Celebrities hit with 'fame tax' in budget

Celebrities will be hit with new rules on their image rights to make sure they're not dodging their income tax.

Tuesday's federal budget contains a 'fame tax' that will make sure celebrities and high-profile people who licence their image rights to other companies pay tax on all the income and non-cash benefits they receive.

Celebrities can currently licence their image rights to a business, which can claim losses on the investment, and then pay just 30 per cent tax on the profits.

"This measure will ensure that all remuneration (including payments and non-cash benefits) provided for the commercial exploitation of a person's fame or image will be included in the assessable income of that individual," the 2018/19 budget says.

The money raised from the change is "unquantifiable", the budget said.