What is salary sacrifice?

Salary sacrifice, also known as salary packaging, is an arrangement where South Australian public sector employees can agree to receive part of their pay as a benefit instead of taxable income. This can result in:

  • tax savings
  • increased take home pay.

Employee eligibility

All South Australian public sector employees (permanent, part-time, casual, or fixed term contract) are eligible to participate in salary packaging.

To learn more about the benefits you can access based on your employer, visit salary packaging provider, Smart’s, SA Government website and select your employer for more details.

Items to salary package

The items you can package relates to your employer. Some of the benefits available to South Australian public sector employees are:

  • work related items such as your mobile phone and accessories, laptops, protective clothing/uniforms
  • professional memberships and subscriptions
  • union fees
  • purchasing a vehicle using a novated lease
  • airline lounge memberships
  • general living expenses (depending on your employer).

Some benefits attract fringe benefits (which may attract Fringe Benefits Tax) while others are exempt benefits, such as work related protective clothing (e.g. hospital scrubs), mobile phones or earphones/buds primarily used for work purposes, a laptop that is primarily used for work or work related study.

Benefits of salary packaging

The benefits of salary  packaging include:

  • you can lower your taxable income
  • you can have more take home pay
  • flexible remuneration options.

Before you salary package

Some of the things to consider before you commence salary packaging are:

  • not all items are eligible to all employees
  • Fringe Benefits Tax (FBT) may apply to some packaged items
  • it’s strongly recommended to seek independent financial advice before entering into a salary packaging arrangement
  • the rules for salary packaging are set by the Australian Taxation Office.

More information

For more information about the salary packaging benefits available to South Australian public sector employees visit the SA Government Smart website

As a public sector employee, you can access more information about the SA Government salary packaging arrangements with Smart on the salary packaging SharePoint site on the work device you are issued when you commence your employment.

See the Frequently Asked Questions at Frequently asked questions | SA Gov Smart

If you have questions, email SAGSSAQuestions@sa.gov.au