Ford Grunt

Hey people, Thought id dump a few pics of my ute dressed in some new 19" XHP Jet Chrome rims. Hopefully, you will enjoy the pics as much as me Cheers, Ford Grunt (Ben)

Got the rims on today they look sweet. Took off dust covers do all you see is the new slotted rotors I get fitted yesterday. Also got 12 months interest free (instead of 6 months due to current promotion) with Bob Jane T-Mart and the tyres got mixed up ended up with a better tyre Nankang's for the same price. Could get much better I reakon. Will post up pics soon! Cheers.

Hey mate, The brand they offer for that price was Wanli tyres apparently similar in quality to the Nankangs. I wanted to go for a better (known) tyre but my salary package only allows for cheaper tyres in the vicinanty of $300 (incl GST) a corner and wheel package was fairly tight. I will increase my allowance for tyres next year and figured id give them a go. I will lower the car eventually, I figured I get the rims first and see how they sit before lowering it down.

Hey people, Thanks for your quick response. Ive placed the order today for 19 x 8.5 (rims are not made in 9.5) for the XHP rims Style: Jet in Chrome finish (see link above) from Bob Jane for $2,600 with tyres. Also got DBA slotted rotors on today as well. Nice ride vibe ute btw. Cheers, Ford Grunt (Ben).

Hey people, Just wanted to know what is the standard width of the factory 18" rim and how wide people have gone particularly in the front. Already decided what rim being 19s, just need to know if can go 8.5 wide or whether will have to stick to 7.5 wide. Rims are here... http://www.xhpwheels.com/wheels_jet.html Cheers, Ford Grunt (Ben)

Dam, missed that one. Thanks.

Well done mate, great to see a T under 10 without weight reduction. Just one question for you (suprised no one else has asked) was your run with just straight 98 octane pump fuel? Either way awesome effect. Give us T guys some more bragging rights to what can be achieved

Ha ha. your story is golden. The way I read it is you life has revolved around beating you father I love it. (Qu: now that you have beat your father what are you to do next?)

hmm ok. what are you guys running your T's in street tyres at the drags using for tyres for then and how much a corner?

that's incredible. Seen various pics of the damage to New Orleans today bloody amazing damage not to mentain terrible.

mmm, prices seem to vary significantly. Im after 19s soon and as well am suffering major traction problems. My budget is $300-$350 a corner. Are Nitto's suppost to be good for grip? If so does anyone know of their prices? Cheers.

Agree nice vid. Is the rev limiter set at 6000rpm you probably would have got a better time again otherwise. but spose there there for a reason

Don't worry about me ^^ issue 2 in your first post.

Dam sweet pics mate. What mag issue was it in mate?

Very nice mate, always been a fan of the hard lids. (now if someone would buy my tool box, then...)

My thoughts exactly. Thought the next model variation would have some different body cues than what looks to be a simple change in front bar (spose haven't seen any rear pics yet), seems to be something like the EF-EL upgrade. Spose cant improve on perfect right Ford Grunt.

Nice, I just need to rip out the Ford tool box first. Just wondering, how is you other ute owns speakers holding up. My left one in particular is a can get a bit crackerly on just mid volume (15-16) with the bass just back a 3 or 4 bars on just your average pop song. In my opinion didnt think this volume / level of bass was excessive. Cheers, Ford Grunt (Ben)

Yeah, I agree for value for money from as around $250 rim HP Design win hands down. I was thinking about the same ones you want, but instead are thinking of going the HP Monaco instead in 19s Shadow Chrome on my T ute: http://www.tempetyres.com.au/content/products/P642.jpg

Ha ha that's gold. (spose my solution is try to remedy the fact that im middle case is be a good tax expert).

Ha ha I agree. Im an accountant and struggle to find what im looking for half the time due to their sh*te search function. Hint: If your looking for ATO legislation, tax ruling etc click on the drop down menu to change search bar to: Legal Database (rather than the default All ATO except Legal Database) other you won't find anything

This is actually right and wrong as well (sorry mate) You are right in that salary packaging is not as effective as it was before the new tax breaks but it is a common misconception that people think salary packaging is only for the people paying tax above in the top marginal bracket, this is definately not the case (ie the top marginal rate 48.5% equals the FBT rate of 48.5%). This principally because there are exempt and concessionally taxed fringe benefits and because an employee can make EMPLOYEE CONTRIBUTIONS toward the benefit to make sure that the taxable value on the benefit is reduced to NIL to ensure it is not taxed therefore at 48.5%. Im an accountant but im not anywhere near the top marginal rate in fact im below the new $63,000 bracket ie. within the second bracket (see not all accountants are well paid ) and salary packaging is still good for me, even more so that im packaging an exempt benefit. But packaging can actually be for almost anyone (not the other way around) because if like say for if you are packaging a CAR BENEFIT then the FBT on the car depends on a number of factors as follows:- 1/ the cost of the car 2/ the annual klms travelled by the car (both private and business) 3/ whether that car has a business logbook (the higher the business % the better) For example say a poor old trainee accountant earning $25,000 PA had an old say Ford Laser worth say $3,000 then FBT on the car would be AT MOST $3,000 x 26% x 2.1292 = $1,660 then assuming the running costs were more that $1,660 per annuam including GST (which isn't hard) and he was going to incur the running costs anyway, than he would be better off packaging so long as he did an EMPLOYEE CONTRIBUTION to net off the taxable value of $1,660. Some people may think how can you package a car worth $3,000? there are two ways the employer (the accounting firm) could buy the car off the trainee accountant or the trainee accountant could (if he had an associate, which is likely) transfer the vehicle (if it already isn't in the associates name) to an associate and then do an ASSOCIATE LEASE. Fact is if you are smart, you package every vehicle you can (provided the FBT doesn't exceed the benefit and you have enough salary left) so that all costs are BEFORE TAX rather than AFTER TAX. Because generally you will incur those costs anyway, as you need to get to work somehow right While ever there is an income tax system and exempt / concessionally taxed fringe benefits, salary packaging will always be beneficial to some people not withstanding an FBT rebateable or Exempt employers you suggested. Cheers, Ford Grunt (Ben)

You are right and wrong at the same time In relation to Orrie question he is talking about FTB (Family Tax Benefit) not FBT (Fringe Benefits Tax) in the sence. The way the calculation for FTB works is that is GROSSES DOWN your Reportable Fringe Benefit in my example the $9,611 grosses down to $4,950 (ie $9,611 / 1.9417) which you will notice is the taxable value of the fringe benefit. You are right in that FBT payable is determined by grossing up the taxable value ie. would be $4,950 x 2.1292 = 10,540 giving FBT payable of $5,112 (10,540 x 48.5%). BUT.. FBT payable and Reportable Fringe Benefits are two different things for starters they often use different gross up rates, ie Reportable Fringe Benefits ALWAYS us the 1.9417 gross up rate, where most fringe benefits (ie those that a GST credit has been claimed on) use the 2.1292 gross up rate for calculation of FBT payable. Hope this is clear enough Ford Grunt (Ben).

If I pick up correctly on what you are asking you want to: 1/ Buy a new ute plus keep the old one and claim the FBT exemption on the new ute only. 2/ After one year sell the old ute and stop claiming the FBT exemption on the new ute. Short answer to 1 & 2 is yes you can do both of these, however note the weight restrictions I talk about later. In 1/ you can claim the exemption on the new ute provided you keep the private use to "minor, infrequent and irregular" private travel. I guess, you will be using the old ute for the majority of the your private travel and will basicially then restrict the use of the new ute to to & from work. Another issue is (not sure of your circumstances ie. whether you are already salary sacrificing your old ute but..) you more than likely will be up for FBT on the old ute as you wont be claiming an FBT exemption on the old one. In 2/ if you start using the ute privately then as long as the ute is NOT a one-tonner, the FBT will be calculated as a CAR BENEFIT and not a fbt exempt vehicle and as such to from work travel will no longer be business klms. If the new ute is a one tonner it will treated as an RESIDUAL BENEFIT meaning that it will be taxed on a harch flat cents per klms rate of 44c per klm (for each private klm travelled) or based on total operating costs less reductions for business klms. Hope this is clear enough. Cheers, Ford Grunt (Ben).

Hey mate, The short answer is maybe If you reduce your salary by salary packaging you may still windup with a Reportable Fringe Benefit amount with will be included in determining eligiability for Family Tax Benefit (FTB) in which case it may not be any better off in fact you could be worse off it depends on the FBT on the vehicle which in turn becomes your Reportable Fringe Benefit amount. I'll explain with an example Based on your example about your looking at packaging two cars with more 25,000 klms say they cost $20,000 & $25,000 each (incl GST). FBT on the statutory method would be $2,200 + $2,750 ($20,000 x 11% + $25,000 x 11%) respectively totally $4,950 per annum this amount of $4,950 is the amount used for the FTB, so if your salary sacrifice is more than this amount you will be infront. The amount of $4,950 is grossed up by 1.9417 to get $9,611 which is the Reportable Fringe Benefit which would then show on your group certificate. Further, to understand how you get a Reportable Fringe Benefit amount which affects your FTB you need to know how you get a Reportable Fringe Benefit. This is when you have a fringe benefit which after "employee contributions" (either cash or unreimburse running expenses) is left with a taxable value. In the example above the taxable value is $4,950, this could have been reduced by employee contributions to as low as nil. The lower the taxable value the lower the impact on FTB. If you have no taxable value you have no Reportable Fringe Benefit and therefore would have no FTB impact. For example, in my case I have a "exempt vehicle" therefore there is no taxable value for FBT and therefore no impact on FTB due to FBT in fact my gross salary is less due to salary sacrificing Hope this helps. Cheer, Ford Grunt (Ben)

Im also an accountant (but you already know that from my response to your insurance thread) but yeah you have a problem, which is hard to work around if at all ie. by reclassifing assets as expenses (via wording in invoices). The solution could have been to do what I did, that is buy one (via salary packaging) already modified! That way any replacement parts will generally always be repairs as it already far departed from being stock (save the turbo). So for it to be treated as an asset it would have to be an improvement from what it was (I doubt that simply because it has more rwkws that would mean it it would be deemed as an improvement for tax purposes) would mean it would be harder to prove as anything other than a repair. Cheers, Ford Grunt (Ben)