Best way to get tax back?

brendansmith

Does anyone know of a company like taxback.com but without the high fees?

Cheers

Coileach dearg

brendansmith wrote: »

Does anyone know of a company like taxback.com but without the high fees?

Cheers

I just go to an accoutant who charges $90 and he sorts it out, he's good at 'reminding' me of all the benefits I'm entitled too working from home rent, travel charges, work equipment etc. All within reason of course.

brendansmith

Yeah, its just i work out in suburbs and cant get to one.

Traq

Seriously, do it yourself. Just download the etax program and do it that way. You can even include the extras mentioned above that way, within reason of course. The tax return here's a piece of piss, no need to pay someone to do it for you.

DS

+1, do it yourself.

he's good at 'reminding' me of all the benefits I'm entitled too working from home rent, travel charges, work equipment etc.

You know what? The e-tax program does a great job of this too. I downloaded it last year without really knowing what I could claim for - it takes you through everything step by step and basically gives you ideas for tonnes of crap you can put in for. My advice would be to go to town on it, you won't be checked (don't quote me on that).

Taxback.com and the rest of them are just cowboys. They prey on uninformed backpackers and are really just robbing you. Two of my friends used them and ended up going through months of wrangling trying to get them to perform the service they were supposed to have paid for and which they could have easily done themselves with a fraction of the effort.

nxbyveromdwjpg

You'd want to be absolutely insane to pay someone for what you can do yourself online in 10 minutes.

Google etax2009, download it, fill it out, done.

slipss

hey, I don't have any of my final payment summaries from my employers. Can I do the online etax thing myself without them does anyone know? Or am I going to have to try and chase them all down, thanks.

Teg Veece

Has anyone heard anything about this medical exemption thing?

I briefly overheard someone saying something about sending off a copy of you passport and you'll be able to claim more tax back.

I know that's all a bit vague but I'm hoping someone here can clear this up!

DS

slipss wrote: »

hey, I don't have any of my final payment summaries from my employers. Can I do the online etax thing myself without them does anyone know? Or am I going to have to try and chase them all down, thanks.

You don't need the group certs, you just need to enter the company's ABN, total income and total tax paid.

hussey

Teg Veece wrote: »

Has anyone heard anything about this medical exemption thing?

I briefly overheard someone saying something about sending off a copy of you passport and you'll be able to claim more tax back.

I know that's all a bit vague but I'm hoping someone here can clear this up!

Yeah you don't have to pay medicare levy if you have an irish passport ....
http://boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055609294

slipss

DS wrote: »

You don't need the group certs, you just need to enter the company's ABN, total income and total tax paid.

Cheers man, ehh do you have to know the exact figures? Any chance this info is stored online somewhere from your tax records? Or do I have to contact my employers and find out from them?

Teg Veece

Thanks for the link, hussey.

Our situation is that my other half originally came over here on a whv but after 6 months we were able to declare her as a de facto on my student visa.

Now, I'm guessing the the tax rates are probably different for the two visas ( I think she's now classed as a resident for tax purposes).
Is the etax form smart enough to apply 2 different levels of tax for 2 different periods or will it just apply the same level of tax for the whole year?

hussey

No, tax rates are not affected by what visa ... only by status of tax resident, so she can be classed as a tax resident for the entire year in this case.

Teg Veece

hussey wrote: »

No, tax rates are not affected by what visa ... only by status of tax resident, so she can be classed as a tax resident for the entire year in this case.

Hmmm... that's not good. Ideally, we'd want her to be not a resident for tax purposes (which she was for most of the time she worked here) so she can claim most of it back.
Seems a bit odd that just because you become a resident for tax purposes for a month or two means that you have to pay tax for the full year.

hussey

Errr .. if you become a tax resident you pay less tax ... not the other way around ....
Unless you have not clairified something ...?

You will can claim the tax benefit for the year, which entitles you to a 6k tax free treshold and a 6-34k 15% bracket (rather than 29% as a non resident)

surely this is a better option than saying you are a non resident ..??????
I think you may be mixed up here

if she was a non resident for say 6months, and paid loads of tax @29%
at the end of tax year she can claim she is a Resident for tax purposes and claim for the entire tax year with the tax free treshold ... i.e. lots of money back.

If I have missed something obvious let me know,

Teg Veece

Hmmm... interesting.
Up until now, I was under the impression the WHV holders got pretty much all of their tax back as Australia isn't their country of residency and hence they shouldn't be paying income tax to it. If you were a resident for tax purposes then you need to pay taxes just like everyone else.

I could be wrong there though. Hopefully someone can clarify.

hussey

Nah that is technically incorrect, ... but kinda true too, people pay a large % of tax when in most cases they don't need to
so when they leave they are entitled to some (or most) of it back
If people use companies like taxback.com they click the box for resident for tax purposes for nearly all cases and hence why people get a big lump back.

Being a resident is different than being a resident for tax purposes.

DS

I'm almost certain from using it last year that the etax program will ask you for what periods of the year you were/were not a resident for tax purposes and will make its calculations accordingly.

Cheers man, ehh do you have to know the exact figures? Any chance this info is stored online somewhere from your tax records? Or do I have to contact my employers and find out from them?

Pretty sure you'll have to call your employers for the exact figures.

mickoneill30

Coileach dearg wrote: »

I just go to an accoutant who charges $90 and he sorts it out, he's good at 'reminding' me of all the benefits I'm entitled too working from home rent, travel charges, work equipment etc. All within reason of course.

I did that too when I was there. My accountant was $70. Myself and 2 mates had to claim back tax. They went the cheap route. I got an extra $1000 back roughly. Best $70 I ever spent.

SIX PACK

i went the taxback.com route too worked in Au from Nov08 to Jan09 filled in the form wit all my details TFN etc. faxed it back to them about 8wks ago didnt hear anything back yet :mad:!! how long does it take anyone??

brendansmith

SIX PACK wrote: »

i went the taxback.com route too worked in Au from Nov08 to Jan09 filled in the form wit all my details TFN etc. faxed it back to them about 8wks ago didnt hear anything back yet :mad:!! how long does it take anyone??

Mine took a long time, about 2 months if i recall correctly. Im afraid you may have been a bit premature applying as 31st of june is when the money is made availible afaik.

nxbyveromdwjpg

I did it online myself and had the money 6 days later. Why spent money on taxback.com to wait another 3 months or so is beyond me.. DONT DO IT PEOPLE

DS

Yep, did it myself and had the refund within a week.

brendansmith

nm wrote: »

I did it online myself and had the money 6 days later. Why spent money on taxback.com to wait another 3 months or so is beyond me.. DONT DO IT PEOPLE

DS wrote: »

Yep, did it myself and had the refund within a week.

Did ye get much lads?

Mellor

just wondering about doing this myself, ie my own tax return.
Is there a chance that an accountant, that costs maybe $90 will get me extra cash back, through various ways of totalling it up, being aware of extra area where I can claim stuff back.
Say I claim back 4k, Account claims back 5k
Could this happen,

hussey

Mellor wrote: »

just wondering about doing this myself, ie my own tax return.
Is there a chance that an accountant, that costs maybe $90 will get me extra cash back, through various ways of totalling it up, being aware of extra area where I can claim stuff back.
Say I claim back 4k, Account claims back 5k
Could this happen,

Yes this could and has happened, for example I had no idea I didn't have to pay medicare allowance, my housemate went to an accountant and he told her that, and since she also had a 457 visa from Ireland she was able to claim her flights over as a work expense

There are lots of small tricks you can claim, for example if you are a builder you can claim sunscreen, as this can be classed as an expense (without it, you may not be able to do your job)

Mellor

hussey wrote: »

There are lots of small tricks you can claim, for example if you are a builder you can claim sunscreen, as this can be classed as an expense (without it, you may not be able to do your job)

I imagine that this applies to everyone working outdoors.

It would be a good idea for a thread to list off various items and areas that people were able to claim back (including the job they were doing)

Claasman

I claimed back expenses for uniforms, money for transport, phone credit, but only a total of 300 dollars because you have to provide evidence for a total claim over 300 i think, and i didnt keep any receipts. So couldnt prove it...

NaiveMelodies

got 2k taxback into an nab account in sydney and never setup internet banking while i was over there so gotta write a letter to bank manager in oz.. complete pain in the hole!

i just did it manually aswell, much easier

Claasman

Just got the letter there, i got 60 percent of my total tax payed, back . I still need to get the medicare back. Just wondering what percentage the rest of ye got back?

hussey

Claasman wrote: »

Just got the letter there, i got 60 percent of my total tax payed, back . I still need to get the medicare back. Just wondering what percentage the rest of ye got back?

That's a bit of a loaded question, as it will differ from people to people.
If some people paid too much tax then obviously the % is higher and if people paid the correct tax then % is lower