Make Tax Time A Breeze

Do you hate filing your taxes every year? Put your mind at ease, because it doesn't have to be a struggle. With the correct tools and some helpful advice, filing your taxes can be a breeze. To get you started, here are some useful advice and suggestions. Make sure that your documents are carefully organised well in advance, that you are utilising a reliable software package, and that you visit an accountant if necessary. You may simplify and expedite the process of filing your taxes by following these steps. Therefore, there is no need to worry; just take it easy and get things done!

Do you dread the arrival of tax season? You don't have to make it difficult on yourself; if you have the correct resources and information, filing your taxes may be a joy. In this piece, we'll go through some of our best advice for simplifying the process of filing taxes in the Australian manner. We will assist you in every step of the process, from organising your papers to submitting your return.

The time of year when taxes need to be filed can be a tremendous hassle, but it doesn't have to be. This tutorial will show you how to simplify the process of filing your taxes and get your refund quickly, so that you can go on with the rest of your life. You'll be able to navigate Australia's intricate tax system like a pro with the help of this tutorial. The tax system in Australia is fairly complicated. If you are either new to Australia or just need a refresher, continue reading for some ideas that will make the process of filing your taxes a breeze.

Use These ATO Tips To Simplify Tax Season

People are being encouraged by the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) to take action immediately in order to make the process of filing their taxes easier. The filing of an income tax return can be made simpler, safer, and more streamlined for taxpayers if they take a few quick and easy steps right now.

If you intend to file your return on your own, the online myTax service offered by the ATO is by far the most convenient and user-friendly option available. It has virtually eliminated the need for paper lodgements completely.

It should come as no surprise that myTax's popularity is on the rise given that the company processes the vast majority of refunds in less than two weeks and many of them in less than a week. The majority of taxpayers who have straightforward financial situations can file their returns in less than a half-hour without leaving the convenience of their own homes. In addition, by the end of July, the majority of people will have a portion of their income added to their return automatically, which will make filing their taxes an even simpler process.

When filing their taxes for the first time using myTax online, taxpayers run into two major roadblocks that might slow them down. The first step is connecting their myGov account to the online services provided by the ATO.

Avoid Speedbump 1

If you intend to complete your own tax return, you should connect myGov to the ATO as soon as possible

Logging into your myGov account and linking it to the ATO well in advance of tax time is the most important piece of advise that I can give to individuals who are planning to utilise myTax for the very first time. You will be asked to respond to two questions based on your records, which may be something like an income statement or a Centrelink payment summary from the previous two years, or it could be the data of your bank account.

Those who are unable to provide sufficient evidence to verify their identification will be required to call the ATO in order to obtain a one-of-a-kind connecting code that can be submitted in place of the required responses to the questions. When calling the ATO, taxpayers need to be prepared with their identifying information in order to speed up the process. This includes having their Tax File Number as well as their driver's licence or Medicare card on hand.

In July of 2013, the most common reason for people to call us was that they required a connecting code. Although this is a vote of confidence from taxpayers wanting to use myTax, the process can be sped up significantly if you become organised early on in the process.

If you need to call us to link, we recommend you to do it now so that you don't run into any delays when you choose to lodge your tax return. If you need to phone us, you can find our number here. If you require a linking code, the month of June is an excellent time to have that taken care of.

After people have linked their accounts with the ATO, they are able to not only file their tax returns during the appropriate time of year but also monitor their refunds, check their historical tax records, manage their super accounts, and view their income statements.

Avoid Speedbump 2

Before you submit your return, double check that all of the information regarding your income has been finalised and completed

People filing their taxes before they have all of the necessary information regarding their income is the other major cause of delays during tax season.

Statements of income have largely taken the role of payment summaries for most people in Australia. This indicates that the majority of people will not receive a payment summary from their employer; rather, the finalisation of their income statements will take place online, and the information will be submitted straight to the ATO.

Your income statement is accessible to you through myGov, and the ATO will incorporate the information it contains into your return in myTax without you having to do anything. If you utilise the services of a tax agent, they will also have access to the aforementioned details.

Income statements update in close to real time to reflect a person's year-to-date pay and wages, PAYG withholding tax, and any employer super contributions; nonetheless, it is important to wait until the information is finalised before submitting a tax return. The deadline for businesses to complete their revenue statements is July 31.

People who are overly eager to receive a tax refund frequently make evident errors on their tax returns, which can either cause a delay in the processing of the return or result in a fee in the future.

Before you submit your return, you should make sure that the information in your income statement has been finalised by your employer and that the statement has been marked as "tax ready."

Your tax return will also have other information that has been automatically entered into it, including information from banks, health funds, and government agencies. By the end of July, it will have occurred for the vast majority of people.

If you choose to lodge your appeal after we have included all of your information in your tax return, the process will be even simpler. However, if you choose to lodge your appeal before that time, you will need to ensure that the information you provide is complete, accurate, and up to date in order to avoid delays or a debt in the future.

Here Are Some Tips That Will Make Filing Your Returns a Breeze

The end of the fiscal year is drawing near, and if you are a property owner, you may be concerned about finishing any tax-deductible maintenance or upgrades that you put off until the last minute, as well as ensuring that all of your records are up to date.

There's no getting around the fact that getting ready for tax season may be a very difficult process. Keeping tabs on one's expenditures throughout the course of the year and ensuring that everything is accurate well in advance of tax season can also be a real pain in the neck.

Maintaining Order Throughout the (Financial) Year

As you get ready for the end of the fiscal year, one of your priorities should be to ensure that all of your records are current. Because of this, property owners often find themselves in a situation where they are up to their elbows in paperwork, searching for the appropriate record to check that it has been brought up to date.

Because the technician maintains the owners' records throughout the year, it is never a challenge for property owners to locate the records they need.

This implies that you won't have to waste any time rummaging through stacks of paper or computer files in order to bring them up to date, which is very cool.

The records of are kept in the app or portal that the owner uses.

• Records of payments
• Receipts
• Estimates and bills for maintenance
• If you wish to go deeper, there is a detailed analysis of the income and expenses.

Because access to records is included in our $30 per week (plus GST) PM price, you are able to examine these records via your owner app at the touch of a button at no extra cost.

You can check either the owner app or the tenant app in order to see if there are any outstanding requests for maintenance.

Tips, Tricks, And Practical Hacks To Make Tax Season Easy

It's no secret that we have a soft spot for Xero! Even while the site is extremely user-friendly and simple to browse, there are still some secret features that our experienced senior accountants take advantage of on a daily basis.

Never ones to keep our information to ourselves, we encourage you to check out their prefered Xero hacks, which will save you time.

Repeating Bills And Invoices

Create a repeating bill or invoice if you need to send out bills and invoices on a regular basis that are always the same amount.

How?

Navigate to the invoice, then click the Repeating tab, then New. Repeating invoice, after which you may put in the frequency, the due date, and any other information that pertains to the invoice or bill.

Online Filing System

Users of Xero have the ability to keep crucial business documents in the application's filing library. This ensures that all of your records are kept in an one location and are backed up online, allowing for simple file sharing and, more significantly, providing users with piece of mind.

How?

Send your files by email directly to the inbox associated with your Xero files account. Because from this location you may generate a transaction (such as a sales invoice, bill, expense, or receipt) with the document attached, you will never again have to go through the trouble of searching through hundreds of documents that have been filed away.

Remember To Fill Out The Description Field

When publishing receipts, payments, and journals, our useful reminder is to always make sure that the 'description' section offers an acceptable overview that adequately conveys the nature of the transaction. This should be done regardless of whether you are posting receipts, payments, or journals.

In the future, the amount of time required to search for transactions will be cut down as a result of this.

Automatic Draft Bills

Pay attention if you're one of the people that enters bills manually into Xero!

When you transmit the PDF bill to Xero and the software is able to read the invoice, Xero is able to instantly prepare a draught bill for you. Because it will automatically fill in the blanks and identify the client, all you will need to do is verify that the information is accurate.

We recommend ReceiptBank to companies who have to enter several bills because it cuts down on the amount of time spent entering data.

How?

Email PDF bills (as attachments) to your firms unique bill email address. A PDF version of the draught bill will be generated by Xero and attached to it automatically.

How to Make It Seamlessly Through Tax Season

The majority of us wince at the notion that June 30th is getting closer... The time of year when taxes need to be filed can be a stressful time, but it doesn't have to be something you dread! Here are some simple pointers to help you glide through tax season and make the most of your refund, whether by putting it away or spending it wisely.

Set Up As You Go

It is very simple to lose track of receipts and forget what you have spent over the course of the previous year. You may avoid this situation by creating a folder in your email inbox and naming it "Tax." Place all of your receipts and invoices in this folder as you collect them. This covers the costs of running my office, making contributions to charitable organisations, and maintaining memberships and subscriptions to trade magazines.

The same rule applies to the statements from your bank accounts and credit cards: store copies of them in a folder on your computer, or download them as Excel files, so that you can easily find expenses to claim and add them up. When it comes time to file your taxes, you won't have to scour the house looking for misplaced receipts because you'll have them all in one place.

Lodge Timely

You are required to file your individual tax returns by the 31st of October of each year if you prepare them yourself; however, you can file as early as the 1st of July. Using the eLodgement service offered by the Australian Taxation Office, which can be accessed through your MyGov Account, making a self-lodgment is now simpler than it has ever been. When you use the eLodgment service, several areas of your tax return, such as your income from employers and interest collected in bank accounts, will be pre-filled. All you will need to do is check that the facts are accurate and then submit your return.

You can create a MyGov account right here on this page if you do not already have one. Having a MyGov Account is helpful since it enables you to collect refunds from Medicare for doctor's appointments and other associated services. These refunds can be requested through your account.

Tax Agent vs DIY

When it comes to filing their taxes, many individuals seek the assistance of a tax advisor or accountant. Working with an expert has many advantages, one of which is that they may assist you in locating deductions that you might not have been aware of. When you file your subsequent tax return, you can deduct the amount that you paid for the accountant's services from that total.

If you don't have any complicated investments or income from a business, I think it would be best for you to prepare your tax return on your own even though there are many advantages to working with a tax professional. This is for your benefit, so that you are aware of the nature of the claim you are making and have the proper evidence readily available (receipts, invoices). Because the Australian Taxation Office may audit your previous returns at some point in the future, it is in your best interest to be familiar with the general regulations so that you do not get caught off guard.

How to Get Ready, File, and Get the Most Out of Your Tax Return

Because tax season is drawing near, you might be interested in the following deduction suggestions, which could potentially assist in increasing the amount of money that is refunded to you.

Your tax return may be impacted by a variety of factors, such as your sources of income from employment, investments, and government aid, such as any JobSeeker payments you may have received during the fiscal year.

Whether you have work-related expenses, such as those from travel, equipment, clothing, or what you may have spent if you had been working from home, is another aspect that can play a role. Other elements that can play a role include the following:

The following is a brief review of some of the items you might want to think about when preparing, filing, and hopefully optimising your tax return for the fiscal year that will end on June 30, 2021.

Who Is Required To File A Tax Return?

There are going to be certain individuals who won't be required to submit a tax return. People with lower levels of income and certain older people in Australia are typically included in this category.

Those who are required to file a tax return are often those who have reached specified income thresholds or who have earned particular sorts of income.

The online quiz provided by the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) can assist you in determining whether or not you are required to submit a tax return.

What Paperwork Is Necessary To File Your Tax Return?

When you're ready to submit your tax return, some of the things you'll need to have on hand include, but aren't necessarily limited to the following:

• Your tax file number
• Your bank account information, so that the ATO is aware of where to deposit any potential refund to which you are entitled
• Any income statements or payment summing ups that have been provided to you by your employers
• Payment info from Centrelink (Services Australia) relating to assistance and relief packages
• Specifics concerning any other potential sources of revenue (from business, property, investments or shares)
• Statements or receipts for the expenses that you are claiming as a deduction on your taxes
• Information about any private health insurance you may have
• If you have made any charitable donations, the receipts for those donations.

Note that if you file your tax return by yourself using myTax, which is accessible through the myGov website and the ATO app, the vast majority of the information required from your employers, banks, government agencies, health funds, and other third parties will generally be pre-filled for you by the end of July.

What Tax Deductions Are Available When Filing a Tax Return?

The majority of tax deductions will be tied to one's employment. Nevertheless, a work-related item will only be deducted if you weren't compensated for it by your employer, it directly pertains to you making an income, and you have a record, such as a receipt (unless the amount you're claiming is $300 or less, in some situations).

Expenses that can be deducted from taxes due to employment include:

• Vehicle and travel expenses
• Uniforms, as well as work attire that is specialised for the occupation and protective in nature, including footwear
• Expenses associated with working from home, such as those for energy, the phone, and internet. Take note that a simplified procedure for claiming these deductions will be in effect once again this year (more info on this below)
• Expenses related to your profession that are associated with your education, such as tuition, textbooks, dues, and subscriptions
• Tools and supplies include sunblock and sunglasses if you work outside, or a laptop and the appropriate software if you work from home or in an office.

Check out the ATO's profession and industry specific deduction guides if you want further information on deductible items that are connected to your particular line of work.

In the meantime, if your expenses are for both business and personal use, you can only claim a deduction for the portion of the expense that is work-related. This could, for example, be fifty percent of the cost of the bundle that includes your phone and internet service.

Another scenario in which you wouldn't be able to deduct your entire trip as a business expense is one in which you travel on a business-related trip out of state, such as to a conference or a study session, but you also take a vacation during that time.

Additional deductions that you might be eligible to claim include the following:

• Certain personal super contributions if you’ve made any
• Expenses relating to investments, including interest, dividends, and others
• Donations and gifts given to organisations that qualify as tax-exempt gift recipients, such as charities
• If you used a tax preparer, the fee for your return from the previous year.

Check out the myDeductions function that's available in the ATO app if you're having problems maintaining proper organisation of all of your receipts. This enables you to save a record of your deductions during the course of the fiscal year, which you can afterwards upload when it comes time to submit your return.