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Want to take the worry out of tax time? Get professional help!

by Ross Greenwood

Tax time comes with a lot of worry.  Receipts, accounts, log-books – it all adds up to a headache. 

Which explains why more than half of Australians use an accountant.  When it comes to reconciling business tax, the figure rises even more.

There are a couple of really good reasons to get professional help at tax time. 

  1. Our tax system has become so confusing (which makes many of us frightened we’ll make an error).  
  2. A tax professional can help us claim things we wouldn’t even be aware of.
  3. While the ATO has improved its online lodgment service (*a lot), there is still a lot of information to crunch (and categories to understand) that can impact our return. A tax professional knows the system inside out – its literally what they do. 
  4. It’s the Tax Office’s job to collect revenue for the Government; not to help you get the biggest refund.
    With an accountant or tax agent, you have someone whose job it is to know the tax law and to maximise the dollars back in your wallet.
  5. The best part! Any fees you pay your accountant can be claimed as a tax deduction next year.

A top tip from Ross – 

The work from home allowance

For those of you that want to go tax-time alone this year – a piece of advice –

If you made the move to work from home during COVID-19 you are entitled to claim some extra deductions.

One of these is the ATO’s new work from home method – where you can claim 80c per hour for every hour you worked at home.

It sounds pretty good in theory, BUT, if you claim this new work from home method, you could be cheating yourself out of BIG refund dollars.

You see, the new 80c rate includes everything, including electricity, phone and Internet.  But, if you claim using the old work from home rate at 52c per hour, you can claim your phone and internet separately. 

This usually leads to a bigger deduction and more money in your pocket. 

If you’re not sure about the best way to claim work from home, just ask your accountant, who can work it all out for you.

Are you missing out on thousands of dollars?

*Every year, Australians trust their loyal accountants to navigate the mine field of the complicated tax system by completing their tax returns. Yet strangely, up to 90% of Australians don’t know about hidden government incentives that could see them get up to $8,000/$10,000 in returns in their pocket each year.

To find out if you are one of the 90% missing out, meet with one of The Advantage’s highly experienced consultants. Just enter your details here