At a glance
Work-related expenses
“Work-related deductions continue to be the largest contributor to the individual tax gap, which is the difference between what we estimate is the total amount of tax that should be paid and what is actually paid.
“We really want to focus on creating good habits and investing in education, specifically around things like Nexus, apportioning between work and private use and substantiation.”
Working from home deductions
“My biggest advice is to keep all your records, so this includes a record of the hours you’ve worked from home, for example, like a time sheet or your diary, evidence of your running expenses like your phone and your electricity, and finally, receipts supporting the documents for depreciating assets like your technology, your IT equipment and your office furniture.
“There are two different ways you can work out your working from home deduction – there’s the fixed rate method and the actual cost method.
Having records means that you and your clients can choose whichever method they want to use, and whichever gives them the best outcome given their individual circumstances.”
Private health insurance rebate
“If your clients have private health insurance, then they may have access to the private health insurance rebate, and whether they receive the rebate and the amount they receive depends on their income or their combined income where they have a spouse.
“There are income tiers, so as their income increases, then actually the rebate amount reduces, and if they claim the rebate as a reduction on their premiums, it might be worth checking that they’re getting the right rebate.
“So, if their combined income has increased, that may shift them into the next income tier.
If they haven’t advised their private health insurer, then they’ll be getting too much of the rebate. When this happens, we recover the excess in their tax return, which can lead to either a reduced refund or actually a tax bill.”
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Current approach to debt collection
“All taxpayers have an obligation to lodge and pay the right amount of tax, and most taxpayers do this. However, the collectible debt has increased over the last four years, from A$26 billion in December 2019 to around A$50 billion by December 2023.
“This is a 98 per cent increase in the trend that we need to turn around. We shifted our approach to addressing debt and payment behaviour and as your client’s trusted advisers, I think we need agents to continue to help shift this positive payment culture.”
