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MAINTAINED BY MILLARX
STATUS: IN FORCE · OPEN FOR ADOPTION
NLTS / 1.0
EX GST · FINANCE ONLY

Novated Lease
Transparency Standard

Five figures that make any two novated lease quotes comparable like-for-like. Free for any provider to adopt.
1.0 PURPOSE2.0 THE FIVE FIGURES3.0 SCOPE RULES4.0 PRESENTATION5.0 VERIFICATION6.0 CONFORMANCE & ADOPTION7.0 ADOPTER REGISTER8.0 SUPPORT REGISTER
1.0 PURPOSE

The industry has no standard for showing the real cost of a novated lease — so we created one. The tax savings are real, but they come from government policy, not from the novated leasing providers; transparency is what we control. Every quote shows the true cost of the lease, not just the savings, so you commit fully informed — the standard we hold above all else.

The standard defines five finance figures, stripped of running costs and fees and stated ex GST, so that any two novated lease quotes carrying them can be compared like-for-like. It is unilateral: a provider adopts it by publishing the figures — no accreditation, membership or permission is required.

2.0 THE FIVE FIGURES
NLTS
2.1Finance payments$ X,XXX /mth × N
2.2Balloon$ XX,XXX
2.3Total cost$ XX,XXX
2.4Total amount financed$ XX,XXX
2.5Total term charges$ X,XXX
2.1 Finance payments. The monthly finance payment multiplied by the number of payments over the term. The monthly figure is normalised from the customer's actual pay cycle so the standard always speaks in months. The payment count reflects the payments the customer will actually make under the product's structure.
2.2 Balloon. The end-of-term residual value, ex GST.
2.3 Total cost. Finance payments plus balloon — everything the financier is paid over the term.
2.4 Total amount financed. The amount lent to fund the vehicle, ex GST.
2.5 Total term charges. Total cost minus total amount financed. The true cost of the finance.
3.0 SCOPE RULES
3.1Ex GST, throughout. Every figure is stated exclusive of GST. Mixing GST treatments is precisely how two quotes stop being comparable — one treatment, applied to every figure, stated once.
3.2Finance only. Management fees, insurances and running costs are excluded by definition. The figures are purely what the financier charges — the part that actually differs between providers.
3.3Fixed format. Five figures, the same labels, the same order, on every quote. The rigidity is the value: any deviation reintroduces non-comparability.
4.0 PRESENTATION
4.1 The five figures appear together, in a single bordered block, on the quote itself — not in an appendix, schedule or on request.
4.2 The block states its two scope rules on its face: ex GST, and exclusive of management fees and running costs.
4.3 Finance payments are labelled with their count ("× N") so the reader can reproduce the total. Where the product defers or pays in arrears, the label says so in plain words.
4.4 No savings figure, discount or offset appears inside the block. Savings may appear elsewhere on the quote — the block is for cost.
5.0 VERIFICATION
TOTAL COST − AMOUNT FINANCED
= TOTAL TERM CHARGES

The standard carries no base rate and no comparison rate. Term charges must equal the subtraction above, performed on figures printed in the same block — so any reader can verify the quote’s arithmetic, and any two conforming quotes can be ranked on cost directly.

6.0 CONFORMANCE & ADOPTION
6.1Open adoption. Any novated lease provider may adopt the standard by presenting the five figures in accordance with sections 2.0–5.0. No licence, fee, membership or permission from millarX is required.
6.2Claiming conformance. A quote conforms if all five figures are present, ex GST, finance-only, with term charges equal to the section 5.0 subtraction. A conforming quote may be described as an "NLTS quote".
6.3Partial presentation. Presenting some figures, mixing GST treatments, or bundling fees into any figure is non-conforming and must not be described as NLTS.
6.4Applied to ourselves first. millarX applies the standard to every millarX-branded quote, including BYO quotes where the customer is financing through a competing packager.
6.5Versioning. This document is NLTS/1.0. Changes to definitions or scope rules will be published as a new version; conforming quotes should cite the version they follow.
7.0 ADOPTER REGISTER

Adoption is unilateral (§6.1), so this register is a record, not a gate — a provider is conforming the moment its quotes carry the five figures, listed here or not. The register exists so the claim is checkable in one place. Every listing is verified against a real quote before it appears.

LOADING REGISTER…

Listing is free and requires nothing from us but a check that the quote conforms — §6.1. We list adopters in the order they signed on. A listing records that a provider publishes the five figures; it is not an endorsement of their pricing, and millarX does not audit their arithmetic beyond the quote supplied.

Not ready to change what your quotes print? You can still record support for the principle under §8.0.

8.0 SUPPORT REGISTER

Conformance (§7.0) asks a provider to change what it prints. Agreeing that it ought to be printed asks nothing of anyone — and far more people hold that view than will ever issue a conforming quote. This register records them: employees and drivers who read these quotes, employers who offer the benefit, and the providers, banks and financiers who write them.

It is a separate list, deliberately. A signature here is an endorsement of the principle and carries no implication that the signatory’s own quotes conform. The aggregate is published, and is used in submissions to regulators and industry bodies.

“I agree in principle that the true cost of a novated lease — the finance charges, stated consistently and stripped of fees and running costs — should appear on the face of every quote, and I would support a transparency standard of this kind being applied across the industry.”
COUNTING…

Signing records support for the principle. It is not a claim that a signatory’s own quotes conform — conformance is §7.0, and it is checked against a real quote. We publish first name, state and signatory type only; surname, email and employer are never shown here.

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