The Employee Benefits Card is a MasterCard or Visa card that has been purpose designed for use in Public and Not-for-profit Hospitals, Aged Care, Charities and Not-for-profit employers who qualify as a Public Benevolent Institution (PBI).

The card allows employees to access tax free expense payment fringe benefits and eliminates the need to keep paperwork and reimbursements. You can spend your money immediately it is deposited on to the card.

Like any MasterCard or Visa card it can be used anywhere in the world to pay for everyday expenses, where MasterCard or Visa card is accepted.

However, unlike other MasterCard or Visa card's, the EBC™ provides no credit and cannot be used to draw cash advances or to establish direct debits.

The Employee Benefits Card (EBC™) is a Credit Card that operates on a pre-paid basis and limits expenditure to the funds available.

As a cardholder you are primarily liable for amounts spent on the card.

The following steps summarise how the EBC™ is established and operates.

1. Your employer establishes an EBC facility with Westpac which enables employees to apply for an EBC™ under a salary sacrifice agreement entered into with the employer.
2. Employees apply for an EBC™ card.
3. An agreed salary sacrifice amount is transferred each pay cycle by the employer through the electronic banking system to the employee’s EBC™ account.
4. The employee uses the EBC™ to pay for expenses. Expenditure amounts are limited to the available funds established by the salary sacrifice transfers. Funds in the account are only accessible through incurring expenses on the Card and no cash advances are available.
5. Each month cardholders receive a statement of amounts spent and the balance of the account is discharged with the salary sacrifice funds available. Any remaining funds available each month are carried forward and added to subsequent salary sacrifice transfers.
6. On termination of a card, including termination of employment, the EBC™ is cancelled.

No. Cash withdrawals are electronically barred.

On July 1, 2000 the Australian Government introduced legislation to improve the equity of the tax system while recognising the special needs of PBI’s who provide their employees with fringe benefits. The legislation formalised the amount of FBT-free fringe benefits that may be provided to employees of PBI’s by introducing capped thresholds for FBT exemption. The legislation provided the exemption for two groups of employers, namely;

• Private Not-for-Profit and Public Hospitals
• Public Benevolent Institutions (other than Hospitals)