Articles Budgeting, Economics and Finance Tax Time Part One
| Tax Time Part One |
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| Saturday, 14 June 2008 00:42 | |
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In Ausralia, the end of our financial year (and therefore tax time) is the 30th June. So, it's tax time now. Whether you fill in your own tax return or have an accountant or tax agent complete it for you, now is the time to start to get organised. Firstly, write yourself a list of all the documents you will need to complete your tax return. They include payment summaries from employers (formally called group certificates), receipts for tax-deductible donations, statements of income from all other sources (such as investment properties, shares etc), receipts for self education expenses, receipts for medical expenses, bank statements, statements from government funded debts (such as HECS), family tax benefit statements, certificates of insurance from health insurance companies and anything else that is necessary in your specific situations. Next, collect all the documents together that you can. You wont have your payment summaries yet but you can collect up all the receipts and bank statements you have lying around. Organise them into categories - for example: bank statements, medical receipts, education expenses etc. Clip them together with a bulldog clip or paper clip. This is easier than a staple because you can rearrange and reorder them as necessary. Now, total up all of these subsections. Add up all your medical bills and place a piece of paper with the total in the front of the pile, and attach it to the pile. Do the same for every category. Place all of these papers in a safe, accessible place. You may find more receipts in the coming weeks, add them to the appropriate pile and add the amount to the total. As you receive the items you listed at the beginning (payment summaries, receipts of regular tax-deductible donations etc) highlight the entry. If you receive anything pertaining to tax that you forgot to put on your list, add it to your list, but don't forget to highlight it also. If you haven't received any of these items by the 14th of July, it's time to chase them up. Legally all documents should be received by you by the 14th of July. In a few weeks, we'll get ourselves set up for the next years tax so it will be a breeze. |
