Wednesday, July 6, 2011

How to; e-Tax



I HATE Tax Time.
I love Tax RETURN Time, it's just the getting it that's the hassle.

No matter how prepared I think I am, I am always left scratching my head, swearing a lot and looking for that tiny piece of paper I wrote the password on...

Get your Group Certificate(s) - Can't submit your tax without these.
Our corporate accountant is super awesome and I had mine in my hot little hands at 12pm on July 1st.
Otherwise, they have to be in the post to you by the 14th of July to avoid a fine.

You will probably need to borrow someones computer [And Internet]. If you didn't see me get all rant-y on Twitter then be aware that ATO haven't gotten with the times and e-Tax is only available for Windows. BOO! 

Before you even begin, find your Notice of Assessment. This little thing is the bane of my existence EVERY year. I can never find it. But you will need it to confirm your identity to have some of the sections auto-complete. Once you enter this info, you will be given a password WRITE THIS DOWN! or else you can't lodge your return :(

Then, collect up all those other bits you will need Medicare Card, Bank Statement, Statement of Interest accrual , Health Insurance Statement and your HECS/HELP Statement etc. If you don't have hardcopies, you can pretty much find all you need to by logging into the separate accounts online, I had to get my Health Insurance info because my Health Insurer is slack and failed to send out the statements yet [Yep NIB, I am glaring at you]



Remember when you donated to your co-workers-landlords-sisters' fun run thing? Kept the receipt? That's a tax deduction baby! and pretty much the only receipts I remember to keep.

Find a nice, quiet, undisturbed place with some refreshments [I go with tea, vodka is tempting but you don't want to mess this up] and some tunes. I am old school, back in the HSC days I studied listening to Enya, keeps me calm, tax returns are the same. Stops me blasting the ATO and NIB on twitter... oh wait...

And begin...

I'm not an accountant so I REALLY can't tell you how to complete your return, plus every situation is different, I am single, no dependants*, single income etc.
If I wasn't so impatient I would take mine to an accountant, I am too scared to claim deductions on anything - even though I can - I just want my moolah straight away.

If you do choose to complete it yourself, it's not that hard, a few questions are in gibberish, but they will quickly point you in the right direction.



But I can tell you that when it's all over and done, it's quickly forgotten when you realise that in 14-21 days you can go shoe shopping...

*Oliver is totally a dependant, unfortunately the ATO don't consider him a deduction, blah!

All images are from Google

For information, head over to www.ato.gov.au

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