It's budget week in a staffed medical practice. Someone asks whether the new associate car is "fine for FBT," whether practice phones are automatically outside fringe benefits tax, and whether a ute for the facilities run is always exempt. Three questions. Three sets of conditions.

Calm version: fringe benefits tax (FBT) sits on certain benefits provided to employees (and some associates treated that way) - and cars, other vehicles, and portable devices each have their own ATO pathways. As at 16 September 2026, none of the shortcuts ("company car means no FBT," "phone always exempt," "ute always exempt") survive without conditions.

This piece explains the shape of those rules and the questions worth taking to your registered tax agent. It does not prescribe treatment for your vehicles or devices, and it does not set a lodgement calendar for you.

Myth 1: "A company car is always FBT-free"

As at 16 September 2026, the ATO explains that FBT generally applies where a car is provided to an employee for private use - or is available for private use. Availability matters, not only kilometres someone logged on a Saturday.

In a dental or legal practice, that often looks ordinary: overnight home garaging or unrestricted after-hours use. Whether a valuation method, contribution, or exemption changes the outcome for your car is a facts-and-records question for your tax agent - not something a blog should prescribe.

Owner checks to ask:

• Is this vehicle a "car" under the ATO car-FBT materials we're relying on?
• Who can use it, and is it available for private use even when it isn't being driven for work?
• What records exist for business versus private use?
• Are we assuming "company owned" equals "no FBT," and has anyone tested that assumption against current ATO guidance?

The myth fails because ownership label is not the test the ATO describes. Private use and availability for private use are.

Myth 2: "A ute is always exempt"

Utes and vans show up in practices too - facilities runs, storage, occasional equipment moves - even when the core fleet is sedans or SUVs. Brief note only.

As at 16 September 2026, the ATO describes exemptions for certain eligible commercial vehicles (utes, vans and similar) where private use is limited to travel between home and work, travel incidental to work duties, and minor, infrequent and irregular private use. That is a conditional exemption, not a vehicle-type free pass. Broader private use weakens the "ute = exempt" story quickly. Your tax agent needs the actual use pattern, not the badge on the tailgate.

Owner checks to ask:

• Is this vehicle in the eligible commercial category the ATO is describing?
• Can we honestly say private use stays inside home-work, incidental work travel, and minor infrequent irregular private use?
• Who monitors that, and what happens when weekend private use creeps up?

Secondary point only: most practices I see still have more FBT conversation in passenger cars than in commercial utes.

Myth 3: "A work phone is always FBT-exempt"

Phones and other portable electronic devices are everywhere in clinical and professional work. Exemption language exists - and it has edges.

As at 16 September 2026, ATO guidance on work-related items exempt from FBT describes work-related portable electronic devices (phones are the usual example) that may be exempt when used primarily for work. The same materials describe a general position of one item per employee per FBT year where items have the same or substantially identical function - unless the later item is a replacement. ATO salary-sacrificing material (as at 16 September 2026) also notes a small-business setting tied to aggregated turnover under $50 million for how certain work-related item arrangements interact with FBT - a facts check for your agent, not a DIY conclusion from a blog.

There is also a future change to flag as transitional. From 1 April 2027 - a future date relative to this draft - ATO material indicates that work-related items provided through salary sacrifice will no longer be exempt. That is forward-looking, not an instruction to rearrange anything by a date in this article. Put it on the list you discuss with your tax agent before that transition arrives.

Owner checks to ask:

• Is each device mainly for work under the ATO work-related item rules (as at 16 September 2026)?
• Are we issuing more than one same-function device per employee per FBT year without a replacement story?
• Does any phone or laptop sit inside a salary-sacrifice arrangement - and have we asked how the 1 April 2027 change (future/transitional) could affect that path?
• If aggregated turnover and small-business settings are relevant on the ATO salary-sacrifice page, has someone checked where the practice sits?

"Phone always exempt" fails because "mainly for work," item counts, replacement versus extra device, and salary-sacrifice pathways all sit in the conditions.

How these myths show up in real practices

Illustrative composite: a $3.5M allied-health group with three employee cars home-garaged, a facilities ute used mostly for clinic-to-clinic runs, and phones for every clinician plus a second "backup" handset for two managers. The comfortable story is "cars are tools, ute is commercial, phones are work." The ATO-shaped questions are private availability on the cars, limited private use on the ute, whether second handsets are replacements or same-function extras, and whether any device sits inside salary sacrifice ahead of the 1 April 2027 change. Fewer assumptions. Better questions.

What I want owners to take to their tax agent

1. For each car: private use and availability for private use - what is the actual pattern (ATO car FBT guidance, as at 16 September 2026)?
2. For any ute or van: does use fit the limited private-use exemption language for eligible commercial vehicles (ATO, as at 16 September 2026)?
3. For phones and similar devices: mainly-for-work, one-per-year same-function rules, and replacement versus additional item (ATO work-related items, as at 16 September 2026)?
4. Any salary-sacrifice devices: what does current ATO salary-sacrifice material say for our situation, and what changes from 1 April 2027 (future/transitional)?
5. Who owns the logbooks, policies, and device registers so the story matches the records?
6. What should we stop saying internally ("always exempt") that the ATO pages do not support?

I'm not applying FBT treatment to your fleet or your phone list in this article. Your tax agent applies the rules to your facts.

What to do next

If vehicle and phone decisions in your practice still run on myths, that's a systems issue - not a personality flaw. Conditions beat slogans.

If you want help framing the FBT questions for your cars, devices, and records before you talk to your tax agent, contact me at Full Cycle Accounting and we can sort what needs a proper technical review.

This is general information only and doesn't take into account your objectives, financial situation or needs. Before acting on it, consider whether it's appropriate for you - or talk to me about your situation.