Hello.
My name's Santasha Nabananga Bamblet. I'm a proud yr the
Order Kerni Whoalbury and a waddery woman. And before we get started on She's on the Money podcast, I would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land of which this podcast is recorded on a wondery country, acknowledging the elders, the ancestors and the next generation coming through as this podcast is about connecting, empowering, knowledge sharing and the storytelling of you to make a difference for today and lasting impact for tomorrow.
Let's get into it. She's on the Money. She's on the Money.
Hello and welcome.
She's on the Money podcast for millennials who want financial freedom. My name is beck Syed Victoria Divine is with me. We are twelve.
You were just trying to jump straight into the toars.
You almost forgot that.
I'm just as passionate about tax as you are, and I forgot you were here.
Oh really, that's crazy.
Because you know, I am actually, like, you know, a bit of an expert in finance.
So yeah, I heard you were like kind of becoming a tax expert.
Yeah, I would, you know, it's not a stretch.
So what date are we working towards?
So June thirty is fast approaching, so we're going to be talking about tax time.
Are you excited? Yeah?
Because June thirty is my birthday. Oh yeah, so ten out of ten always excited. Can you think of a better birth date for this finance Galie, I can't a single date. Maybe like the first of July, maybe new tax year would be a good one, but like June thirty. My dad's an accountant, so I was born to ruin his accounting each and every single year, and I just live for that.
I still live for that. But I'm very excited.
I can imagine that a lot of people are probably just really excited about this time.
Of year, Beck, But I do imagine it's a time of dread for a lot of people. Yeah, Becklook, it can feel a little bit intimidating if you don't feel like you're on top of your income tax, which is exactly why we're doing an episode today to get you ready for tax time, the sexiest time of the entire year.
We're going to be looking at some changes that you really should be aware of, and also some things that the at O are cracking down on this year, and then we're going to give you some tips and tricks to help this time of year run a little bit smoother. I feel like that's a good way to kind of like do a tax episode if we're being honest. Yeah, perfect, nice and easy, nice and gentle.
And did you know that the Taxman cracks down is taxman tax person? Unsure of what we're going to be identifying them as, but did you know that each and every single year we'll get to it later this episode, they actually announce what they're looking out for this year, just red hearing or yeah, just like a little warning like, hey, guys going to be looking out for this this year, and hey guys, like this is what.
We're gonna be cracking down on this year.
So it's good to know because often the things that they're cracking down on are related to recent changes, which we will get too very soon, and they are this year as well, so I'm not surprised by them. They're not just picking random things. They actually have some method to their madness. But it's good to just be in the know. It's not maybe the sexiest episode, let's be honest, but it's one of those episodes where you're gonna walk away being like, no, I can actually do that myself.
I do feel like I'm completely in control of this process and I'm no longer overwhelmed.
So we love that.
Wow, that is a perfect outcome. I hope they're not just like trying to throw us off the scent.
But they're not trying to throw us off the scent promise.
They actually really want us to pick up on the scent so that they get to do less work.
It's quite intelligent, to be honest. Oh that's very smart. Yeah, exactly. V.
This might actually surprise you. But I have prepared some stats for you.
Are you trying to take my job as resident statscal?
I thought I was being subtle about it, But maybe I'm not being so subtle.
Maybe time don't announce it? A good idea next time.
So did you know that in twenty nineteen slash twenty twenty, Australians paid four hundred and forty six million point four.
Billion billion in tax.
That's so many dollar rules?
But the atier recons that if what are you doing with that albow? Yeah that's a very what are you doing with that Albut do you want to call him. I've got him on speed dial.
Oh my gosh.
Do you know what if anybody has Elbow on speed dial, it absolutely would be you, no doubt, no doubt. I mean we work for arn wasn't here Kyle Sandlanz's wedding true, So we basically have him on speed dial.
We could get in touch with them.
So that's could if we wanted to.
If we don't want to, we just want to do this tax episode exactly.
So the atier reconds that if all Australians were paying the correct amount of tax, they would have received four hundred and seventy nine point eight billion dollars.
Yeah, so some people are being a little bit cheeky.
That's not actually too bad. What do you mean doing the four hundre billions?
Oh yeah, sure, that's not a big discrepancy at all. Like if those were my bank account details, I would not be mad about that at all. Beck each year, the eightier actually makes the lists of things that they're going to be paying closer attention to, which I mentioned before, and for the next round of tax reporting, that's actually going to be all about improving their systems and also our awareness or let's be honest, the honesty to get
more money back into treasury. That figure that you mentioned Beck still means that ninety three percent of people in Australia are paying what they owe. Those percentages are pretty good because if you compare it to the USA, their figures actually sit at around the eighty five percent mark. We've said this on the podcast before. Please substantiate your claims. Like if you're just going in and being like, ah,
I work as an executive assistant. Oh, look, I can claim up to two hundred dollars on you know, some care products without receipts. I'll just claim that that's actually illegal. Like, you need to be able to substantiate that with proof, with a receipt with something. Even if they're not asking you to submit those receipts, they can actually audit you. And we have had people in our community get audited and they're like, oh, but I just claimed up to
the threshold. It's like, yes, but the atier can come back and ask you to prove that. And each year they take a bucket of random people and they ordered them to make sure that we're doing the right thing and being good people. So essentially, the golden rule at tax time for everybody in our community is if you can't substantiate it, don't claim it.
That's so scary.
It can be scary, but I just also think it shouldn't be scary if you're doing the right thing. Yeah, Like, if you haven't claimed things that you haven't spent, then
it is what it is. And I mean, if you know the taxman came knocking and said, hey, that you've been picked up in the audit and we're just going to audit all your expenses and some care came up right, like suncare sounds so small, but it's something that so many people can be picked up on because it's like a very low threshold where you go, oh, that's another two hundred bucks. I don't have to prove that I spent. They're going to ask you to prove that you spent it.
If you don't, you're going to be up for one paying it back, but you'll have to pay it back with interest. That's essentially a fine beck and that is scary. I don't want to be in trouble with the tigree trouble. Then you have a little red flag against your name for next year and all of it. It's just not worth your time, I promise.
Yeah, that actually makes sense, So I guess we should go into the changes for this year.
We else So there are a few changes, so I've round up the big ones for individuals first. The first one's not that great. The low and middle income tax offset. It didn't get extended, so as a result, low to middle income earners they might see their tax refund from July twenty twenty three reduced between six hundred and seventy five dollars and fifteen hundred bucks for incomes up to ninety thousand dollars, but phasing out up to one hundred
and twenty six thousand dollars. Just feel like they could have extended that each to their own. The Medicare low income threshold for twenty twenty two to twenty twenty three year is going to be increased, so we do like this. For singles, this will be increased to twenty four thousand, two hundred and seventy six dollars, which is up from twenty three thousand, three hundred and sixty five dollars for
the twenty twenty one twenty twenty two year. And then for couples with no children, the family income threshold is going to be increased up to forty thousand, nine hundred and thirty nine dollars, which is an increase from thirty nine thousand, four hundred and two dollars from the twenty
twenty one to twenty twenty two year. So the additional amount for threshold for each dependent child or student is also going to be increased to three thousand, seven hundred and sixty bucks, up from three thousand, six hundred and nineteen dollars. Personally, I think that could have gone a little bit further, but you know what, at this point in time, Beck, you get what you get, and you don't get upset.
Sorry, V.
I know that we have a full episode to go through, but I just wanted to quickly ask I have no idea one what a tax offset is into what a lowcome threshold is. Okay, so so I am reacting like I do, but I don't actually know.
That's literally so classified as a low income threshold. So this might sound like a lot of money, but to receive the low income tax threshold, your taxable income needs to be less than one hundred and twenty six thousand dollars. You also have to be an Australian resident for tax purposes. If you earn under that, you're going to get access to a few different like tax off sets. So a tax offset is something that you can claim that other
people might not be able to claim. So they're saying, look, because you have a lower income, we're going to allow you to claim a little bit more than a higher income earner just to kind of make life easier for you. And often they do this during periods of like turmoil, where you know, gas and electricity and stuff are really expensive, to hopefully get some more money back in your pockets.
One hundred and twenty six thousand dollars sounds like a lot of money, but in reality, I won't say it's not, because it is a lot of money for a lot of people. But if you're a you know, a dual income household and your total household taxable income is one hundred twenty six thousand dollars and you have kids and stuff that does not go as far as you think it does, so these offsets kind of come in to
boost you up a little bit. The other benefit there is often you can get access to things like healthcare cards and stuff like that. So if we say you're on a low income threshold. It means that you basically have access to a few different I guess let's call them bells and whistles that other people might not have access to purely because you don't earn more than a
certain amount. It's the government trying to put you in a better position because you know, we want you to be paying less tax if you have less income, which I think is a fair system.
That makes a lot of sense.
Thank you, V.
Sorry you may continue, Oh, thank you so much, but I think it's important, Beck. And you know, there are a lot of people that listen to this podcast, and Hi, if you're new here, I'm Victoria and this is Beck and we love what we do. But someone might have picked up this episode because they're like, oh, fire out, tax time's coming. I'm a little bit stressed and this is their first introduction. Like, those are really good questions
to be asking. And I've said there's no such thing as a silly question in this community, especially from you, because if you're thinking it, our community are thinking it. So please always, always, always, buddy, And I think it's really really important.
Thank you V. Of course.
So the next thing I wanted to address was for single seniors and pensioners eligible for the Seniors and Pensioners tax offset, so they get, you know, some more cash in their back pocket because they are a senior. The Medicare levy low income threshold is going to be increased to thirty eight thousand, three hundred and sixty five dollars, which is up from thirty six thousand, nine hundred and twenty five dollars from the twenty twenty one to twenty
twenty two year. The family threshold for seniors and pensioners is going to be increased. This is like dual income increased to fifty three thousand, four hundred and six dollars, up from fifty one thousand, four hundred and one dollars, which is a nice little bonus. Plus three thousand, seven hundred and sixty dollars for each dependent.
Child or student. Ah, so that's nice again.
The next too, are a little bit further down the track, but they are to me a pretty big deal. So under the Stage three tax changes from the first of July twenty twenty four, the average marginal tax rate is thirty two point five percent. It's going to be cut beck and we're going to be paying less tax if you're in that bracket. It's going to be cut to thirty percent for one big tax bracket between forty five thousand, get this all the way up to two hundred thousand dollars.
That is a far wider range than it was before because historically it was up to about one hundred and twenty so that's so much more money. This will then more closely align to the middle tax bracket of the personal income tax system with corporate tax rates, so the thirty seven percent tax bracket will be entirely abolished at this time, which is kind of cool. But this means that from the first of July twenty twenty four beck there's only going to be three personal income tax brackets,
so nineteen percent, thirty percent and forty five percent. So from the first of July twenty twenty five more taxpayers earning between forty five grand and two hundred grand they'll face a marginal tax rate of thirty percent. And with these changes, around ninety four percent of Australian taxpayers are projected to face a marginal tax rate of thirty percent or less.
Ah.
That is so good.
That is really such a low average tax rate and I think that that's really sexy if you didn't keep up with that, because I feel like I do talk very quickly when I get excited about something. More people better off when it comes to tax, Yes, full stop, end of story. More people paying less tax, that's pretty sexy.
Back, that's so good.
More people less tax. What a good outcome? What a great outcome?
I really really like that.
There is another update, Beck. I just wanted to share this because I thought it was real cool. It doesn't happen until twenty twenty six, but I mean time flies when you're having tax fun Are you ready? Superannuation as of the first of July twenty twenty six, will actually be paid on your pay day, not quarterly, not annually. It will be paid every time you get paid, which at the moment, for most people I would say that their employers pay tax on a quarterly basis, so once
every three months. This is actually really good for you because the more consistently that you're investing, the more opportunity you have to make use of something called dollar cost averaging. We've spoken about this on the podcast before, but dollar cost averaging is essentially where you're investing more regularly and your subernuation, as we know, is a tax structure that you're investing within. And if you're investing more regularly, what that means is you're making the most of the highs
and the lows of the market. So instead of investing four times a year, you'll be investing probably twelve if you get paid monthly, and you'll be investing twenty six times if you get paid fortnightly. I think that's pretty sexy. Yeah, okay, that's top girlshit. I love that, all right. Beck you have a little graphic design business. If people want to check out your graphic design business. What's the Instagram you?
Oh, this is so nice. Well, Sorr, shouldn't call you that?
If you can call me whatever you want, but ideally you call me a nice name when I'm being nice to you.
Yeah, that's true, beautiful queen, thank you. It's designed by Beku. Becku is spelt b Ecu.
It's really cute.
If you haven't checked out beck before, she has just recent is it recent? It's quite new, like it's been around ages, but like you've just started taking it seriously.
That is true.
I kind of like ebbs and flows, but recently I have been more active on but you've become a small business owner technically recently I started to take it very seriously, so I thought, right here would be a good spot to have some small business owner tips. I know there are a lot of people in our community who have either side hustles or small businesses, and this is where you need to listen up because these things are actually
really important. I don't care if you just drive an Uber a couple of nights a month, but those things are not counted as hobbies. I do not care what your accountant says if you're driving income. When need to make sure that we are being transparent to the government because I have seen too many times, and you'll see in our Facebook group come tax time, there will be an influx of posts like this, Oh my accountant said that I earned less than five thousand dollars salt was
a hobby. No, you worked for Uber, or you worked for DoorDash, or you did something that was generating an income. That was definitely not a hobby. The government's going to want to know about it.
But one of the things that I think is worth mentioning here is the instant asset. Right off, it's going to return with a twenty thousand dollars threshold per asset from the first of July twenty twenty three to the thirtieth of June twenty twenty four. So this is a relatively good thing in general because instant asset right off means that you can claim the depreciation of an asset, so how much an asset is going to decrease in value over time in a one off lumpsum, and that
is good for tax. If you had a good year where you had a good amount of income come in, that's a good way to write things off. Owners of people who want to buy cars are not too impressed because on the first of July this year, it is going to drop down from about fifty nine thousand dollars worth of instant asset right off for your car back down to the twenty thousand. So if you're looking for potentially a car, now's the time to have a quick chat with your accountant to make sure that maybe you
could slip in before the new financial year. But small businesses with aggregated turnover of less than ten million dollars, can you believe that's what's constituted as a small business? I know, Oh, I've got less than ten million bucks, so are you tiny?
What? Tiny?
Little business?
Wild?
They're going to be immediately able to deduct the full cost of eligible assets costing less than twenty grand that are first used or installed ready for use between the first of July twenty twenty three and the thirtieth of June twenty twenty four. So that twenty thousand dollars threshold is going to apply on a per asset basis, So small businesses can basically instantly right off multiple ascide not just one, yeah, right off a whole heap of them.
And you know what, you're like, Hey, what could be twenty thousand dollars? If you're a small business and you work in beauty. Maybe you're buying a laser machine, Maybe you're buying like ipl Maybe you're buying something like a facial machine or something that's really expensive and you really want to reinvest in your business. This is where you need to talk to your accountant to make the most of these benefits, because if you don't understand them and you don't know how to use them as a small
business owner, you're doing yourself a disservice. We need to be putting ourselves first. And one of the things that you can do to put yourself first as a business that wants to grow is to actually understand what you can and can't do when it comes to tax. Yeah, because let's be honest, the instant asset right off of up to twenty thousand dollars, you might be like, what does that mean? That means that we get to claim
back the tax we paid on it. That's a big, big discount on an item that you needed to purchase anyway for your business.
Sexy.
Yeah, Okay, that's making sense.
Girls. So there's no minimum for assets.
No, No, it would need to be an asset though. You can't just go buy a stapler claim depreciation on that. But like I mean, it's usually bigger ticket items that small business owners hesitate to purchase because they're like, oh, I don't know if this is going to be like a good thing or about I think talk to your accountant. We're just sharing general information on this podcast to kind of like trigger something or to kind of get you
to go talk to a professional. At the end of the day, you cannot rely on just this podcast for your tax advice this year. Go and talk to an accountant, and if you don't have an accountant, now is the time to go. Maybe I need one because you can actually claim accountants fees.
On tax next year.
Wow.
So there's been plenty more stuff back for small business owners announced I honestly, if I was a small business owner, I would be heading to the at year website to read up on them before it gets too.
Close to the thirtieth of June.
Because when it comes to assets before, I told you that it needs to be first used or installed. You can't just buy something and have it delivered midway through July and claim it in the previous year.
Like, that's not going to work.
It has to happen pretty soon, Okay, So it has to happen before the thirtieth of June, otherwise it goes into the next financial year.
Time's a ticking, it is.
Indeed, So do you know what you want to talk about next? Unrelatable for you, but might be really relatable for a lot.
Of people in our community.
Back sa Vie, I really want to talk about something that I can certainly relate to what's going to happen to us property investors. Also, I'm just kidding because I I'm not a property investor, and I don't earn any properties, but someone out there might want to know.
So what can property investors do this year? What can they except be privileged?
Track on it? So I'm working on it.
The government is actually going to introduce tax incentive changes to help increase the supply of housing, so that's pretty sexy. The incentives are as follows. I've written them down there, two of them, and they're quite complicated, and I knew I wouldn't remember them. They're not that complicated, but I knew I wouldn't remember them, so I wrote them down back. So the first is an increase in the depreciation rate, So for capital works purposes, depreciation is where things lose
value over time. And when we say for capital works purposes, it might be like an extension that you're putting on. So the extension you see, it might be worth two hundred grand back, but in a couple of years, like you know, a twenty ten kitchen's not that sexy anymore. I just ripped one out of my house, and I'm telling you right now, nobody is going to pay for that red splash back back in twenty ten, though, that was a very good investment. That was a very nice kitchen,
so it was worth a lot. Then it depreciated over time. Now nobody thinks it's worth anything with that lino floors. I look, we ripped those out two also the false ceilings they had to go, so there was just a lot.
But essentially that depreciation rate has been increased from two point five percent to four percent per year for eligible new build to rent projects where construction commences after the ninth of May twenty twenty three, and the reduction in the rate of the withholding tax for eligible fund payments for managed investment trusts or am I so like completely unrelated to you, but if you're following along and going, well, that's me to foreign residents on income for newly constructed
residential build to rent properties after the first of July twenty twenty four goes from thirty percent down to fifteen percent, subject to further consultation on eligibility criteria.
Can you see why I wrote them down?
I can see, yeah, yeah, so I had to write them down because I was like, there's no way I'm going to remember that mouthful. But essentially that means that more people will be able to invest as foreign residents, and that's a relatively good thing because it will increase, hopefully the amount of rental properties that are available for access, and as we know right now, rental properties are going
bonkers because there's not enough of them. The Home Guarantee scheme is going to be expanded from the first of July twenty twenty three. I think this is a very good thing. So the government has announced an expansion to the criteria enabling people to participate in the different home guarantee schemes. Eligibility ceteria for all elements of the scheme, including the First Home Guarantee, the Regional First Home Buyers Guarantee,
and the Family Home Guarantee. They're going to be extended, which is very very sexy.
That's actually it kind of sounds familiar, is that we're like, the government give twenty five percent and you give five percent to a deposit.
Or Am I making this up?
No, you're not making it up. It's absolutely correct. It's actually a scheme that exists to support eligible first home buyers purchase a home sooner. The thing that personally I like about this is that the government's basically underwriting you, but they don't own any of your property where there are schemes out there where the government kind of like co purchases with you and when you sell the property, you owe them an amount of money, and I don't
particularly love the strings attached to that. But essentially, there are only a limited number of places.
So the places that.
Are going to be available in the twenty twenty two slash twenty twenty three financial year are thirty five thousand places, and it means that you could purchase a property with a five percent deposit if you're a first home buyer and you've like never purchased property before and you're purchasing a new or an existing home. You could be single, you could be a couple, But then depends where you're purchasing, because obviously different properties in different areas of the country
have different amounts that they are worth. Maximum price purchases will apply, so like Sydney is going to be higher than you know Camera for example, So I think it's important to just look into it. If you're interested in that, though, the best thing you could do is talk to a broker. And obviously I'm quite biased, I own a mortgage broken company. And if you happen to be listening to this podcast.
You probably would get along really well with us. Go check out Zella Money and we can sort you out and tell you whether you can get into that or not. Because when we say there are thirty five thousand places each year, usually that thirty five thousand amount is divided up among the years, so there might be you know, a quarter each quarter available or open, and they're actually only available through through certain banks, so there are like a heap of hoops. But it can be a really
good way to get into your first home. And I'm really glad that it's sticking around. Okay, I really like that. I think it's pretty sexy. Yeah, I just really like that they've kind of prioritized and I mean, I'm not asking for feedback here. We all know that there are things that could be done better and changed, but it does feel like they have tried to put people who are currently not that enchanted with their property market in a position where they might, you know, get that in chairman back.
Yeah.
I love that each year the ATIO releases things ahead of the eof hy.
End of financial year. Oh, she's a genius. God by me your coke, okay, are your coke?
They will focus on certain things ahead of the end of financial year. What are they cracking down on this?
All?
Right, So they're cracking down on a few things, and I alluded to this at the start of the episode. This one is going to make sense, and that is working from home. So obviously during COVID we all worked from home a fair bit. But now everyone's heading back to offices, but grudgingly, but we're all heading back to officers. So the ATO is apparently sharpening it's focus in twenty twenty three on capital gains, tax and work related expenses,
including changes to work from home claims. So from the first of March, taxpayers claiming work from home related deductions will be required to provide more detailed documentation. Fair the COVID shortcut isn't happening anymore. It allowed you historically to claim eighty cents each hour that you worked from home and cover all deducting running expenses. Not a thing anymore effective. From the first of July twenty twenty two, the ATO announced a revised fixed claim of sixty seven percent per
hour worked from home. This is supposed to cover additional like running expenses for things like internet and electricity, phone plans or like stationary and stuff you need at home. There are separate deductions that can be made for other purchases, so for things like desk chairs or computers or bookshelves immediately if the price is below three hundred bucks, or as depreciation over time if it costs more, so you
can pick which one there. The crucial point, though, is that you need to demonstrate to the ato that you did only incur these expenses because you are working from home. So you can't just set up like a little at home office because you think it'll look real chic in the corner of your lounge room, and then you don't work from home, and then you think you can claim it because everybody else is no sis, That's not how it's going to work.
They're going to ask for proof.
To claim using the fixed rate, you actually need to provide a record of all the hours worked from home for the entire year, as well as receipts or invoices to show you paid for these expenses covered by the fixed rate method.
Do you have friends that work from home?
Yes?
Do you think that they're actually keeping a log book of how many hours that they're working from home?
Definitely?
Not so Like that's something that we should be aware of, and before doing your tax maybe pop a really simple one together and work it out, like, just do the right thing, do the right thing, don't just claim it. I know a lot of people will say, oh, you can claim this, or you can. It's not that simple anymore. And if you mess up or you do the wrong thing, it can be relatively serious. I mean, the taxman isn't as scary as people seem to make him out to be.
It can be not so good when you're claiming things that you aren't entitled too, though, And that's where I think professional help could come into it. But if I'm being brutally honest, if you are a salaried PAYG employee, it's relatively easy to work out. Haybeck, did you incur any expenses this year? Did you have to buy a desk chair to work from home?
Yes? Okay?
Can you please look up in your bank statements because bank statements are easily looked into how much you spend it off as works great, you can claim that, no worries, but we really need to make sure that we did incur those things. We're not just writing down, Oh, we want to a little refund for this and this and this, even when we didn't incur it, Like, that's just cheeky and not on. Yeah, I'm just trying to make friends with the taxman. So he's like smiling and he looks for my return.
Let's be honest, it.
Doesn't order you this year.
Yeah, I'm just say, oh, hey, that ve girl, she's really nice.
We love her famous to Ato yeah, same same, but essentially separate records for claims not covered by the fixed rate will also be necessary, so just record keeping is really important. There is an Ato record keeping app if you want it, or if you're a little bit more old school. I don't really want to have an app either. I actually just take photos of things throughout the year. I save it to a random album. Then when tax time comes, I just go to that album and everything
I need is there. Once I've claimed it, I delete everything and then I start fresh for the year.
On that's a great idea. I think it's quite smart, to be honest.
Obviously, don't delete them forever, because you do need to keep those things on record for seven years in case you are audited. But I remove them from the album because I don't need to you know quit check, but also low key phone hack in your phone when you're searching for photos, did you know you can just like type in words now and a look true in the photo.
I can type in people's name what and itens your people's having.
Folder of Victoria divide.
Oh my gosh, that's really creepy. Let's move on. Let's move on all right.
So the ATO this year is going to be like narrowing in on people who are claiming a substantial amount or all of their personal phone or internet plan as work related because basically the ATRO doesn't believe that deductions for purchases like this can only be made for the portion of time that is actually used for business.
So like, let's be brutally honest.
I don't even bother claiming my phone anymore because I have an unlimited plan. I pay a set amount each month, and you know what, I mainly use it for TikTok. So I just have stopped claiming that because I don't want to get in trouble. But yeah, only claim what is worth it. And then the ATIRO also concerned that too many taxpayers are automatically claiming their five thousand kilometer limit regardless of the actual amount that they have traveled.
So it's seventy eight cents per kilometer that can be claimed available for journeys of up to five thousand kilometers. But essentially they're going to be looking into that as well this year. But I think I used to do that. I was like, where am I going. I'm not going anywhere.
I feel like.
People historically have always been like, oh, well, if you don't need to provide receipts, I'm just going to claim up to the minimum threshold and let's be honest, like ATO, please don't come for me. I'm sure like eighteen nineteen twenty year old Victoria was doing that. I can't remember, but I totally feel like if someone said, oh, you don't have to prove that, I'll be like, yeah, right, I'm in.
Yeah, it isn't. Let's be honest.
But it's now a more complicated tax system. It's a far more educated tax system. I mean, let's be honest, with the likes of chat GPT. I'm not saying that the ATO was using that, but with the advancements of technology, I guarantee they are going to be so much more I guess advanced at checking whether maybe you are doing the right thing or not without actually having to get too many humans involved. And the more they're able to do that, the more they're able to crack down on people,
because I promise that would be an automated process. Obviously am speaking completely out of tune here because I don't work for the ATO, But if the ATRO were smart, they would have created some kind of aibot that overarchingly looks at everyone's stuff and if any abnormalities come up, they automatically send an audit letter to you and you then.
Have to prove it. Like that's how I would run it.
No, but they make it make sense right, And like, if I'm thinking of that, I guarantee someone at the ATO is sure.
Sure.
So it's just it's better to be safe than sorry. Just do it properly the first time. That's what this episode is all about.
That's very true. V we've forgotten about one person or people?
Oh have we? Yeah? Who?
What about our finance bros?
Cryptocurrency?
Oh the finance bros? Do you reckon? They'll want to know about crypto. I think they'll want to know about crypto.
So you think there are finance bros listening to this podcast. I think, do you know what, hello to the finance bros who are currently driving the car where that girlfriend has control of the iPhone and what is currently playing in the car? Yeah, well no, it's quite clearly she's on the money. They're quite clearly she's on the money. But you know what, that would have been a better suggestion. I don't know why you.
Guys are still here, but let's talk about crypto.
The atier is also going to be taking a much closer look at those making investments into cryptocurrencies like bitcoin, So increasing numbers of taxpayers you're not going to be surprised at jumping on the bandwagon, and the Aightier believes that some of them are failing to declare their profits and in some cases their loss is beck that they're making on their investments. So you need to remember that investing in cryptocurrencies can give rise to capital gains tax
on profits. Traders can be taxed on their profits as business inc as well, So we need to be just very aware of that cryptocurrency while it is not a regulated financial asset here in Australia, it is an asset that you need to declare any profit on, like if you make fifty bucks from it. You actually have to tell the ATO about that, and it's illegal to not do that. But the other thing you need to understand when it comes to assets is how long you hold them.
So if you hold an asset, even if it is cryptocurrency, make a whole heap of money on it and sell it within the first twelve months, the tax rate is going to be higher than if you held it for longer than twelve months, So please be aware of that before you decide I'm the best crypto bro ever and I'm making all this money, because you might be bitten in the bottom with a nasty tax bill which nobody wants like. Let's be honest, just be aware of it to help them in their search.
The ATO is collecting.
Bulk records from Australian cryptocurrency designated service providers or DSPs as part of a data matching program to ensure people trading in cryptocurrency are paying the right amount of tax. Data includes cryptocurrency purchase and sale information, and the data will identify taxpayers who failed to disclose their income details correctly.
Is not that a bit scary?
That is a bit scary.
Just feels like it's getting real serious.
Yeah, do you know what, I'm gonna repost this because it was a good TikTok. It was like, Hi, tax man, I'm just wondering how much taxio.
They're like, oh, we don't know how much tax do you woe? You calculated and tell us?
And then you say, oh, mister tax man, so you're saying you don't know how much tax iiO, so can pay whatever I want.
They're like, oh, no, we know, we know how much tax you wante will tell us.
Yeah.
At what point.
Are we going to not have to do our own tax return because it's just going to be automated. M Like, I'll give you access to my bank, mister ato man, go do my tax for me. I don't want to do it. Can't that become an automated process? Nobody likes tax time?
Do you know what? They like getting their refunds?
Yes, we just automate that, mister taxman, and we'll be much happier with you.
Honestly.
The ATO estimates that there are between half a million to one million Australians that have invested in crypto assets. Oh wow, that's a lot of people, a lot of people. That's a lot of people, and do you know what still scares me? Obviously this is just personal opinion, but haha, it's my show. But it just still baffles me that there are so many people willing to invest in crypto but are still too scared of the share market. Right, They're like, oh my gosh, the share market. That's really scary,
and it's like crypto's worse. But okay, so I think it's all about education. We've done episodes on crypto, we've done introductions to the share market, go back and look for them. The best way you can do that is actually to just type in on your chosen podcast platform, she's on the money, and then the topic that you want and will automatically come up with linked episodes.
So I think a lot of people don't know you can do that.
Yeah, that's actually you don't have to scroll through everything, my friend. You can just type I few she's on the money crypto and our crypto episodes.
Will come up.
There.
You go pretty sexy. No one's for the finance pros. But another huge but still emerging industry is the sharing economy.
What have they said about this?
So, yes, data matching is coming in hot here too, and there is a new statutory obligation on sharing economy platforms to provide information on how many sharing economy participants there are from the first of July twenty twenty three, so if you're confused, examples quoted by the ATO include services lack ride sourcing, transporting passages for.
Affair i e.
Buber drivers, renting out a room or house for accommodation. So airbnb hosts are the obvious example. We hear the atier is believed to be particularly concerned about taxpayers claiming the full CGT so Capital Gains Tax main residence exemption when part of their main residence has been rented out through Airbnb, and the law prevail it's a full CGT exemption where part of the main residents has been used to earn income.
So they're like, oh, we see you. We're going to crack down on this.
So things like renting out parking spaces, providing skilled services, so you might be like doing web design, graphic design. You might be on like air tasker for example, you might be supplying equipment or tools or completing odd jobs errants, deliveries, or you could be renting out equipment such as tools, musical instruments, sports equipment or clothing.
Oh why like Jessica Ricci does.
This right, don't throw her straight onto the bus. But I see, yes, that is a small business. And if you are renting out your wardrobe, it would be a good idea to have a quick chat with your accountant because you might be making bank on that very nice dress that you're renting out. But at the end of the day, that is a business and they are going to want to see whether that is taxable or not. Wow, talk to your accountant, my friend, talk.
To your accountant.
I think this is a really good place to have a little break and absorbit all and.
Come back in two seconds. See you on the flip side, guys.
Bye, Okay, So now we're onto some tips if you don't mind, I've got so.
Many tax tip. Don't be fraudulent is my number one. That's the number one.
Yeah.
Yeah, it's actually a very good tip in life. It's really good.
I mean it got me in a little bit of hot water a couple of weeks ago on TikTok where I said, oh, this could potentially be fraud when I said something about people earning quantos points on particular credit card transactions.
You know what happened, terms and conditions got updated. You can no longer do that feels good to be right. Sometimes you're gonna lie.
It's not gonna I was like I told you so, bed Okay, a little bit spicy.
Moving on though, what was your question, my friend?
So? What kind of things will help us make this whole process a lot smoother?
Remain calm, Remain calm.
Come so often getting your tax refund back, it kind of gets held up because people are making really.
Basic mistakes that could be avoided.
So like if your name or address has changed, please make sure you update your ATO info before lodging your return, because if you lodge a return under different details, even by accident, beck the atier is data matching technology won't be able to match it to your tax file number, and then it will have to go through a longer, lengthy, unmanual process.
Not cool.
Make sure that your bank details are correct. So all tax refunds are now done by direct deposits, so gone to the days where you actually received like a little check in the mail. You need to make sure that your bank details on your return are correct. Maybe you've changed banks recently and that account is empty. You don't want to not get your money. Beck one out of
ten cannot recommend not being paid. You spell check, so if you've added an extra letter or accidentally spelled something wrong in a key field, it's going to delay your return significantly because the ATO has to go through and manually match your detail. And as you can imagine, this actually happens a lot. So there are time delays. They're really substantial, and you might be a little bit frustrated, But my friend, that is your fault.
Ah.
We triple check things in this house.
Make sure that you claim all your income as well, including as we mentioned before, those like three Uber shifts that you did last October or that casual shift that you do at a cafe on the weekends in addition to.
Your full time job.
Not claiming income is something that the ATO has been cracking down hard on for the last few years, especially with the rise of like the gig economy, so like stuff like Uber and AIRBB and social media influencers and stuff like that. Like the social media influencer crackdown was like maybe four or five years ago, and I remember that went wild because, as you guys know, I used to be a financial advisor and the amount of clients I had that were influencers, Like.
Let's be honest, that was my bread and butter.
The amount of people that got audited that year was unfounded. Sure like it wasn't unjust at all, but they were like, hey, you probably should be paying tax on these gifts.
And that's why things have changed a little bit in the last few years.
See for good reason, for very good reason, because you shouldn't just be getting free stuff and just completely.
Getting away with it, especially if it's your job.
Like, if you get a gift, that's very different than being given a product to promote. Right, I don't actually use an accountant, stunning would you suggest that I do?
It's totally up to you.
So from my perspective, as I said before, if you're just a salaried payg employee, I think you can probably wrap your head around the my tax portal, Like it is not too hard, Beck, I'm assuming you've been doing it yourself for the past few years and it's not something where grab a cup of tea, sit down, like, don't just try and rush through it.
You know what, have a wine. If you're going to have a wine.
Triple check, like just make sure all those details are absolutely correct, and you're not a little bit wine happy, maybe let's cap it one glass.
Of wine or like one per hour.
It's like driving, like if you're over the limit, you probably shouldn't be doing your tax. But there's a reason more than seventy five percent of Australians use a tax agent, and that's because tax is not that simple and it can feel really overwhelming. The tax portal over the last few years, though, has really upped its ante. A lot of it is pre filled, a lot of it is automatic.
They already have your details, they have your tax file number, they have all of the information that your employer put into the tax portal. They have everything right, so it's actually much easier than it used to be. And obviously if you don't know exactly what you can claim, it might be worth talking to an accountant because you might be missing out on some pretty sick returns. But if you get your return wrong, you could also be in for some hefty fines. So honestly, it does pack to
talk to someone if you're worried about it. But more often than not, I find, especially having had what now five years experience with the Sheese on the money community, I think that a lot of people if you sit down and have a good look at it, you can pretty much do it yourself. The only way to get definitive tax return advice, though, is from a registered professional.
So in an experienced accountant, they're always going to be able to highlight to you what you can and you can't claim on and what you can be doing in the next financial year to really ensure that you're maximizing the amount that you can claim back. A good accountant is obviously an investment that can be worth making, and you'll often find that they'll highlight things that maybe you
didn't know you could claim. And the best part is that seeing an accountant is a tax deductible cost to You could also just call the ATO and ask questions. You could ask questions in our Facebook group about what you're doing and how other people are claiming it. The ATO website is a really, really good resource, and it's in very simple terms like type into the ATO search bar, can I claim x y z? Or how do I
claim xyz? And there will be tutorials on it. Like I promise these things they feel overwhelming, but if you don't want to spend the money on an accountant, like my friend, you're probably smart enough to do it yourself. Like genuinely, I think it's worth a crack like you could probably chime in here.
Do you find it challenging?
I don't, but now knowing what I know about, for example, not being able to just claim the three hundred dollars laundry thing without any tax receipts, that makes it a little bit more difficult. I know how to use it. That's called the my Tax Portal, isn't it. Yeah, it is on the MyGov website. It's not too hard to wrap your head around. And if it feels overwhelming, it's probably because you've never done it before, and everything that
we've never done before can feel really overwhelming. I would then also just say look if it's feeling a bit more complicated, like let's look at me.
For example, Like you guys know I have shees on the Money. I own a mortgage broking company's Ella money. I know do a million other things which I actually have another business that you know. If you see me on Instagram doing speaking events, that's not through shees on the Money. That's through another business. I own a property. My husband and I have recently bought an investment property. I do see an accountant because my tax affairs are a bit more complicated than the average bears now and
I'm so grateful to be in that position. And my accountant's not that grateful to be in that position. He's just always like, Victoria, what have you done this year? Like, ah, I'm so sick of dealing with you. By the way, love you, Louis. Please keep listening to my podcast. I really appreciate it. But for people like me, seeing an accountant just makes sense because my tax affairs are complicated and there's a few businesses in the mix, and there's
a few different things. But as I said, if you're just a salary payg employer with like one stream of income, it's usually pretty easy to work out. And if you've been keeping track of your expenses over the year and like taking photos of things, or maybe you still operate on the shoebox method, you're chucking it in a shoe box under your bed, like, it can be quite simple. Don't feel like it's really overwhelming. And I mean, accountants, I adore you. I think you do a really, really
good job. But at this point in time, I also think it's really worth empowering people to give it a crack themselves, because one thing that I don't think people understand about accountants is as much as they are fantastic and they are the professionals and they are going to give you really good advice, at the end of the day, Beck, you're the one that.
Signs your tax return.
So if you still are claiming something that you maybe shouldn't be claiming just because you told your accountant that you did it, they're going to go is everything true and correct? Beck, you sign this, It's not on them. If the ATO comes back and says, hey, Beck, we need to audit, you know it's not going to get out.
Of jail free card.
Because you've used an accountant, everything that you say and do can and will be used against you individually, if that makes sense. So just by using an accountant doesn't take the responsibility away. And I think that that's a very big misconception where you assume, Okay, well I'm not that good at it, and I do want to claim all those naughty things. I'm going to go to the
accountant and then say I did do those things. At the end of the day, you're the one signing off on it, so if the ato come back, it's on you. It's not on your accountant, because they're going to turn around and be like, well, everything that Beck told us, she told us that was true and correct, and we just processed it based on the information she provided us with. Yeah, they've done what they needed to do. They're not a
safety blanket. They can be a safety blanket for like getting good advice and making sure that oh can I claim this.
You might go, oh, well, have you got the receipts?
Yeah?
I do, Oh, of course you can back. It might give you that peace of mind.
But I think reminding you that they're not the get out of jail free card might be another reason why you go, you know what, you're right, V I'll just do it myself. And I mean at the end of the day, just downloading my tax portal and putting all your information in and then not hitting submit. You can go see an accountant after that. Why don't you give it a crack, Give it a crack, Give it a crack, see what happens. If it is overwhelming, then maybe go
see someone. But if it isn't you tried your best it worked out.
Yeah, that's actually a really really good way to.
Kind of explain it. It's not so overwhelming. Just give it a go.
Just give it a go, and if you're really overwhelmed, don't hit submit, go talk to an accountant.
Exactly right, So that's my tax portal.
Yeah, you don't need to download any fancy software or anything. And obvious, as I said before, the ATO can basically pre fiell most information from your employer and from banks and from government agencies and health funds and third parties.
By late July.
So that's also a very common misconception that on the thirtieth of June everything will be there. Now it was due on the thirtieth of June, maybe it hasn't been processed or like input yet. So usually I would recommend, if you're doing your own tax, wait until closer to the end of July, because then you have a lot more certainty that everything that you need to process your tax is already pre filled, makes your life easier, makes
the process go a lot quicker. The ATO use a whole heap of range of systems and controls to protect your information, so it's all good. If you're you know, putting your tax pile number and stuff in, make sure
you are going to the legit website. There are a few websites right and I'm not going to name names, but if you type in my tax portal, double check please that it is the government website, because there are a lot of companies that kind of levery off that and call it like the my Tax log in or something, and then they're actually a company that do your tax return for you and they'll charge you for that, and
you just have clicked on the wrong link. So just make sure it's the government one before we go and try and doy. Obviously, it's available twenty four hours, seven days a week, so if Saturday night at three am you can't sleep in your wand to do tax, what a time to be alive. You're going to get your refund faster as well, so it's faster if it doesn't go through an accountant. Usually you'll get it back within
two weeks or fourteen business days. You can then upload records that you keep in the my Deductions tool to pre fill your tax return, which is kind of sexy. Obviously, it's available for all individuals and soul traders who want to lodge their own tax return, and you'll receive a very very nice lodgment receipt by email to confirm that they have your lodgment once it's in and you can kind of track it from there.
Awesome. I love that.
I think I love that too.
But I'm really over talking about tax and I'm pretty sure you're overhearing about it.
Yes, I am up to Pussy's vo.
Gina what with that? I think we're going to go, guys. We'll see you on Friday.
Bye, guys.
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