions to superannuation?
Payroll tax (excluding Pay As You Go withholding tax)
Wages and salaries including provisions for employee entitlements
Insurance premiums
Transport related registration and access fees
Interest expenses / depreciation and amortisation
How should I report expenditure on electricity, fuels and gas?
How should I report purchases?
Repairs and maintenance expenses
Payments made to contractors and other businesses for freight, cartage, delivery and transport services
Rent, leasing and hiring expenses
Other operating expenses

INVENTORIES
What's included in inventories?

CAPITAL EXPENDITURE AND DISPOSAL OF ASSETS
Additions
Disposals
Cost of capital assets developed in-house by employees of this business/organisation
Capitalised wages and salaries
Other capitalised costs

MULTI-STATE OPERATIONS
What to include for multi-state operations



GENERAL INFORMATION

AASB16 accounting standard for leases

In January 2016, the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) issued a revised standard for the accounting of leases in financial statements. This change has been adopted by the Australian Accounting Standards Board (AASB) in AASB 16 Leases.
The Economic Activity Survey has been amended to better capture leasing information. Please visit the AASB 16 standard for leases help page for further information.

AASB 15 Revenue from contracts with customers

The Australian Accounting Standards Board (AASB) has changed the accounting standard applicable to revenue from contracts with customers. Revenue is recognised when a company transfers control of goods or services to a customer for the agreed amount. Full details on these changes can be found in the AASB 15 Revenue from Contracts with Customers standard. AASB 15 applies to all contracts with customers, except for contracts covered by other standards, such as leases, insurance and financial instruments. Please refer to the AASB 15 Revenue from Contracts with Customers standard for definitive accounting treatments.

How many registered transport vehicles did this business/organisation own or lease as at 30 June 2021?

• Report the number of vehicles owned separately to the number of vehicles leased using the response boxes provided on the EAS form.
• Company fleet cars and vehicles under finance and operating leases should be included under "Leased".
• Any unregistered transport vehicles and/or equipment (e.g. forklifts and quarry trucks) should be excluded from the count.

• Employment is a headcount of all persons who worked for the business as proprietors, partners, salaried directors or other employees in the last pay period ending in June 2021.
• Report headcount rather than number of persons on a Full Time Equivalent (FTE) basis. Report for the last pay period ending in June 2021 even if this is not the last pay period in your financial reporting year.
• Please ensure each person is counted only once in the total headcount to provide an accurate total number of persons who were paid in the last pay period in June 2021.

If this is an unincorporated business, include a count of all owner-operators or partners. Skip this question if this is an incorporated business, for example, a company.

Employees (including salaried directors if this is an incorporate business ( e.g. Pty Ltd).
A headcount of all other persons who worked for the business including persons employed on a fixed term contract or casual basis only if they were paid through the payroll in the last pay period of June 2021 and Pay As You Go (PAYG) tax was deducted for them. Non-salaried directors are excluded and should not be counted in Employment.

Covid-19 support measures
The JobKeeper payment scheme is a temporary government initiative to support eligible businesses impacted by coronavirus (COVID-19). Persons paid a wage or salary supplemented by the Australia Government's JobKeeper scheme should be included in the headcount.

What about persons working for the business under contract?

Businesses or individuals contracted by this business that have a registered ABN and are paid on a fee for service, on invoice or on a commission only basis should not be counted in Employment. Staff who carried out work for this business during the last pay period ending in June 2021 but were paid through another business, for example, a labour hire company, should not be counted in Employment.


INCOME ITEMS

Income received for the provision of transportation by road, rail, water or air of goods not owned or sold by the business, or of passengers and services associated with, or supporting the transportation of goods or passengers, including postal and courier services, freight forwarding, stevedoring, warehousing and storage services, airport, railway, port operation and rail infrastructure services.

• Road freight transport.
• Road vehicle towing.
• Bus and tramway transport.
• Taxi and Ride sharing.
• Rental or hire of passenger cars, buses and coaches, water vessel and aircraft with driver.
• Rail freight and passenger transport.
• Water freight and passenger transport.
• Pipeline transport services.
• Scenic and sightseeing transport.
• Air freight and passenger transport.

• Freight forwarding (forwarder or forwarding agent on commission).
• Customs brokerage.
• Postal and courier pick-up and delivery.
• Stevedoring and port handling.
• Road, rail and water terminal operation.
• Airport operations and other air transport support services.
• Grain storage.
• Warehousing and storage.

• Public transport operation: Where the business receives funding for contracted government public transport service (e.g. rail, bus, ferry services under a franchise or contract agreement with a government).
• Passenger fare income should be included in Income received from businesses/organisations and the general public for providing transport services.

• Repair and service income.
• Advertising income.
• Project management fees.
• Contract, subcontract and commission income.
• Management fees/charges from related and unrelated business/organisations.
• Income from providing other services to government and other businesses.

• Federal, state and local governments are providing funds through a range of initiatives to support eligible businesses during the economic downturn associated with COVID-19 (coronavirus).
• Only report payments received from COVID-19 support schemes for the 2020-21 financial year.

• Jobkeeper payments were provided to eligible employers by the Australian Government to pay their eligible employees a wage of at least $1500 per fortnight, between the period of 30 March 2020 and 28 March 2021. All payments to employees were reported through the tax system using Single Touch Payroll. Employees’ income tax liabilities included JobKeeper payments.
• Report all JobKeeper payments received by this business for the reporting period in Funding from federal, state and/or local government, including payments to employees, sole traders and partners.

• From 28 April 2020, the Australian Government provided temporary cash flow support to eligible small and medium businesses and not-for-profit organisations that employed staff during the economic downturn associated with COVID-19 (novel coronavirus). This support was delivered as tax credits based on an eligible business' withholding amounts. The initial cash flow boosts were generally equal to the amount withheld from employee wages for each monthly or quarterly period from March to June 2020. Cash flow boost 2 was an additional cash flow boost provided by the government from June to September 2020.
• Report credits and payable amounts received from cash flow boost following the lodgement of the business' activity statements for the period ending June 2021.

There are a large number of other COVID-19 scheme payments and subsidies that your business may receive, which should be reported under Other COVID-19 support payments and subsidies (Funding from government section). For example:

• Apprentices and trainees wage subsidy.
• Reimbursement on utility bills.

• Funding for other operational costs includes all non-COVID-19 income received for ongoing operations and helps to fund programs or pay for business overheads (e.g. wages and salaries, rent, food). Exclude any COVID-19 related funding received for ongoing operational costs.
• Funding for the provision of specific services to clients or residents should be excluded from Funding for other operational costs and included in Income received from federal, state and local government for services provided.
  

• On-selling software created by another business.
• Food and beverages sold over the counter in original packaging, for example bottled water or confectionery.

• The selling of food transformed by the business through preparation and/or table service, including beverages sold for consumption on the premise.
• Combining chemicals to manufacture paint.
• Using wood to manufacture furniture.
• Non-customised software created by this business.
• Retail bakery operation.
• Selling flowers or other crops grown by the business.

• Rent, leasing and hiring income is conceptually service income, however income from this source should be reported only in Rent, leasing and hiring income.

• Some equipment, e.g. machinery, equipment or vehicles, may be hired either with or without an operator/driver. Only "dry" hire income should be reported in this question.
• Where the business derives income from hiring out equipment with operator ("wet" hire), the income should be reported in Income from services.
• Where the business derives income from hiring out equipment without operator ("dry" hire), that income should be reported in Rent, leasing and hiring income.

• Donations and bequests received should be included where the donor receives no material benefit other than a tax deduction (if eligible). However, if the donor receives some material benefit e.g. advertising, report this income in Income from Services.

The proceeds from the sale of assets should be reported as Disposal of assets. The profit or loss from the sale of assets should be reported in Other Income as a positive or negative value. Examples:

• Asset revalued upwards and then sold for more than the new value: Asset purchased for $1,000 then revalued to be worth $1,200. It is then disposed of (sold) for $1,500. Thus we have Disposals = $1,500 and Other income = $300 ($1,500 - $1,200).
• Asset revalued downwards then sold for less than the new value: Asset purchased for $2,000 then revalued to be worth $1,600. It is then disposed of (sold) for $1,400. Thus we have Disposals = $1,400 and Other income = -$200 ($1,400 - $1,600).
• Asset revalued but no change in value: Asset purchased for $1,000 then assessed to be still worth $1,000. It is then disposed of (sold) for $1,500. Thus we have Disposals = $1,500 and Other income = $500 ($1,500 - $1,000).
• Asset revaluation/impairment: should be reported under Other income as either a net gain or loss. Negative revaluations and impairments should not be reported as an expense. This follows the same principles that apply to other examples listed in the survey, such as share trading or sales of assets.

• Labour costs do not include payments to contractors or sub-contractors operating under their own ABN.
• Payments made to another (related or unrelated) business for the supply of staff on a fee or contract basis, where the staff entitlements are paid by the business supplying the employees, should be recorded in Labour Costs question Payments to other businesses/organisations (e.g. employment agencies) for staff.
• Payment to another business for recruitment services (i.e. advertising vacancies, conducting interviews, screening job applicants) on behalf of your business should also be included in Payments to other businesses/organisations (e.g. employment agencies) for staff. However, any costs incurred by your business in the conduct of its own recruitment processes (e.g. payment directly to newspapers for running job vacancy advertisements) should be reported in Other operating expenses.

• Personal superannuation contributions of business owners drawing a wage from the business should be included in Employer contributions paid into superannuation. Personal superannuation contributions of business owners not drawing a wage should be excluded.

Payroll tax is levied by state/territory governments on businesses when the total wage bill of an employer (or group of employers) exceeds a threshold amount. The payroll tax rates and thresholds vary between states and territories.

• Do not include PAYG withholding amounts for employees.
• Report payroll tax net of any refunds received from COVID-19 state government support measures i.e. subtract the eligible refund amount from the total payroll tax paid.

• Please report gross (i.e. before tax) wages and salaries.
• Capitalised wages and salaries (i.e. wages and salaries for work relating to the creation of capital assets) should be excluded from Wages and salaries including provisions for employee entitlements. Include capitalised wages and salaries in Capitalised wages and salaries only.

• Optional third party insurance premiums for motor vehicles, should be included in Insurance premiums.
• Compulsory third party insurance premiums, payable as part of the vehicle registration process should be excluded from Insurance premiums but included in transport related registration expenses.

• Registration fees - Payments made to government agencies for the registration for road, rail, water and air transport vehicles.
• Access fees - any monies paid, under contract or otherwise, as a means to access a rail network, seaports, airports and airport terminals.

Repayments under a finance lease agreement consist of an interest and capital component. The interest component only should be included in Total Interest expenses. Capital repayments should not be reported here. The reporting of lease payments, for example rent for business premises, will depend on whether the new accounting standard for leases (AASB 16) has been adopted and applied to the lease. If the AASB 16 Standard was adopted or applied to that lease, report the lease payments as follows:

• Interest component – include in Total interest expenses and Interest expenses in respect of operating leases.
• Depreciation component – include in Total depreciation and amortisation and Depreciation and amortisation in respect of operating leases.
• Operating expenses (for variable lease payments not included in the measurement of the lease liability, or service components previously embedded in the lease) – include in Rent, leasing and hiring expenses.

• Total depreciation and amortisation expenditure (including assets acquired under finance and/or operating leases, and assets owned outright).
• Depreciation expenses in respect of operating leases for registered transport vehicles only.
• Depreciation expenses in respect of any other operating leases.

Reporting of expenditure on electricity, fuels and gas depends on how the electricity, fuels and gas are used by the business, as shown in the following examples.

• Electricity bills for powering office, plant, etc - include in Purchases of materials, components, containers, packaging materials, electricity, fuels and water.
• Electricity used to power tram networks report in Expenditure on electricity used to power tram networks question.
• Petroleum and diesel fuel purchased for use in own vehicles and equipment - report as Purchases of materials, components, containers, packaging materials, electricity, fuels and water.
• Petroleum used to power registered transport vehicles report in Fuel and gas expenditure report as expenditure on fuel and gas used to power registered transport vehicles.
• Petroleum and diesel fuel purchased for wholesale or retail sale - report as Purchases of finished goods for resale.

If a good is purchased to be used or consumed in the production of goods or services (including office consumables), its cost should be reported as Purchases of materials, components, containers, packaging materials, electricity, fuels and water. If the same good is purchased simply to be on-sold in the same form (without transformation), its cost should be reported as Purchases of finished goods for resale. For example:

• Where a business buys packaging materials for its use, the cost of the packaging materials should be included in Purchases of materials, components, containers, packaging materials, electricity, fuels and water.
• Where a business buys packaging materials for sale (without processing) to other businesses or to the public, the cost of the packaging materials should be included in Purchases of finished goods for resale.
• Note: In the context of selling finished goods, Purchases (expenses) are not the same as cost of goods sold. Purchases represent the amount actually expended by the business in the reporting period. Cost of goods sold, which is not collected in this survey, represents the amount expended only on goods actually sold in the reporting period (Cost of goods sold is equal to purchases plus opening inventories minus closing inventories). Any purchases of materials that have been capitalised i.e. purchases made to create capital assets, should not be reported in Purchases. Instead, they should be reported in Capitalised expenditure including cost of capital assets developed in-house by employees of this business/organisation under Capitalised wages and salaries and Other capitalised costs.

Repair and maintenance of registered transport vehicles includes on-road transport vehicles. An on-road/registered vehicle is one which satisfies all three of the following criteria:

• is powered;
• is registered for public road use; and
• is designed primarily for road transport purposes.

• There is a specific question for Payments made to contractors and other businesses for freight, cartage, delivery and transport services. Otherwise, all payments to other businesses for non-transport-related services provided should be reported in Other operating expenses.
• Examples of items to be reported in Payments made to contractors and other businesses for freight, cartage, delivery and transport services include:
• Postage costs.
• Payments made to contracted and owner-drivers to transport goods sold by your business to customers.
• Payments made for the movements of goods between different locations of this business/organisation by a third party.
• Payments for freight transport support services. These include freight forwarding and customs brokerage services, stevedoring, postal and courier expenses.
• Payments for passenger transport.
• Payment of separately invoiced delivery charges to a supplier of goods.

• Payment for rent for your business premises - include in Rent, leasing and hiring expenses.
• Payment of commission to another business for selling goods owned by your business - report as Other operating expenses.
• Payment to another business for training your employees - include in Other operating expenses.
• Travel and accommodation expenses for your employees - include in Other operating expenses.

Include the following:

• Wet hire of equipment by the business, i.e. payments for the hire of equipment with an operator.
• Payments to a contractor or subcontractor who has a registered ABN, that is they have their own business and paid on invoice. Include expenses associated with services delivered by contractors, subcontractors and consultants that are not employees of your business and do not receive a payment summary.
• Sponsorship payments which involve a transaction, usually advertising or promotional benefits for the business making the payment should be included. Donations made to other parties not tied to an expected benefit are excluded.
• Travel and accommodation expenses, including those incurred by employees undertaking professional development and training.

• Dry hire, i.e. payments for the hire of equipment without an operator.
• Payments to contractors for freight, delivery and transport services. Include these payments in Payments made to contractors and other businesses for freight, cartage, delivery and transport services.
• Capitalised contractor payments should be excluded from Other Operating Expenses but included in Other capitalised costs.

• Goods that a business holds with the intention of using them to produce other goods or in rendering services. For example, paper supplies for use in printing newspapers (good produced) or raw food to make a meal (provide a service).

• Goods that require some transformation to reach the condition they are to be sold in, for example, partially assembled machinery. The value of work in progress inventories should be reported net of progress payments billed.

• Goods that are to be sold in their current condition, including goods for resale.

• Land, building and infrastructure.
• Machinery and equipment.
• Information technology.
• Intangible assets.

• Additions represents the expenditure on assets on an accruals basis.
• Report any Capital Work in Progress (CWIP) values against the relevant asset.
• Exclude additions to inventories. Leasehold improvements to a right-of-use asset should be reported by the lessee in Additions to Land, buildings and infrastructure.
• Under AASB, the assets created for new or pre-existing operating leases should not be reported as Capital expenditure for the lessee. The value of the underlying asset is reported by the lessor.
• Assets acquired through finance leases during the period should continue to be reported as Additions in the Capital expenditure and disposal of assets section against the appropriate asset.
• Any leasehold improvements to a right-of-use asset should be reported by the lessee as Additions in the Capital expenditure and disposal of assets section against the appropriate asset.

• Disposals refers to the sale of the asset to another individual or business. It can also include the discarding of an asset. Only report the proceeds from the sale of the assets.

The cost of work undertaken by own employees of this business to install any asset acquired under a financial lease to make it operational should be reported in the relevant categories Cost of capital assets developed in-house by employees of this business/organisation.

Capitalised wages and salaries

• If your staff develop a new piece of software for in-house use only and is not intended to be sold to another business, then the wages and salaries of the employees of your business who contributed to the development, building, construction and/or creation of the asset (including any additional ‘on-costs’ such as Fringe Benefits Tax, workers compensation, superannuation) should be reported in Capitalised wages and salaries.
• Include the wages and salaries of employees of your business that contributed to the development, building, construction and/or creation of the asset (including any additional ‘on-costs’ such as Fringe Benefits Tax, workers compensation, superannuation). Exclude the cost of contractors, consultants and other persons not on the business' payroll who contributed to the development of the asset - these costs should instead be reported in Other capitalised costs.