Prior Tax, Online Prior Tax Professionals

Tax time is a stressful time for most of us. Beyond the pain of having to give away a big chunk of our money, we also are forced to figure out just how much of that money we have to give away. As if losing income wasn’t enough, the government wants us to do maths! Fortunately, the option to lodge an Australian tax return online means that at least some of the problems have been removed.

Still, here are 4 things you should know about doing your Australian tax return online:

• If you’ve lost your Notice of Assessment, you can get another one. Obviously the Notice of Assessment (NOA) is the most important component for anyone planning on doing an Australian tax return online. Without your NOA, there’s no way to know how much you’re owed (or how much you’re entitled to). The Australian Tax Office (ATO) will send one to you when your return has been assessed, but it can really easily to lose them. Fortunately, you can just contact the ATO and they will send you a new one shortly thereafter (they want their money, after all).
• If you haven’t lodged last year’s taxes, you still can. Ok, you still can…with some work involved. The very first thing you should do is contact the ATO (or have your tax agent contact them). The sooner you do this, the better. Because when you lodge an Australian tax return online, you need to know information about last year’s taxes–what you owed, what you were refunded, etc. Without that information it was be extremely difficult to do your current taxes, so the sooner you get last year sorted out, the better.
• If you use a tax agent, you can claim their fee next year. If you have to use an agent to help you file your taxes (and, let’s face it: plenty of us do), then don’t worry about the fee. It’s a bit of an up-front cost, but you can also claim is next year on your taxes (as long as you keep a receipt for how much it cost). This way the agent fee is less of a burden, even if you’re choosing to do you Australian tax return online for a lower fee.
• If you’re an overseas resident/student/backpacker, you have different rules. The bad news is that you may have to lodge your Australian taxes online. The good news is that this sometimes means you’re getting money back. After all, you’ve been paying Australian taxes, and you’re entitled to get some of that back (and if you don’t, consider it a small fee for the great time you’ve had in our country). Unfortunately you can’t just follow the normal tax rules when lodging your Australian tax return online: there are different ones for foreign workers and students. You can find out what they are by contacting a tax agent who specialises in foreigners–or just contact the ATO.

Those four things aren’t the be all or end all of information about doing an Australian tax return online, but we hope they’ll help you get started. And remember: the sooner you lodge your taxes, the sooner you get to stop thinking about taxes (and get to go on with your life).

Tags: ATO online, do your Australian tax return online, lodge tax online, lodging Australian tax return online, lodging tax online, lodging taxes