Here’s the most common question people ask us every year:
How can I get a bigger refund and pay less tax?”
Australians are always looking for ways to improve their tax refund. We’ll answer this common question with four easy ways to improve your refund…
1. Manage your tax receipts
Keeping track of your receipts sounds pretty easy. But in fact, a huge percentage of Australians lose track of receipts each year.
If you lose your receipts, you miss out on claiming tax deductions. Every lost of forgotten receipt is like saying “no” to money that you deserve to get back.
Each time you make a work-related purchase, keep the receipt or invoice, either by saving receipt photos in a folder on your phone or laptop, or put the receipts in a sturdy plastic envelope you keep in your glove-box. Then, when it comes time to do your tax return, you’ll know exactly where to find the receipts you can claim.
Read more about receipts at our blog post on managing your receipts to save time and save tax.
2. Log it
If you ever drive your car for work purposes (not including trips to and from home), keep track of it. This is a valuable tax deduction for millions of workers.
Record the kilometers you’ve travelled for work in a log book or diary. It makes claiming the costs much easier – and you only need to do this one time every five years! Your logbook must cover every trip in your car over a 12-week period. You must keep a copy of your logbook, in case the ATO asks to see evidence later on (which they do).
3. Get the advice of a professional
Did you know that most Australians use a tax agent (like Etax) to do their tax return?
Using a tax agent means a qualified professional reviews your tax return for you. They check that it’s accurate and look for extra deductions to improve your tax refund.
A tax agent helps you avoid trouble with the ATO (and helps you deal with the ATO if any problems arise). A tax agent can also get you deadline extensions that are not available directly from the ATO.
You can claim the tax agent’s fee next year, as a deduction. That’s a win-win.
4. Sweat the Small Stuff!
$10 or $20, here and there, may not seem like much. But across a whole year those dollars really do add-up. As soon as you get a receipt, snap a pic and save it in a special folder on your phone, so you never miss out!
Later it’ll be easy to add-up all those work-related expenses on your Etax return and you’re on your way to a healthy tax refund!
Do you have any other tips or simple ways to improve your tax refund? Let us know over on our Facebook page or email us on [email protected]!
One last idea: For more tax-saving tips and ideas about tax deductions, there’s an entire category of helpful “improve my tax refund” posts in the Etax blog.
