Do you dread tax time? It’s doesn’t have to be such a painful experience. Our team at Greenview Accounting Group have all the tips you need to make your tax time less stressful.
From understanding what you can claim as a deduction to collating all essential documents, here are some top tax time tips that you can put in place for 2021 and beyond.
Understand What You Can Claim As A Deduction
Depending on the industry you’re in, there are specific items that you can claim as a tax deduction. Before you enlist our taxation services, check out the ATO website information regarding industry specific work-related expenses. Certain industries can claim specific work-related expenses as tax deductions, so it’s handy to fully understand what you’re entitled to claim.
Remember, to successfully claim your work-related expense, you must prove that:
- you spent the money and weren’t reimbursed
- the expense is directly related to earning your income
- you must have a record to prove it (usually a receipt)
Organise Your Receipts
It is a common tax myth that showing a purchase on a credit card can be claimed as proof of purchase when you’re claiming a deduction. You must keep your receipts to claim any work-related expenses.
To ensure your tax appointment runs efficiently, you should organise your receipts prior to your appointment, ideally by grouping them together by their expense type and recording the totals for your accountant to review.
You can also download the ATO app to help you keep track of your expenses while you’re on the go.
Check Your Income Statement Is Tax Ready
Before you organise an appointment with Greeview Accounting Group, log into your MyGov account to ensure that your income statement is Tax Ready. This should only take a minute of your time, but it will speed up things with our taxation specialists.
Reconcile Your Transactions
If you’re utilising cloud-based accounting solutions remember to reconcile your business transactions.
Collate All Essential Documents
Again, organisation is the key to ensuring a smoother and less stressful tax time. Keeping accurate records throughout the financial year will help you stay on top of your business and individual tax time tasks.
Generally, these are some of the documents that you may need to provide at tax time:
- Last year’s tax return
- Record of sales and purchases of business, property, shares
- Family details (children’s DOB etc)
- Private health insurance details, if applicable
- All income including payment summaries, interest & dividends, rental income and foreign income
- Work-related expenses
Taxation Services Bunyip & Narre Warren
Enjoy a less stressful tax time with guidance from our experienced professionals at Greenview Accounting Group. If you’d like our help with your business or individual taxes, please contact our Bunyip or Narre Warren offices weekdays on 03 5629 6133 to secure your next taxation appointment.
* The views and opinions expressed in this blog are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any other agency, organisation, employer or company.