Want us to do your tax return? Here’s what we need from you! If you can save us time, we can save you money!

End of financial year tax bills can sometimes be disappointing for individuals.

When starting a new financial year, people can be left wondering what they need to provide us with in order to claim the most they can and prepare the individual tax return for the previous financial year. Here is a guide to some of the essentials needed for us to complete your individual tax return

·  Work-related expenses – These can be receipts of uniforms or protective gear purchased, travel expenses related to work, tools or stationery, memberships & subscriptions, mobile phone and internet (usage relating to work), expenses related to your self-education, and any donations made.

For convenience, the ATO have released a free app called “Australian Taxation Office” which allows you to record and track all your work-related expenses as well as take photos of receipts for when the time comes that you need to do your tax return.

· Motor Vehicle – Information we must need are the make and model of the vehicle, the rego number & a description of the purpose fortravel (must be work-related). There are two options you can chose to claim your motor vehicle travel:

o  Provide a logbook of the vehicle that has been kept for 12consecutive weeks as well as total fuel, rego, insurance & repair costs incurred. You can also claim deprecation on the vehicle if provided with the date of the vehicle purchase and purchase price.

o  Provide us with work-related kilometres travelled.

· Small business income – If you are a small business owner, we will require a summary of the total income received for the full financial year, a spreadsheet showing a detailed list of business expenses, and a notice of intent to claim a tax deduction for super form if you contributed any money into super. 

·  Bank details – As the Australian Taxation Office no longer issues tax refunds by cheques, please ensure that you provide your BSB, Account Number& Account Name.

· Income protection – An Annual Tax Statement outlining the total amount of income protection premiums paid during the financial year.

· Additional personal superannuation – If you have contributed any additional super into your super fund, we will need a letter from your super fund outlining the total amount of super contributions you wish to claim.

· Child support – The total amount of child support paid for the financial year.

· Shares & managed funds investments – We will need copies of the dividend slips for any dividends received during the financial year as well as investment expenses, loan statements for the financial year, if you had sold any shares (purchase and sale documents), and an Annual Taxation Statement for the financial year for any managed fund investments.

· Rental properties – If you have any rental properties during the financial year that you would like to claim we will need: number of weeks the property was rented, number of weeks the property was available to be rented, property agent statement from your agent (if owned privately, how much rent income you received), council rates, water rates, insurance, body corporate fees, repairs and maintenance, interest paid during the financial year on rental property loan (please also provide copies of the loan statements for this period), and a list of new assets purchased for the rental property(including the date purchased, amount and a description of what was purchased).

·  For new clients - Providing us with your last year’s tax return or getting us in contact with their prior accountant to send it through

Here are a few of our extra tips to get the best tax result for your 2022 income tax return:

1. Start now! There is  nothing worse than trying to chase old receipts up, let alone trying to  remember every individual receipt you had to chase. Something as simple as creating a sub-folder in your emails for digital receipts or keeping a document folder on your desk for printed receipts (that you will be able to store these receipts and invoices in) will make your life so much easier at tax time. This is especially useful if you are in an industry that requires you to purchase things like tools or stationery that are purchased frequently and can be used to reduce your tax payable, it can be hard to keep track of everything you bought!

2. The ATO app has a section where you can also keep track of your expenses called “MyDeductions”. This allows you to enter every time you incur an expense or travel kilometres for work. If you know you travel for work, you can also start a manual logbook (about $7 from places like officeworks) to claim the kilometres you drive during the year, while also keeping track of your car’s fuel and repair receipts.

The “Australian Taxation Office” app can also track your vehicle kilometres, by just starting the timer when you go for a work-related drive, this useful app allows for you to track vehicle kilometres that you can claim on your tax return.

3. Checking your employer is withholding the correct amount of tax is also a strategy to make sure you are receiving all you are entitled to every time you get paid and can ensure you will be prepared after your tax return is lodged.  You can check this also through the ATO app using the tax withheld calculator.

4. And just a reminder –  the ATO can audit your tax return up to five years after lodgement, so to keep yourself covered you are required to keep your tax records for these five years!

We follow upon information when it is not all given to us and this runs the risk of you being charged more. Saving time can save money, with allowing you to be charged the minimum amount for an individual tax return.

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