Don’t let your hard-earned money squander in ATOs pocket, here are some neglected tax deductions that can save you big bucks.
With the tax deadline coming up, it’s good time to think about tax deductions- particularly deductions that are frequently missed when preparing to file your tax return. Tax time can be quite stressful especially because we are looking for ways to maximize our tax return.
It’s obvious that getting the basics right is the most imperative part of the puzzle, however you may be able to add a little sweetener to your return by making sure you have claimed every tax deduction possible to you.
In the hope that you don’t commit the same taxation mistakes again, we have shared the top forgotten tax deductions.
Mobile Phone expenses:
Do you use your mobile phone for making work-related calls? Unless you have been given a company phone there’s a fair chance that you have used your personal mobile phone to make some work-related calls. Whether you are calling clients or organizing meetings, make sure you can claim all of those calls on your next bill. Remember, you can only claim the calls you’ve made for business purposes, so make sure to keep your itemized bill or a logbook to ensure you are giving ATO an accurate listing of your expenses.
Union/Membership fees:
Are you a member of any union? Is your association related to your profession?
If you answered “Yes”, there’s good news for you! If you pay a union or membership fees and they are related to your profession, then you can claim the cost of these.
Work related car expenses:
In situations where you are required to use your car for work-related purposes, you can claim these expenses in your tax return. To claim these expenses you should note down the “business kilometers” you’ve travelled by your personal car.
According to ATO, business kilometer is the distance travelled by your car in the course of earning income. Remember for claiming these expenses you must be the owner of the car and you can’t claim the cost of driving from home to work and vice versa.
Claim Home Computer use expenses:
Ever did office work from home? How about checking and responding to your official emails in the evening or on the weekend? If you do so, you are eligible to claim the cost of using your personal computer as a tax deduction.
Tax Agent Fees:
Do you use tax agents for filing your tax returns? If yes, then you can claim the amount you paid last year- on current year’s tax return. You can simply put the amount you paid last year into Section D10 “Cost of Managing Tax Affairs”. The agent fees you pay for tax help are always tax deductible.
Is it worth it?
You might be thinking some of these expenses seem to be very small, but together these can save you a handsome amount. By being aware of these deductions you can reduce the amount of your hard-earned salary that is taxed.