Tax Return

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celtic67

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Feb 25, 2011
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I usually complete my tax return on e-tax using the ATO website but after speaking with a few friends I think I will see an accountant this year.

I'm normally too lazy to claim any deductions and usually just try to finish the process as fast as possible. What are the maximum deductions I can declare if I haven't collected any receipts?
Fuel (2 jobs), laundry, uniform etc.

And how much would I be looking at paying an accountant to do this and is it generally worth it? Any other helpful tips would be greatly appreciated. Cheers.
 
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celtic67 said:
I usually complete my tax return on e-tax using the ATO website but after speaking with a few friends I think I will see an accountant this year.

I'm normally too lazy to claim any deductions and usually just try to finish the process as fast as possible. What are the maximum deductions I can declare if I haven't collected any receipts?
Fuel (2 jobs), laundry, uniform etc.

And how much would I be looking at paying an accountant to do this and is it generally worth it? Any other helpful tips would be greatly appreciated. Cheers.
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If your only income is from the two jobs you work and you have never claimed deductions go to H&R block or similar and you will pay $100 and they will be able to claim deductions on fuel and you will easily make your money back.
 
celtic67 said:
I usually complete my tax return on e-tax using the ATO website but after speaking with a few friends I think I will see an accountant this year.

I'm normally too lazy to claim any deductions and usually just try to finish the process as fast as possible. What are the maximum deductions I can declare if I haven't collected any receipts?
Fuel (2 jobs), laundry, uniform etc.

And how much would I be looking at paying an accountant to do this and is it generally worth it? Any other helpful tips would be greatly appreciated. Cheers.
Click to expand...

The tax agent wont be able to invent deductions for you, but the future tax advice might be useful if that is what you are after. If you do have questions, make sure you take notes, many people simply forget the advice given and have to book in another appointment.

You can claim up to $300 worth of deductions without a receipt (claim the full $300, as it is easier to justify you spending more than the $300 than trying to explain to the ATO how you got to the exact figure below $300 without a receipt). If you haven't kept a log book or receipts for work related M/V expenses then I'd suggest you claim the set rate km usage. Don't need much evidence other than the ability to justify how you calculated the work km travelled. Of course driving to and from work to home shouldn't be included in your calculation.
 

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Seeing an accountant is worth it. You can claim deductions for random work trips, such as driving to a meeting, another office etc. You can also claim something like 30-35c per hour when working from home. Doesn't sound like much but if you can work one day a week from home thats 8 * 52 * .35 = $145

Buying tops/pants/jacket through work can be worth it. Can claim laundry expenses, don't have to worry about what to wear and also it is generally favourable to promote the company where possible.
 
Jade's_ said:
If your only income is from the two jobs you work and you have never claimed deductions go to H&R block or similar and you will pay $100 and they will be able to claim deductions on fuel and you will easily make your money back.
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Don't go to H&R block, they are s**t. Plus most of the time they aren't even qualified accountants
 
sivart said:
Don't go to H&R block, they are s**t. Plus most of the time they aren't even qualified accountants
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Agree but they are cheap and a trained monkey could do his tax by the sound of it. If he went to any other accounting firm he would get the least experienced undergrad to do it but charge 3 times as much for the privilege
 
Tax agents like H&R Block and the Tax Shop are the biggest con going around at this time of year. But hell it gives me extra money so please people keep going to them :D
 
I initially did my own tax, one year I decided to go to H&R Block. The 'accountant' did nothing diffeent to what I had previously done. I was really annoyed and went back to doing it myself.

A few years later I was convinced to go to an independent accountant and I am glad I did. She had an excellent knowledge of all the deductions I could claim and saved me hundreds.

I would highly recommend using an accountant, don't go to a chain and ask around before you decide who to use.
 
Jade's_ said:
Agree but they are cheap and a trained monkey could do his tax by the sound of it. If he went to any other accounting firm he would get the least experienced undergrad to do it but charge 3 times as much for the privilege
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Yep, any monkey could know the content of the 1936 Act and the 1997 Act...oh, and the GST Act, the FBT Act, the SIS Act, the Tax Administration Act, need I go on? ;)
 
Deemanding said:
Yep, any monkey could know the content of the 1936 Act and the 1997 Act...oh, and the GST Act, the FBT Act, the SIS Act, the Tax Administration Act, need I go on? ;)
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Not sure you read my post. I said a trained monkey can do HIS tax. Hence the suggestion for H&R block or ITP. There is no doubt some parts of tax law are complicated in which case you would suggest go to a more prestigious firm
 
celtic67 said:
I usually complete my tax return on e-tax using the ATO website but after speaking with a few friends I think I will see an accountant this year.

I'm normally too lazy to claim any deductions and usually just try to finish the process as fast as possible. What are the maximum deductions I can declare if I haven't collected any receipts?
Fuel (2 jobs), laundry, uniform etc.

And how much would I be looking at paying an accountant to do this and is it generally worth it? Any other helpful tips would be greatly appreciated. Cheers.
Click to expand...

why claim fuel when you can claim under the 5,000km rule?
 
i know i'm a bit late doing my taxes, but since mine were simple last year i thought i'd do them myself. just one thing i'm a little stuck on...does 'tax losses from earlier income years' mean money you had to pay the ato from a previous tax return?
 

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Don't you have to do it manually if you miss the deadline (i.e. not through eTax)?

In answer to the question it would be capital losses that you are bringing forward from previous years to offset any capital gain in your latest year.
 
NitroFan said:
i know i'm a bit late doing my taxes, but since mine were simple last year i thought i'd do them myself. just one thing i'm a little stuck on...does 'tax losses from earlier income years' mean money you had to pay the ato from a previous tax return?
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No, because that was the tax payable in previous years - and is a completely different concept to tax losses. Look at the ato site for guidance, but losses carried forward relates to revenue and/or capital losses from a previous year that can be applied against a current year gain. There's a multitude of rules around when and what can be claimed, and the answer to the question depends on your tax history.
 
raptalia said:
Tried to file my tax return on line. Yeah well....
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for 2015 or last year?

if last year, then it is too late. If this year, you are better off waiting 15-30 days for your employer to lodge the pay forms with the ATO and then cross referenced to you. It also takes time for banks, medicare, insurance and other institutions to provide their info.
 
Power Raid said:
for 2015 or last year?

if last year, then it is too late. If this year, you are better off waiting 15-30 days for your employer to lodge the pay forms with the ATO and then cross referenced to you. It also takes time for banks, medicare, insurance and other institutions to provide their info.
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I am talking about 2015.

I have everything I need except a working gateway to the ATO.
Financial Institutions, Heath Funds, Unions etc. have all the info on line and my employer provided a PAYG summary on the 30th June. The only thing that isn't up to speed is the f****** ATO web site.
i would not be as pissed off if the Government didn't keep hounding us to do it all online. We go online and cannot do the business because they will nor spend the money to put a system in place that can deal with high volume traffic.

Facebook is ablaze with complaints about the lack of service. It isn't simply a matter of lodging a return but as of 0800 this morning I could not even retrieve my partially completed return. The ATO has had twelve months to prepare and they have not done it.
 
raptalia said:
I am talking about 2015.

I have everything I need except a working gateway to the ATO.
Financial Institutions, Heath Funds, Unions etc. have all the info on line and my employer provided a PAYG summary on the 30th June. The only thing that isn't up to speed is the f****** ATO web site.
i would not be as pissed off if the Government didn't keep hounding us to do it all online. We go online and cannot do the business because they will nor spend the money to put a system in place that can deal with high volume traffic.

Facebook is ablaze with complaints about the lack of service. It isn't simply a matter of lodging a return but as of 0800 this morning I could not even retrieve my partially completed return. The ATO has had twelve months to prepare and they have not done it.
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you're right.

company tax returns can't be lodged electronically and the hard copies are rarely ready for another 3 or 4 months

so we have to use last years and just cross out the date at the top

its quite embarrassing really
 
Was finally able to lodge my return electronically but not without more pain. Had it all ready to go and hit the Lodge button then bingo- my session timed out and the system hung. As I went in through My Gov I had to close then re enter My Gov. This resulted in my losing some of the data I had entered.

Last year My Tax worked OK, it wasn't perfect but I had no problems. This year they changed things around presumably to save someone at the ATO a bit of work and we have a disaster. Whatever happened to the principle, 'if it ain't broke don't fix it'.

 
Orazio2Joe said:
Logged into My gov and apparently I have tax returns overdue for 2006, 2005 and 2004 o_O
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When I logged on it told me I had super in four different accounts, even though I had them rolled into one over a year, probably almost two years, ago.
 
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