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Australians tipped to overpay the taxman $1.1bn
New working-from-home deductions are seeing Australians at risk of missing out in over $1 billion in tax refunds, new research reveals.
Australians tipped to overpay the taxman $1.1bn
New working-from-home deductions are seeing Australians at risk of missing out in over $1 billion in tax refunds, new research reveals.
Tax refund app Taxfox has crunched the numbers and found that despite Australians claiming $10 billion on top of normal expenses, they are still missing out.
Maz Zaman, co-founder and CEO of TaxFox, said, on average, Australians were claiming $2,576 in deductions each tax season pre-COVID, but this figure was predicted to grow this year due to more people claiming working-from-home expenses.
“Nearly half of Australian workers have worked from home this year, many of whom will have spent money on setting up home offices and managing ongoing expenses such as internet and electricity,” Mr Zaman said.
The tax professional highlighted the importance of tracking every expense during these changing working conditions in order to get a maximum tax refund.
“There’s a lot of different, and some less obvious, expenses in these new working conditions that Australians can claim on. However, to claim on a lot of these deductions, accurate records and logs are required by the ATO, which many people will not have on file,” Mr Zaman continued.
Mr Zaman also pointed out the deductions for key industries as a guide for others to make sure they pay the right amount of tax.
The tax app also revealed the top 10 occupations for deductions nationally:
- Surgeon: $17,729
- Anaesthetist: $16,678
- Internal medicine specialist: $15,155
- Other medical practitioners: $13,401
- Legislator: $12,821
- Psychiatrist: $11,483
- General medical practitioner: $9,101
- Air transport professionals: $8,660
- Land economist or valuer: $8,625
- Dental practitioner: $8,551
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