Tax Time

The ATO’s tips to make tax time a breeze (and your refund faster)

To help you navigate tax time with ease, the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has shared their top tips. Here’s 6 that’ll not only make tax time a breeze but could help you can get your hot little hands on a refund sooner.

1. The best time to lodge your tax return is from late July

Lodging in late July gives the ATO time to receive all your wage, bank interest, private health insurance, dividend and government payment info so they can prefill your tax return.

You can also use the ATO app to check your information and add anything that’s missing as well as your deductions.

2. Check out the ATO’s occupation guides

If you’re unsure of what you can claim, the ATO’s occupation and industry-specific guides can help you:

• work out what income and allowances to declare
• check if you can or can’t claim work-related expenses as a deduction
• find out what records you need to keep.

You can find the guides at ato.gov.au/occupations

3. Remember the 3 golden rules for claiming a work-related expense

To claim a deduction for a work-related expense, you’ll need to meet these 3 rules:

1. You must have spent the money yourself and weren’t reimbursed
2. The expense must directly relate to earning your income
3. You must have a record (usually a receipt) to prove it.

If you incur the expense for both work and private purposes, you can only claim the work-related portion. For more details, visit ato.gov.au/deductions

4. Don’t forget your side hustle

You need to include all income you received during the financial year, including money from all your jobs, self-employment, cash jobs and money you received in other ways.

This may include some government payments, online activities, sharing economy, personal services income, foreign income, interest from bank accounts, rental properties, overseas investments, income from partnerships, trusts and units, and dividends from shares.

5. Avoid these 3 common tax time mistakes

1. Keep your purchase receipts and tax invoices. Don’t make the mistake of throwing away your receipts and relying on your bank statement. In most cases, a bank statement on its own won’t be enough to substantiate your claim. The myDeductions tool in the ATO app is a great way to keep these in one place for when you lodge.
2. Check what work-related expenses you can claim. The ATO often see mistakes in deductions, like claiming private expenses. Remember, you can only claim expenses that directly relate to your work. Your deductions may be disallowed if you’re not eligible or you don’t keep the right records.
3. Don’t forget any charity donations you made. You might be able to claim a deduction – but only if the organisation you’ve donated to is a registered deductible gift recipient (DGR). You can check the DGR status of an organisation at abr.business.gov.au/Tools/DgrListing. Don’t forget to keep your receipts.

6. Want to check the progress of your return?

The quickest and easiest way to check the progress of your tax return is with the ATO app or by logging into ATO online services through a myGov account linked to the ATO.