If you’re planning to lodge your tax return as soon as possible after 30th June, it may pay to hold off a while.
For a start, employers have until 14th July 2021 to finalise single touch payroll data and the ATO will not start processing returns until after 7th July.
It’s enticing to lodge early due to an expectation of a larger than normal refund with benefits like claiming working from home, the Low Middle Income Tax Offset worth up to $1,080 and up to four months of backdated stage two tax cuts worth potentially $800 (Note: all these depend on individual circumstances).
The main problem in lodging too quickly is that the pre-fill information the ATO receives comes in progressively well after the end of the financial year. This includes data from other agencies such as Services Australia and the Land Titles Offices. In addition, there is data coming from third-party providers such as financial institutions, share registry companies and companies and trusts paying dividends or distributions.
Which leads to this reminder; make sure you declare all your income as the ATO does tap into data from e-commerce platform providers such as eBay, Airbnb, Uber, cryptocurrency exchanges etc.
So it’s not just interest, dividends and distributions that the ATO will know about. Gains on property, cryptocurrency, side hustles on e-commerce platforms and contractor services are amongst the information that the ATO will compare with to what has been lodged.
Lodging early and omitting income the ATO knows of could have you ending up with an ATO amended tax return and an unexpected tax bill down the track. The ATO amends quite a large number of returns post lodgement. Discrepancies can expose taxpayers to interest and/or penalties.
Seek advice from your accountant if in doubt
Recent Comments