Section of the Income Tax Return

Transcription

1 Income Tax Return Reference Assessable Income Section of the Income Tax Return Comment, Details or Documents to be Provided 1. Salary or wage Obtain and attach PAYG payment summaries including reportable fringe benefit amounts sourced on payment summaries. 2. Allowances, earnings, tips, director s fees, etc Receipt of an allowance does not automatically entitle you to a deduction for expenditure to which the allowance relates (eg tool allowance). 3. Employer Lump sum payments These payments are in respect of unused annual and long service leave, paid out on termination of employment. Labels A and B of the PAYG payment summary should contain the relevant information. Also, obtain and attach a copy of a statement of termination from your employer. 4. Eligible termination payments (ETPs) Obtain and attach any ETP payment summaries and employer termination statements. 5. Australian Government allowances and payments (eg Newstart, Youth Allowance and Austudy) Provide details of all Youth Allowance, Newstart, Sickness Allowance, Special Benefit, or other educational or training allowances.

2 Income Tax Return Reference Section of the Income Tax Return 6. Australian Government pensions and other allowances Comment, Details or Documents to be Provided 7. Other Australian pensions or annuities including superannuation pensions Obtain details of taxable and rebateable components of pension. 8. Australian superannuation lump sum payments Superannuation lump sums paid from a taxed source to a person aged 60 or over are tax free. Lump sums paid to persons under 60 are still taxable. 9. Attributed personal services income Obtain all payment summaries personal services, attributed income and details of any other personal services attributed to you. Note: Consider application of the personal services income attribution rules in relation to any income derived by an interposed entity that is personal services income of an individual. Refer to TR 2003/06 Attribution of Personal Services Income for an explanation of the rules.

3 Other Income 10. Gross interest 11. Dividends Interest that is received or credited in a year is taxable. Care should be taken to gross interest up where TFN withholding tax has been deducted. Unfranked, partly franked and fully franked dividends are assessable for taxation purposes. Tax tip: Where a reinvestment program has been entered into, the value of that dividend reinvestment is taxable. Carefully consider the taxation implications of bonus share issues to individuals. 12. Employee Share Schemes (ESS) Discounts on shares or rights received under an employee share scheme; 13. Partnerships and trusts Details of the partnership or trust and type of income received are required. Carefully identify tax credits that may be used. 14. Personal services income Are you a sole trader? If so, did you receive income predominantly (80% or more) from the one source and did not have a personal services business determination in place. If this is the case then the business and professional items section should be completed.

4 15. Net income or loss from business If the taxpayer derived income from any business (other than the personal service income included at item 13), complete and attach a business and professional items schedule. Note: Reference should be made to the Tax Office publication Business and Professional Items (NAT2543) before completing this section. 16. Deferred non-commercial business losses This item relates to losses made from activities that constitute carrying on a business (eg sole trader or partnership) from 1 July If applicable, complete item P9 in the business and professional items schedule. Note: For a loss to be claimed in the current period, the client must either operate a primary production or professional arts business (subject to a $40,000 limit on other source income), meet one of the four exemption tests or have the Commissioner exercise discretion to allow the loss. Please note that from 1 July 2009 clients are required to meet the assessable income test. 17. Net farm management deposits or withdrawals This item is for primary producers only.

5 18. Capital gains Please tells us about any disposal you have made (whether a profit or a loss) on sale of: Shares Property (including main residence) Managed funds Collectibles Employee share scheme shares 19. Foreign Entities Obtain a description of the asset, the purchase date, the purchase cost, the date and amount of any expenditure incurred by you that forms part of the cost base, the sale date, and the sale proceeds amount. Take account of rules applicable to assets sold from 21 September 1999 (ie removal of averaging, 50% discount method and freezing of indexation as at 30 September 1999). Tax tip: Capital losses are applied against gross capital gains before discount is applied. Do you own or have an interest in a foreign company? If so please detail. 20. Foreign source income and foreign assets or property Obtain details of country, amount received, exchange rate used and foreign tax withheld. Care must be shown with foreign-source salary and wage income that may be exempt from tax.

6 21. Rent Obtain details of: rental income earned; interest charged on money borrowed for the rental property; details of other expenses relating to the rental property; and details of any capital works expenditure to the rental property. Borrowing costs are claimed over the life of the loan or five years, whichever is the lesser. 22. Bonuses from life insurance companies and friendly societies Obtain documentation regarding bonuses received on insurance bonds issued by life insurance companies and friendly societies. Bonuses are tax-free if cashed in after 10 years. If not, the bonuses may be taxable and a rebate can be claimed. 23. Forestry managed investment scheme income 24. Other income Have managers of forestry schemes included your contributions in their assessable income in the year in which the deduction is first available to you for those contributions? Has any other benefit / income during the year that has not been discussed. Examples include: a non-qualifying component of an ETP; foreign exchange gains; royalties; scholarships, bursaries, grants; any assessable balancing adjustment for depreciating assets; jury service fees.

7 Deductions D1 Work-related car expenses The four methods available are: 1) Cents per kilometre method Claim is based on a set rate for each business kilometre travelled. Rates are based on engine capacity. Taxpayer is able to claim a maximum of 5,000 business kilometres. 2) 12% of original value method Claim is based on 12% of the original value of the car. Maximum car value for 2015 is 61,884, and 2014 at $60,316. The taxpayer s car must have travelled greater than 5,000 business kilometres. 3) One-third of actual expenses method Claim is based on one-third of car expenses. Examples of car expenses include fuel, repairs, maintenance, registration, lease costs, depreciation, interest on borrowings, car washing and parking. The taxpayer s car must have travelled greater than 5,000 business kilometres. 4) Logbook method Claim is based on the business use percentage of car expenses. Ensure log kept for 12 consecutive weeks and business-use percentage did not vary more than 10%. The resulting business-use percentage may then be applied to all car expenses to calculate a deductible amount.

8 D Individual Tax Return Work-related travel expenses Domestic travel Generally requires client to sleep away from home. Expenses include meals, accommodation, car hire and incidentals. Can claim travel costs: directly between two separate workplaces from your normal workplace to an alternative workplace while you are still on duty from your home to an alternative workplace for work purposes and then to your normal workplace or directly home.

9 D2 However: how you get paid for your travel expenses impacts on whether you can deduct them. If you: don't get any reimbursement for them, you can only claim your actual expenses get reimbursed for the actual costs, you cannot claim any deduction get paid an allowance for them, you must declare the allowance on your tax return as income can claim a reasonable amount which we set for your expenses per TD 2012/17 and 2004/6 Overseas travel Must obtain documentary evidence as well as diary. Substantiation is not required where reasonable allowance paid to employee for accommodation (domestic only), food, drink and incidentals if allowance within Tax Office limits. Any conference attendances must have a direct connection between your current employment and your work-related activities. To claim accommodation costs at a location, the work related activity must extend over two consecutive days. If you decide to have a holiday while you re away, these costs are private and not tax-deductible. (Refer to Taxation Rulings TR 2012/17 & TR 2004/6).

10 D3 Work-related uniform, occupation-specific or protective clothing, laundry and dry cleaning expenses Protective clothing and safety footwear clothing or footwear that is specifically designed to protect, or: Compulsory uniforms nonconventional clothing that the employee is compelled to wear; or Occupation-specific clothing that identifies a person as a member of a specific profession, trade, vocation, occupation, or calling. No substantiation for reasonable claims up to $150 in respect of above-mentioned clothing. Refer to Taxation Rulings TR 94/22 and TR 98/5. Tax tip: you can only claim laundry and dry cleaning expenses in respect of work-related uniforms and occupation-specific clothing. D4 Work-related self-education expenses Examples include student union fees, books, stationery, consumables, travel and depreciation. (For further details of eligibility requirements and types of deductions available, refer to TR 98/9.) Tax tip: the Tax Office pays particular attention to these items, so ensure that all claims can be substantiated appropriately. Note also the first $250 expenditure is not allowable.

11 D Individual Tax Return Other work-related expenses Examples include union fees, seminars, overtime meals, home office, telephone, subscriptions, briefcase, calculator, electronic organiser and other assets not exceeding $300. You must have written evidence if your other work-related expenses exceed this amount. Note: Deductions differ for a home office depending on whether it is a place of business. If the appropriate diary has been maintained, you can use the cents per hour method (currently 34 cents) when calculating the amount of the depreciation for additional running expenses able to be claimed on an office used away from the normal workplace. Refer to Taxation Ruling TR 93/30 D6 Low-value pool deduction D7 Interest deductions Cannot be claimed unless income at question 10. D8 Dividend Deductions Cannot be claimed unless income at question 11. D9 Gifts or donations Ensure that all donations are made to Tax Office-endorsed deductible gift recipients and that you did not receive any tangible benefit from making the donation.

12 D Individual Tax Return Cost of managing tax affairs Note: This also includes GIC and travel to your tax agent. Supplementary Deductions D11 Deductible amount of undeducted purchase price of foreign pension or annuity This amount represents the return of capital to you and does not usually change from year to year. D12 Personal Superannuation Deductions This allows self-employed individuals to obtain a tax deduction for contributions made to a complying superannuation fund. Strict rules apply to when an employee can claim a tax deduction. D13 Deduction for project pool Relates to certain capital expenditure incurred after 30 June 2001 which is directly connected with a project carried on, or proposed to be carried on, to gain or produce assessable income (ie this expenditure can be allocated to a project pool and written off over the project life. However, the expenditure must not otherwise be deductible nor form part of the cost of a depreciating asset).

13 D Individual Tax Return Forestry managed investment scheme deduction You can only claim a deduction at this item if the forestry manager has advised you that the FMIS satisfies the 70% direct forestry expenditure rule in Division 394 of the Income Tax Assessment Act D15 Other deductions For example, blackhole expenditure, and accident and sickness insurance premiums. Losses L1 Tax losses of earlier income years Tax Tip: A personal superannuation deduction cannot increase a carry forward loss. Split between primary and non-primary production losses where applicable.

14 Tax Offsets T1 T2 Senior Australians (includes age pensioners, service pensioners and self-funded retirees) Australian superannuation income stream If you have shown income from an Australian superannuation income stream at item 7 of your tax return, you may be eligible for a tax offset. T3 Superannuation contributions on behalf of your spouse A rebate on superannuation contributions made on behalf of a spouse can be claimed where the aggregate amount of the spouse s assessable income and reportable fringe benefits and reportable employer superannuation contributions does not exceed $13,800. Tax tip: The maximum rebate that can be claimed is $540. T4 Zone or overseas forces If you lived or worked in a remote or isolated area of Australia, or served overseas as a member of Australia s Defence Forces, you may be eligible for this offset. T5 Tax offset on net medical expenses over the threshold amount The net medical expenses tax offset is being phased out. Changes this year mean you need to check your eligibility before claiming the offset in your tax return. Net medical expenses are total medical expenses less refunds from Medicare or a

15 private health insurer which you, or someone else, received or are entitled to receive. To be eligible to claim the offset in your income tax return, you must have either: 1. received the offset on your and income tax assessment (the final year you can claim is ); or 2. paid for medical expenses relating to disability aids, attendant care or aged care (people with these expenses can continue to claim until 1 July 2019). Obtain details of gross medical expenses and subtract related refunds the taxpayer received, or is entitled to receive, from Medicare or a private health fund. Eligibility for T5 Net Medical Offset Single Family status ATI threshold What can I claim? $90,000 or less 20% of net medical expenses over $2,218 (single at 30 June 2015 and no dependent children) above $90,000 10% of net medical expenses over $5,233 Family (with a spouse at 30 June 2015, or dependent child or children at any time during the year, or both) $180,000* or less above $180,000* 20% of net medical expenses over $2,218 10% of net medical expenses over $5,233 T6 Invalid and invalid carer

16 The tax offset is only available where the dependent resides in Australia and is maintained by the taxpayer. This offset is means tested. T7 Landcare and water facility rebate This question applies only if your income tax liabilities from earlier years have not absorbed all of the excess or unused landcare and water facility tax offset available to you. The amount of your excess or unused tax offset is shown on your notice of assessment for the year ending 30 June T8 T10 Other non-refundable tax offsets Other refundable tax offsets Medicare Levy Related Items M1 Medicare levy reduction or exemption Available for low-income individuals/families and other prescribed persons. M2 Medicare levy surcharge Note: this item is compulsory. Applicable to individuals/families on higher incomes who do not have private patient hospital cover. Individuals and couples are liable to the surcharge where their taxable income and reported fringe benefits exceed $90,000 and $180,000 respectively. (H) Private health insurance policy details Please note due to changes in legislation the government health rebate will now be based

17 on income test. You will need to provide us with the end of financial year summary from your health insurance provider to ensure the rebate is calculated correctly. Status Income thresholds Base tier Tier 1 Tier 2 Tier 3 Single $90,000 or less $90,001 $105,000 $105,001 $140,000 $140,001 or more Family $180,000 or less $180,001 $210,000 $210,001 $280,000 $280,001 or more Age Rebate for premiums paid, 1 July March 2015 Under 65 yrs % % 9.680% 0% yrs % % % 0% 70 yrs or over % % % 0% Age Rebate for premiums paid, 1 April June 2015 Under 65 yrs % % 9.273% 0% yrs % % % 0% 70 yrs or over % % % 0%

18 Adjustments A1 Under 18 Special tax on unearned income of minors. A2 Part year tax-free threshold Completed for students entering the workforce and taxpayers who were Australian residents for part of the income year. A3 A4 Superannuation Co-Contribution Amount on which family tax distribution tax has been paid Relevant where a trust, company or partnership within a family group has distributed to an entity outside the family group. C1 Credit for interest on tax paid Credit for interest on early payments amount of interest.