Expenditure
Expenditure items can vary significantly from one activity to another. Any legitimate expense that is eligible can be included in the budget.
Do not duplicate costs in the budget form. For example, if you receive a quote for advertising which includes design, do not add an additional item for design. Simply use ‘advertising’ as the expenditure item and add a note explaining that
the cost includes design.
Examples of eligible expenditure items are here below. Make sure you check what I can't apply for for ineligible items.
Eligible expenditure items
Administration
Expenses related to the management and administration of the activity e.g. telephone/internet, insurance, postage and stationery. Eligible expenditure items in this category may also include audit costs and accessibility costs (expenditure associated with making your activity accessible to participants or audiences with a disability).
Marketing, promotion and distribution
Costs associated with marketing to your target audience e.g. information, promotion and audience engagement activities, advertising, graphic design, merchandise photography, videography, public relations and production of marketing collateral.
Preparation, development, production and exhibition/presentation
Costs related to the remount, production and delivery of the activity or its deliverables, including the costs of presentation and exhibition. Eligible items may include venue hire, lighting hire, set construction, manufacturing costs, recording fees, rehearsal space hire, props and audio-visual costs.
Salaries, fees and living allowances
Expenditure in this category should include salaries, fees and allowances for all key personnel, with separate components itemised in the budget notes. We support appropriate rates of pay for all people involved in your activity. Refer to the following websites for information on industry standard payment rates:
If these standards do not apply to your activity, then you must outline how reasonable rates have been calculated. For long-term activities, it may be appropriate to pay artists a rate based on a yearly salary for a similar kind of work. If this is the case, you need to clearly explain the rationale for the pay rate in your budget notes.
All rates should be relative to level of experience.
Please note that organisations, such as the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance, predominantly provide information on minimum base rates for employees engaged on a full-time, part-time or casual basis. Rates for artists and arts workers engaged as contractors will include a loading to cover the costs of being self-employed. Full-time, part-time and casual rates do not factor in these costs and should not be used when engaging contractors.
Travel and freight
Costs associated with transporting people, equipment or goods. Eligible items may include fares (taxi, airplane, bus etc.), tolls, land or air freight, and vehicle hire.
Income
This program can fund 100% of your activity costs.
Eligible income Items
Earned income
May include ticket sales, product sales, performance fees and merchandise sales. For performances, this amount should factor in the number of performances, average ticket price and projected venue capacity.
Corporate sponsorship
List any income received through sponsorship from corporate bodies or businesses. Income received through government sponsorship should be included in the relevant government income category.
Philanthropic donations
May include contributions from fundraising, crowdfunding, donations, gifts and bequests.
Australia Council, other Federal Government, other State Government, local government
All grants and sponsorship being sought from Local, State and Federal government, the Australia Council, and other government sources must be included, whether or not this support has been confirmed. If your application is to be assessed by a peer assessment panel, we will attempt to confirm the status of any pending funding applications directly with the funding body prior to the panel assessment. Do not include department grant funds being requested as part of this application.
Other income
If you are making a cash contribution, or someone is providing cash to the activity, list this item as a ‘cash contribution’ or similar. Include any other income source that does not fit within any of the above categories and provide enough detail to identify the income source.
In-kind expenditure and income
Some expenses may be offered to you for free or at a discount. This might be borrowed equipment, the use of a rehearsal space, donated or discounted goods or services, volunteers (including yourself), negotiated discounted fees and allowances. Anything given to your project at no expense to you is considered in-kind.
All in-kind expenditure must be included as a budget item under the in-kind expenditure category. The corresponding recognition of in-kind income is created automatically in your online application and you do not need to enter any in-kind income budget items. The total in-kind expenditure must always equal the total in-kind income.
If, for example, you are hiring a venue which would normally charge $2000 and you have successfully negotiated an $800 (40%) discount, you would include venue hire fee as a budget item under the Expenditure category of $1200 and $800 under the In-Kind Expenditure category.
Additional notes
This section of the budget provides an opportunity for you to detail any additional information you feel may help to clarify items within your budget. For example, for fees and salaries you can indicate in this section how you calculated your amount.
You should use this section to indicate which expenditure items you want the department to support.
Taxation
The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) considers any grant payment to be taxable income for the purposes of your annual income tax return. If you receive a grant, you are encouraged to discuss your tax implications with your tax agent or the ATO.
Registered for Goods and Services Tax
If you are registered for GST you must show your expenditure items exclusive of the GST component. For example, if you have been quoted $550 including GST for lighting hire, in your expenditure budget you would only show lighting hire of $500.
If you are registered for GST and your activity is funded, the department payment will include a 10% GST component to cover those items on which GST is payable.
Not registered for Goods and Services Tax
If you are not registered for GST you must show your expenditure items inclusive of the GST component. For example, if you have been quoted $550 including GST for lighting hire, in your expenditure budget you would show lighting hire of $550.
If you are not registered for GST and your activity is funded, the department payment will include the GST component for those items on which GST is payable.