You’re costing a second venue and want to know if the wages will bring in payroll tax. NSW payroll tax is 5.45% of wages above $1.2 million a year for 2026-27, and venues controlled by the same people share that one threshold.
Each venue can sit under $1.2 million on its own and the pair can still owe tax. A cafe paying $13,500 a week in wages and a restaurant paying $9,000, run by the same two directors, owe about $115.71 a week between them once you add 12% super.
If you run one cafe, you’re a long way off. $1.2 million works out to about $23,077 a week in wages and super, more than a $20,000-a-week cafe takes in total. If you’re opening a second venue, we’d put payroll tax in its budget before the first roster goes out.
How Much Is Payroll Tax in NSW?
It’s 5.45% of the wages you pay above $1.2 million a year, for 1 July 2026 to 30 June 2027. Revenue NSW applies the rate only to the part above the threshold, so a group paying $1,310,400 in wages and super pays tax on $110,400 of it.
You owe it if you pay wages in NSW and your total Australian wages for the financial year go over $1.2 million. If you own more than one business, that total can take in every business you control.
Over a full year, tax starts once wages and super pass about $23,077 a week. You may have to register at a lower weekly figure, because Revenue NSW tests each month on the wages paid or payable in that month. In a 30-day month with five weekly paydays, a group paying more than $19,726 a week in wages and super is over that month’s threshold.
Which Wages Count Towards NSW Payroll Tax?
Gross wages and employer super are the big two, and Revenue NSW adds several payments that can sit outside the pay run:
- Gross wages, including apprentices and trainees
- Employer super, at the ATO’s general super guarantee rate of 12% from 1 July 2026 to 30 June 2027
- Allowances, bonuses and commissions
- Contractor payments, unless an exemption applies
- Termination payments
- Fringe benefits, directors’ fees, shares and options
Leaving super out is how a group can look under $1.2 million when it’s over.
When we take over a file, we sometimes find super that went out late or not at all, and we’ve lodged super guarantee charge statements to fix it. The SGC you pay counts as wages for NSW payroll tax too. The penalty part, imposed under sections 49 or 59 of the Superannuation Guarantee (Administration) Act 1992, doesn’t.
Our guide to payday super for hospitality covers when the super itself has to be paid.
Does a Second Venue Get Its Own Payroll Tax Threshold?
Not if the same people control both businesses. Revenue NSW can group businesses in several ways, including common control and common employees, and only one business in the group can claim the $1.2 million threshold.
For two companies, you’re grouped when the same person, or the same people together, hold more than 50% of either:
- the votes at directors’ meetings
- the voting shares
Revenue NSW’s own example is two companies with the same two directors. They’re grouped, even if each runs a different venue.
If a family discretionary trust runs one venue, Revenue NSW treats every beneficiary as controlling that trust. So if you’re a beneficiary and you also control the company behind your other venue, the two are grouped.
Staff can group you too. If your cafe employs a chef who mainly works at your restaurant, taking direction from the restaurant, the two businesses can be grouped through common employees.
The group can also take in a company that employs nobody and a business you control in another state. If the group pays wages interstate, it can claim only part of the $1.2 million threshold in NSW, in line with the NSW share of its Australian wages.
You can apply to Revenue NSW to have a business excluded from the group. Revenue NSW grants the exclusion only if it’s satisfied the business is managed independently of every other group member and has only casual, irregular or occasional connections with them. Companies grouped as related corporations under section 70 of the Payroll Tax Act 2007 can’t apply.
We wouldn’t budget a second venue on its own threshold unless Revenue NSW has already excluded it.
Before you open, hand your accountant:
- who owns the shares in each company, and who the directors are
- the beneficiaries of any family trust in the structure
- any company that employs nobody, and any business interstate
- the staff who will work across both venues, and who directs them
How Much Payroll Tax Would a Two-Venue Group Pay?
A grouped cafe and restaurant with the wages below would owe $6,016.80 a year, or about $115.71 a week.
The cafe pays $13,500 a week in gross wages and the restaurant pays $9,000. The same two directors run both companies, which trade only in NSW all year. Both pay 12% super on every dollar of those wages, with no other taxable payments.
Each venue pays wages and super every Thursday, which gives 52 pay runs in 2026-27.
| What | Amount |
|---|---|
| Cafe gross wages a week | $13,500 |
| Restaurant gross wages a week | $9,000 |
| Super at 12% on both | $2,700 |
| Group wages and super a week | $25,200 |
| Same, over 52 weeks | $1,310,400 |
| Less the group’s one threshold | $1,200,000 |
| Amount above the threshold | $110,400 |
| Payroll tax at 5.45% for the year | $6,016.80 |
| Payroll tax a week | $115.71 |
Neither venue is over $1.2 million on its own: with super, the cafe pays $786,240 a year and the restaurant $524,160. Revenue NSW adds them together because the same directors control both.
Without super, the two venues pay $1,170,000 a year, under the threshold. The $2,700 a week of super is what takes them over.
We’d add that $115.71 to the group’s weekly wage cost from the first roster. Count it too when you check your cafe wage cost percentage.
When Do You Need to Register for Payroll Tax in NSW?
You have 7 days after the end of the first month in which the group’s total Australian wages go over that month’s threshold. Don’t wait for the year to reach $1.2 million.
For 2026-27, the monthly thresholds are:
| Month length | 2026-27 threshold |
|---|---|
| 28 days | $92,055 |
| 30 days | $98,630 |
| 31 days | $101,918 |
For the two-venue group, July 2026 has five Thursday paydays:
| What | Amount |
|---|---|
| Five pay runs of wages and super at $25,200 | $126,000 |
| July’s threshold | $101,918 |
| Over the threshold by | $24,082 |
The group goes over in July, the first month of the financial year, so it has to register by 7 August 2026, almost a year before its first annual return is due. If the same group paid on Mondays or Tuesdays, it would have only four pay runs in July 2026. That’s $100,800, just under the threshold, so it would go over in August or September instead.
If you roster extra casuals for Christmas functions, the group’s December wages can go over that month’s threshold in a year that ends under $1.2 million. You have to register within 7 days after December ends. If the group paid wages all year and the year ends under $1.2 million, it owes no payroll tax for that year, though it lodges an annual return.
In files we’ve taken over, we’ve found a whole pay run missing from the books. So before you compare a month with the threshold, tick its wage total against the pay runs in Xero for every business in the group.
Add this to your month-end jobs:
- Total the month’s completed pay runs for each business in the group
- Add employer super, bonuses, allowances, contractor and termination payments
- Add any SGC paid that month
- Compare the group total with the threshold for that month’s length
- If you’re over and not yet registered, register within 7 days after month end
When you’re over, register on Revenue NSW’s payroll tax registration page with the grouping details and the month’s wage totals in front of you.
When Do You Lodge and Pay NSW Payroll Tax?
If the group’s payroll tax for the year is $20,000 or less, you lodge an annual return by 28 July and can choose to pay monthly. Over $20,000, you pay every month and lodge the annual return as well.
The two-venue group owes $6,016.80, so it doesn’t have to pay monthly. It still has to register by 7 August 2026 and lodge its annual return by 28 July 2027.
If you pay monthly:
- Pay by the 7th of the next month, or the next business day if the 7th is a weekend or public holiday
- Lodge a return for every month in Payroll Tax Online, including nil returns
- June goes in the annual return, so there’s no payment due on 7 July
Revenue NSW’s monthly return instructions take you through Payroll Tax Online.
Every registered business lodges an annual return, even a nil one, by 28 July (or the next business day if that’s a weekend or public holiday). Revenue NSW’s annual return page lists the wages to include.
Even if you only pay once a year, we’d move the payroll tax into a separate account every week, the same way you hold money back for BAS. For the two-venue group that’s $115.71 a week, and the $6,016.80 is there when the return is due.
What If You’ve Already Gone Over Without Registering?
Register now, then work out each month’s group wages from the first month you went over. Revenue NSW charges interest daily from the end of the day the tax should have been paid, at a total rate of 12.51% for 1 October to 31 December 2026.
Penalty tax depends on how much you were at fault. Revenue NSW says businesses that take reasonable care and tell it as soon as they know get less interest or penalty tax than those that don’t. Our advice is to write to Revenue NSW the week you find out.
If we do your hospitality accounting, the group’s monthly wage total comes from pay runs we’ve processed and reconciled. Weekly payroll and reconciliation come in every package.
Key Takeaways
- Payroll tax in NSW is 5.45% of wages and super above $1.2 million for 2026-27. Over a full year, that line is about $23,077 a week across a group.
- Venues controlled by the same people, and sometimes venues that share staff, share one threshold, so check grouping before you budget a second venue.
- Count employer super, bonuses, allowances, contractor payments and any SGC as well as the roster’s gross wages.
- Each month, compare the group’s wages paid or payable in that month, plus the super it paid that month, with that month’s threshold. Register within 7 days after the first month you go over.
- If the group’s payroll tax for the year is $20,000 or less, you can pay it once a year and lodge the annual return by 28 July. Paying yearly doesn’t change when you register.
- Budget it every week: the two-venue example needs about $115.71.
If you’d like help with working out whether your venues are grouped and what NSW payroll tax will cost you each week, you can reach us at (02) 9768 5922 or enquiries@getroger.com.au for a free, no-obligations chat.