Suitable for: Anyone who is preparing their income tax return

Tax Difficulty: Beginner

Airtax Experience: Anyone

Time to read: 2-4 minutes

Income Tax Return Basics

You wouldn’t go for a run in jeans and boots or wearing a dress and heels - that wouldn't be a good outcome! So, don’t start your income tax return unprepared. To set you up to complete your annual income tax return in just 15 minutes with Airtax, here are our tips on getting prepared in advance.

Income related documentation

You should have access to all documents which show your full income, from all sources, earned during the financial year. This includes:

• Group Certificates / PAYG Payment Summaries.
• Interest information you have earned from bank accounts.
• Statements of share dividend payments.
• Income you have earned from sharing economy activity, such as rideshare driving income or money made from renting out your full/part of your home on AirBnB or Stayz.
• Income made from an online business - through your own website or on eBay.
• Cash payments for work you have completed.
• Details of income and expenses from investment properties.

Airtax Tip
Using our ATO integration, you can authorise Airtax to access your ATO data to pre-fill some parts of your income tax return form to save time.

Deduction and expense related documentation

It’s generally everyone’s motivation to minimise their taxable income and to reduce their tax payable or increase their tax refund. Do this effectively by having the following information on hand for when you begin your income tax return.

• All work-related expenses - noting that there’s specific concessions and amounts you can claim without receipts for certain expenses but this all depends on your industry.
• If you use a motor vehicle and are using the logbook method, then obtain information from this.
• Where you have donated to charity, hold onto the receipts.
• Any interest and fees on you have from investment loans.
• Fees relating to lodging the previous year’s tax return.
• Income protection, sickness, accident and private health insurance.
• Any outstanding HELP debt or Financial Supplement loans.

Airtax Tip
Once you’ve completed your income and deductions in Airtax, you’ll be able to compare your deduction amount against other similar individuals. This can help you understand if you’re under or over claiming deductions, potentially helping you to maximise your refund or minimise your tax debt.

Please note that these lists are not exhaustive and are general in nature. Certain industries may have key information you have to provide in addition to the above. Visit our Help Centre to access more specialised information for specific industries.

Got a Question?

If you want to speak to someone about your current Airtax income tax return, book in a Tax Assist call or Tax Professional call with a tax specialist.

This document merely provides a broad outline of the subject and is necessarily general in nature.  If you require specific advice, which is tailored to your specific circumstances, please do not hesitate to contact us (fees would apply).