According to this headline, 650 000 Australians have already filed their tax returns. It’s a record number, possibly caused by the tax cuts that were passed last week.
The advantage for these early birds is that they will probably receive their refunds before the end of July, and if they should happen to have to pay tax, they will still have until 21 November to pay the bill.
The disadvantage in lodging so early is not being able to utilise the government’s pre-fill service. This is where the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) partially completes your tax return with your financial information that they receive from health funds, banks, employers, government agencies, share registries and more. It can make things a lot easier for you. Read about it on the ATO website here.
Pre-fill information is usually available by mid–August, so if you don’t want to wait then here’s a list of things you’ll be wanting to have ready:
Payment summaries or income statements – Outlines the income you have received from your employer, super fund or government payment like Centrelink and the Department of Veterans Affairs
Bank statements – Details any interest you have earned during the period and fees you have paid. Your bank may have summarised these for you, either online or at the bottom of your bank statement
Shares, unit trusts or managed funds statements – Information on dividends or distributions you’ve received. Dividends that you’ve elected to reinvest must be declared as income
Buy and sell investment statements – Needed to calculate capital gains and losses. If you bought or sold any shares you can access the details on your online broking account or you can get them from your investment adviser or stockbroker
Records from your rental property – If you use a property manager, you will probably get an annual tax statement that details income and expenses. Otherwise you will need to gather details of income received and expenses paid, including any capital gains or capital losses if you have sold the property
Foreign income – Details of foreign pensions or other foreign income
Private health insurance statement – Information needed to complete the private health insurance section of your tax return. This year, health insurers are no longer required to send you a statement unless you request it. Instead, the information will be pre-filled into your tax return through myGov by 20 July
Note that this year you might not receive a payment summary (formerly known as “group certificate”) from your employer, and for those who do, it will be your last. The introduction of the Single Touch Payroll system means many employers are already required to report their employees’ pay, tax and super information directly to the ATO, and from 1 July 2019 all employers will. Employers generally have until 31 July to do this, so most of us will need to wait until then to file our tax returns.
In the meantime, you can enjoy thinking about what you will spend a refund on. For tax planning strategies please get in touch to see how we can help you.
– Jacie Taylor is a registered tax (financial) adviser with the Tax Practitioners Board (registration number 25951853).
