Employer obligations: which scheme to levy into

Last reviewed: 14 August 2026. Every figure checked against each scheme's own website. Information only. Each scheme is the authority on its own obligations.

Portable long service leave is one of the few employment obligations that is genuinely jurisdictional rather than national. A builder operating across the NSW-Queensland border deals with two authorities, two registrations, two return cycles and two levy bases, and neither scheme will tell you about the other.

The three questions that decide your obligation

1. Where is the work physically performed? That is the jurisdiction whose scheme applies.
2. Is your industry covered there? Construction is covered everywhere. Contract cleaning, community services, security and the ACT services industry are covered only in some places.
3. Are these workers eligible? Each scheme defines eligible work and excludes some roles. Queensland, for example, notes that some workers performing building and construction work are not eligible, and that some company directors who perform the work may be.

Which scheme, by jurisdiction and industry

What you actually have to do

• Register the business with each scheme that covers your work.
• Register your eligible workers, or confirm they are registered. In several schemes this is the employer's responsibility. TasBuild states the employer is responsible for registering workers in relevant employment.
• Lodge returns on the scheme's cycle. This varies: NSW's construction scheme uses annual service returns; Queensland, Victoria's Portable Long Service Authority and South Australia run quarterly returns.
• Pay the levy or charge on time. Victoria's Portable Long Service Authority requires levy payments within 14 days [source].
• Keep the service data accurate. Under-reported service becomes a worker's missing-service claim later, and the scheme will come back to you for it.

Workers who cross borders

If a worker performs covered work in another state, that state's scheme may apply to that work. South Australia states that if you employ construction workers interstate you may need to register them with the scheme in that state or territory. Registering in the right place is what makes the National Reciprocal Agreement work for your worker later, so it is worth getting right at the time rather than reconstructing it years afterwards.

Getting money back

Several schemes reimburse employers who have paid long service leave to a worker directly. NSW notes that registered employers may be able to claim back some or all of the long service benefits they paid, and Queensland and the ACT both publish employer reimbursement processes. If you have paid an entitlement out of your own pocket for a worker in a covered industry, check whether the scheme owes you for it.

Back to the portable long service leave guide