By Tim Major, Consultant.

As the new financial year is about to begin, our minds here at Lee Green turn to tax! Though it may be some time before you have all of the information needed for the preparation of your individual tax return, we have provided below our handy Individual Tax Return Checklist to help you along the way. You can also download the checklist here.

Once you have compiled all of the information required, please get in touch with us to make an appointment.

Most of your income information will be obtained directly from the ATO as follows:

• Your Income Statement (formerly known as a Payment Summary, which was formerly known as a Group Certificate) needs to be “tax ready” before we can process your return. In most cases, your employer has until 14^th July to finalise their payroll data for the year and confirm it as tax ready via Single Touch Payroll reporting.
• PLEASE NOTE: We DO NOT need a printed copy of your Income Statement as this data is downloaded, directly into your tax return, via Online Services for Tax Agents.

INCOME

1. Payment Summary ONLY if your employer is still exempt from STP requirements
2. Foreign Employment Income – Payment Summary
3. Income Streams/Pensions
4. Superannuation payouts (lump sums or pensions) and Eligible Termination Payments, etc.
5. Interest and dividends received on your investments and savings. Please also include the amount of any tax deducted from that income where your Tax File Number (TFN) has not been recorded. Note that this type of information is often able to be downloaded with your employment income, BUT this part of the system is less reliable and will not report when your TFN is not recorded
6. Buy/Sell paperwork for any share transactions during the year; including the cost base details for shares that have been sold
7. Details of your share of income (or loss) from Partnerships or Trusts; including Tax Summaries for Managed Funds and Listed Trusts. (Please refer to “Note” above in relation to “Interest and Dividends”)
8. Rental Property Income and Expenses; including the property manager’s statement/summary (where applicable) and the settlement statements for any properties purchased or sold during the year
9. Details in relation to the sale of any other assets; including sale proceeds and original purchase information (cost base). Copies of any contracts and settlement statements will be extremely useful
10. Non salary income derived from overseas, such as pensions, interest and dividends
11. Details of any other income not already covered above. Please provide any supporting paperwork if you are unsure of the tax status of the amount received

SPOUSE DETAILS

If we are NOT preparing your spouse’s return, there are certain details that we need to include in your return in relation to your spouse.  These include taxable income, reportable fringe benefits, reportable super and taxable pensions.  Please contact the office if you require any assistance with this aspect of your return.

DEDUCTIONS

In order to meet the requirements of the substantiation rules, you need to ensure that you have the receipts or other appropriate evidence to support your claims for ALL work related expenses, such as mileage in your car (cents per km or log book), uniforms and protective clothing expenses, union and professional membership fees, books, journals, self-education expenses and home office costs.

You may also have receipts for non-work related expenses, such as charity donations (NOT raffle tickets), investment related deductions and income protection insurance.

WORKING FROM HOME

The ATO have extended the ‘temporary’ simplified method (shortcut) for calculating additional expenses that employees may have incurred while they are working from home as a result of COVID-19.  Using this shortcut method, you can claim 80 cents for each hour worked at home, which is intended to cover your additional household expenses, such as electricity, gas, telephone and internet.  It also covers any new equipment that you may have needed to purchase to improve your home office working space, such as desks, chairs, monitors etc.

You MUST be able to substantiate your claim with records of hours worked, such as timesheets or a diary record.

If your claims have traditionally been based on an alternative methodology, we can continue to use that method.

SUPERANNUATION CONTRIBUTIONS

Prior to sending in your data or making your appointment for this year, please ensure that you have provided your superannuation fund with a “Notice of Intent” letter and that you have received a confirmation reply if you wish to claim a deduction for your personal superannuation contributions.

Please bring the confirmation letter with you to the appointment or include a copy with the other details for your return, if you are sending in your paperwork for processing.

PRIVATE HEALTH INSURANCE

Your health fund WILL NOT send premium summaries to individual members, as you no longer need this data.  The information that we need for your return forms part of the pre-fill data that we download into your return via Online Services for Tax Agents.

ANY OTHER INFORMATION

Please supply details of any other information that you feel may impact on your income tax return.  Please note that if there is any doubt surrounding these items, please make sure that you bring all of the details to our attention, so that we can assess what needs to be done.  DO NOT make your own assessment.

If you have been happy with the service we provide and have a friend or associate who needs accounting services, please recommend us. We would be pleased to provide them with the same high level of service we provide to all our existing clients.

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The information provided in this article is general in nature and does not take into account any person's particular financial situation or needs. Please contact us for advice specific to your circumstances.

This information is current at the time of publication and further updates may have occurred since that date.