Calculation statement labels E, T4 and F

E – Refundable tax offsets

Write at label E the total of actual tax offsets available (in dollars and cents) and not the amounts giving rise to those tax offsets.

The tax offsets shown at label E are refundable, although they must first be offset against gross tax, if there is any gross tax to be paid after labels C and D have been applied to gross tax.

Gross tax can't be less than zero.

Any excess offsets should be recorded at label I and will be available as a refundable (credit) amount for the purpose of calculating the tax liability. An amount must be included at label I even if it is zero (write 0). Complete label I as it is mandatory.

Tax offsets to be shown at E include:

Calculation element	Amount
R&D tax offset (the amount at item 21 – label U)	$
Film tax offsets under Division 376 of the ITAA 1997	$
Digital games tax offset under Division 378 of the ITAA 1997 (the amount at item 24 – label A)	$
Franking tax offsets claimed by life insurance companies to the extent that they relate to distributions paid on shares and other membership interests held on behalf of policy holders	$
Franking credits claimed by endorsed income tax exempt entities and deductible gift recipients that are entitled to a refund of excess franking credits. These entities may complete the Application for refund of franking credits – Endorsed income tax exempt entities and deductible gift recipients (NAT 4131), rather than the company tax return to obtain a refund	$
No-TFN tax offset claimed by RSA providers. For more information on the no-TFN tax offset, see Tax file numbers and super contributions.	$
NRAS tax offset (the amount at item 12 – label J)	$
The tax offset available under subsection 713-545(5) of the ITAA 1997 where a life insurance company’s subsidiary joins a consolidated or multiple entry consolidated (MEC) group	$
Exploration credit tax offsets allowable to a life insurance company under section 418-15 of the ITAA 1997	$
Seafarer tax offset under Subdivision 61-N of the ITAA 1997	$
Total of all refundable tax offsets (write this amount at label E)	$

Keep a record of the following:

• Each type of tax offset – the amount claimed for each type
• Franking tax offsets
  • the distribution statement, which contains the
    • name of the payer
    • date the dividend was received or credited
    • franked amount of the dividend
    • unfranked amount of the dividend
    • franking credit allocated to the dividend
    • amount of franking credit tax offsets allowable for each franked dividend received
    • franking percentage of the dividend
  • records to substantiate
    • deductions relating to dividends
    • the type of distribution – for example, foreign source dividend, bonus shares, phasing-out dividend, liquidator’s distribution
    • the dates on which shares, for which dividends were received and tax offsets claimed, were acquired and disposed of.

T4 – Subtotal 3

Write at label T4 the amount of tax payable after label E has been offset against label T3.

Label T4 can't be less than zero.

Work out the amount at label T4 as follows:

• If the amount at label E is less than the amount at label T3
  • subtract label E from label T3
  • write the result at label T4
  • write zero at label I.
• If the amount at label E is more than or equal to the amount at label T3
  • subtract label T3 from label E and write the result at label I
  • an amount must be included at label I even if it is zero (write 0)
  • complete label I, it is mandatory
  • write zero at labels T4 and T5
  • the amount at label F may be carried forward to a later income year.

F – Franking deficit tax offset

Write this amount at label F.

The tax offsets shown at label F are not refundable. They are only offset against gross tax, if there is any gross tax to be paid after labels C, D and E have been applied to gross tax. Gross tax can't be less than zero. Any excess of franking deficit tax (FDT) offset can be carried forward to the next income year.

Tax offsets to show at label F

Calculation element	Amount
Current year FDT offset	$
Prior year FDT offset	$
Total of all FDT offsets (write this amount at label F)	$

Under the simplified imputation system, entities that have incurred a FDT liability may be allowed to offset the whole or part of this amount against an income tax liability. Some special rules apply to life insurance companies to ensure that a FDT liability can only be offset against that part of the company’s income tax liability that is attributable to shareholders.

A corporate tax entity is entitled to apply the FDT offset to reduce its income tax liability for an income year if it satisfies the residency requirement and at least one of the following conditions:

• It incurred a liability to pay FDT in that year.
• It carried forward an amount of FDT offset from a previous year, and not all the FDT offset could be applied against a previous income tax liability.
• It incurred a liability to pay FDT in a previous year when it did not meet the residency requirement, and that liability has not been included in calculating the FDT offset.

Generally, an entity satisfies the residency requirement for an income year if it is an Australian resident for more than one half of the year, or it is a resident at all times during the year when it exists.

The FDT offset rules contain provisions that reduce the amount of FDT liability that an entity can use to offset against its income tax liability in certain circumstances.

The FDT offset reduction will only apply for an income year for franking debits in an entity’s franking account arising under items 1, 3, 5 or 6 of the table in section 205-30 of the ITAA 1997, and if one of these items applies then any franking debit under item 2 of that table (relating to income tax refunds) will also be relevant. These debits usually arise as a result of having franked a distribution.

The amount of the FDT offset is reduced where the amount of the FDT liability, which is attributable to the franking debits for items 1, 2, 3, 5 and 6, is greater than 10% of the total amount of credits that arose in the franking account for the year. The amount of the reduction is equal to 30% of that part of the FDT liability attributable to those franking debits. For more information on the debits to the franking account that affect the amount of offset and how to calculate this amount, see Franking account tax return and instructions 2024.

There is an exception to the reduction rule for private companies with no previous income tax liability where certain conditions are met. The Commissioner also has discretion to allow the full FDT liability as an offset where the FDT liability arose due to circumstances that could not be anticipated or events outside the entity’s control, and it did not involve any broader exploitation of the imputation system.

To determine the amount of the FDT offset to which the company is entitled for the income year, use the following method. These steps are modified in certain circumstances. See Exclusions from the offset reduction rule.

Step 1: Calculate the FDT liability

Work out the amount of FDT liability that the entity has incurred in the income year.

Step 2: Determine if the entity had any franking debits arise

Did any franking debits arise in the entity’s franking account under items 1, 3, 5 or 6 of section 205-30 of the ITAA 1997 for that income year?

• If yes, go to step 3.
• If no, the FDT offset reduction doesn't apply. The amount of FDT liability from step 1 is the amount of the FDT offset that the entity is entitled to for the current income year. Go to step 5.

Step 3: Calculate the amount of FDT liability attributable to the franking debits

Work out the amount of FDT liability attributable to franking debits under items 1, 2, 3, 5 and 6 for that income year.

To do this add together the opening credit balance (if any) of the franking account and any franking credits that arose in the account for the income year. Take away from this amount the total of the franking debits under items 1, 2, 3, 5 and 6.

If there is an excess of franking credits over franking debits (or they are equal), the FDT offset reduction does not apply and the amount of FDT liability from step 1 is the amount of the FDT offset that the entity is entitled to for the current income year. Go to step 5.

If there is an excess of franking debits over franking credits, this is the amount of FDT liability attributable to items 1, 2, 3, 5 and 6. Go to step 4.

Step 4: Determine if the FDT offset reduction applies

If the excess of franking debits over franking credits worked out at step 3 is less than or equal to 10% of the total franking credits that arose in the franking account for the same year, the FDT offset reduction doesn't apply and the amount of FDT liability from step 1 is the amount of the FDT offset that the entity is entitled to for the current year. Go to step 5.

If that excess is greater than 10% of the total franking credits that arose in the franking account for that income year, the FDT offset reduction applies as follows. Work out 30% of that excess. This is the reduction amount. Reduce the amount of FDT liability for that income year from step 1 by the reduction amount. This is the amount of the FDT offset that the entity is entitled to for the current year. Go to step 5.

Step 5: Determine if any amounts from previous income years can be claimed as an offset

For each previous income year for which the entity did not meet the residency requirement, repeat steps 1–4 for that income year. Work out the amount of that previous year’s FDT liability that is eligible to be claimed as an offset and that has not previously been claimed as an offset.

Add up the amounts covered by this step 5 for all the previous income years in which the entity did not meet the residency requirements. Go to step 6.

Step 6: Calculate the amount of any excess FDT offset

For each previous income year for which the entity did meet the residency requirement and was entitled to the FDT offset, work out the amount of any excess FDT offset.

This is the amount of FDT offset that exceeded the entity’s hypothetical income tax liability for that previous year (worked out as if the entity didn't have an FDT offset but did have all its other tax offsets). Go to step 7.

Step 7: Calculate the total amount of FDT offset the entity is entitled to claim

Add up any FDT offset amounts from steps 2, 3 or 4 (these relate to any FDT liability incurred in 2023–24) and any offsetable portions of previous year FDT amounts from steps 5 and 6. This is the total amount of FDT offset the entity is entitled to for the current income year.

Reduction in FDT that can be offset

Steps 2 to 4 in the above method statement show that the amount of the FDT offset that you can claim may be reduced in some situations. This reduced amount should equal the amount you completed in section B – label C Offsetable portion of current year FDT of the Franking account tax return and instructions 2024.

For more information, see Exclusions from the offset reduction rule.

Exclusions from the offset reduction rule

For private companies with no previous income tax liability the FDT offset reduction rule will not apply if all the following conditions are met:

• The entity is a private company for the relevant year.
• The company has not had an income tax liability for any income year before the relevant year.
• If the company did not have the tax offset (but had all its other tax offsets) it would have had an income tax liability for the relevant year.
• The amount of the liability referred to in paragraph (c) is at least 90% of the amount of the deficit in the company’s franking account at the end of the relevant year.

Commissioner’s discretion where deficit was outside the entity’s control

The Commissioner has discretion to allow the full tax offset where the FDT liability arose due to circumstances that could not be anticipated or events outside the entity’s control, and did not involve any broader exploitation of the imputation system. For more information on the application of these exclusions, see Franking deficit tax offset.

Entitlement to the full offset resulting from one of the exclusions mentioned above should have been noted by inserting the code F, P or C in the CODE box in Section A on the Franking account tax return 2024. If you did not do this, you will need to request an amendment to that return in order to receive the full offset.

The amount completed at label E Franking deficit tax offset in this return will not necessarily be the same as the amount shown at label C Offsetable portion of current year FDT in section B of the Franking account tax return 2024.

For information on how to complete label C Offsetable portion of current year FDT, see Franking account tax return and instructions 2024.

Continue to: Calculation statement labels T5 and G

Return to: Instructions to complete the Company tax return 2024