Declaring wages

Declaring estimated wages

When you first take out your Workers Compensation policy, and at each policy renewal, you need to estimate your wages for the upcoming year. This is used to calculate the premium you will pay.

The estimated figure must accurately reflect the wages you think you will pay in the new policy period and include information about apprentices or contractors you may employ.

Declare your estimated wages now

What happens if I don’t declare my wages?

If you don’t declare your actual wages, your estimated wages for the next renewal may increase by 30%.

From June 2026, not declaring wages may result in the loss of the Safe Employer Reward (SER) which could be a discount of up to 7.5% on your premium.

Learn more about the Safe Employer Reward

Wage declaration audits 

From time to time, icare conducts wage audit declarations for current and past policy periods. The State Insurance Regulatory Authority (SIRA), may take the following regulatory action: 

• issue a penalty notice under Clause 141 of the Workers Compensation Regulation 2016
• issue an official caution
• issue late payment fees
• request a wage audit to be conducted for up to the last 5 years
• recover costs associated with a wage audit
• prosecution.

What can wages include?

The Wages Definition Manual (PDF, 1.5MB) provides information on the types of wages that should be included.

Wages include the amounts paid between the policy start date and policy expiry date for any of the below:

• salary/wages
• overtime, shift and other allowances
• over award payments
• bonuses, commissions
• payments to working directors (including directors' fees)
• payments to pieceworkers
• payments for sick leave, public holidays and the associated leave loadings
• value of any substitutes for wages
• employer-paid or payable superannuation contributions (including the superannuation guarantee levy)
• grossed-up value of fringe benefits (allowances subject to fringe benefits tax are counted at the grossed-up value, that is the value of the benefit multiplied by the relevant Australian Tax Office fringe benefit formula)
• long service leave payments (including lump sum payments instead of long service leave)
• termination payments (lump sum payments in respect of annual leave, long service leave, sick leave and related leave loadings)
• trust distributions to workers where the distribution is in lieu of wages for work done for the trust.

What not to include

The following types of payments do not need to be declared as wages:

• payments to non-working directors
• compensation payments under the Workers Compensation Act 1987
• any GST component in a payment to a worker.

Information on  motor vehicle and accommodation allowances is published by the State Insurance Regulatory Authority in its Annexure D of the Workers Compensation Market Practice and Premiums Guidelines.

How to declare wages for…

Apprentices

If you employ apprentices, their wages entitle you to a discount on your premium, so their wages need to be declared separately.

Learn more about premium reductions for employers of apprentices

Contractors

If you have contractors who are deemed workers, you need to declare the labour component and full contract value in your wages declaration.

Where a payment to a worker, including deemed workers, is made in lieu of wages, it is still to be included as wages (gift cards, tickets, gifts, vouchers etc).

The State Insurance Regulatory Authority (SIRA) has a Worker or contractor tool to help guide you. 

Asbestos wages

Where a worker has exposure to, or handles, asbestos or asbestos-containing products, employers are required to declare wages for the time the worker was exposed (in hours), including when using Personal Protective Equipment.

Employers should maintain a record of the hours of exposure for wage declaration and wage auditing purposes.

Not-for-profits

Non-profit organisations, public benevolent institutions and charities may have different fringe benefit thresholds. These organisations should maintain with their wage records the appropriate fringe benefit thresholds for their organisations and should continue to declare worker benefits that aren't subject to fringe benefits tax at the net value. 

Non-wage based activities

If you're a taxi operator, you'll need to provide the following additional information:

• a list of vehicles held at the beginning of the period of insurance (including plate number/s)
• purchase/sale dates of any vehicles that have changed hands in both the previous and current 12 months
• indicate if vehicles are metropolitan or country, and the average number of bailee shifts/week per plate.

Please provide this information and any other supporting information provided by the Taxi Council on a separate sheet and attach it to your Declaration of Actual Wages form.

Top tips for declaring

Key things to remember when you set out to declare:

• Declare any apprentice wages, they may entitle you to a premium reduction. Learn more on our Apprentice incentive scheme page
• Declare the wages of any contractors you employ who are deemed as workers. Learn more on our Classifying your workers page
• Include superannuation payments in your wage calculation
• Payments to working directors are part of wages
• Clearly state the policy period you are declaring wages for
• Double-check all your calculations to ensure they are correct
• Double-check your contact details to ensure they are correct
• Submit your declaration on time—within four months of your renewal date.