Rateable remuneration
Rateable remuneration is the wages and benefits base your workers-comp premium is charged on. Premium = rateable remuneration times your industry rate.
Ask Chalkline about this →Rateable remuneration is the wages base on which a workers-compensation premium is calculated: the payments to workers that are subject to premium. Multiply it by your industry rate (your WIC code) and you have the premium. The term is used by WorkSafe Victoria, with equivalent “remuneration” or “wages” concepts in the other states’ schemes (verified 2026-05-24, WorkSafe Victoria).
What’s included:
- Wages and salaries (before tax)
- Commissions, bonuses, allowances
- Employer superannuation contributions
- Fringe benefits (where you lodge an FBT return)
- In some cases, payments to deemed workers (certain contractors)
What’s generally excluded: termination payments (verified 2026-05-24, WorkSafe Victoria).
Why it matters:
- The premium is rateable remuneration multiplied by the industry rate, then adjusted for claims experience above a threshold.
- You declare rateable remuneration each year in an annual wages declaration. Under-declaring understates the premium and gets corrected, and back-charged, on audit.
- In Victoria, rateable remuneration above $200,000 brings your own claims history into the premium calculation (experience rating).
- Do not leave out super and fringe benefits: that understates the wages base.
Builder takeaway: rateable remuneration is the wages half of your workers-comp premium; the WIC code industry rate is the other half. Declare it accurately and on time. How contractors (deemed workers) are treated is a common grey area, so check your state scheme’s rules.
Also known as: rateable wages, remuneration (workers comp).
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Last updated: 2026-05-24. Verified: 2026-05-24. Quarterly review for currency.