It's cashback time
Sure, tax time might sound very, very dull, but for most travellers it’s a sure fire way to give your travel funds a healthy injection.
If you’ve been working during your time in Australia, whether you’re a student or working holiday maker, you must submit a tax return. Yes, they can be boring but more often than not, you’re greeted with a pot of gold (otherwise known as cash) at the end of it.
In a nutshell, a tax return is used to determine if you have been paying the correct tax over the last financial year, says Taxback.com Australia’s marketing manager Christina Hosback: “Many working holiday makers and international students overpay tax and are due some kind of a refund from the tax office.”
As we’ve just come to the end of the financial year (June 30), you will be receiving a PAYG summary from your employer or employers outlining how much you were paid and how much tax was witheld.
Once you’ve received your PAYG and you’re ready to stash some cash you can either download the software yourself from www.ato.gov.au or pick up a tax pack at the post office.
To fill in the form, you will need your tax file number and your PAYG payment summaries which you should get from your employer in July. You should also find out if you are an Aussie resident for tax purposes (again, check www.ato.gov.au).
However, If it all still seems a bit, er, taxing, then say hello to a tax agent. They will do all the hard for you, for a fee, and potentially get you more money back.
You have until October 31 to apply for your tax back and it will probably take 10-15 days to get your refund, however some agents can get it to you the next day.
But how much dough can you expect? Christina says it depends on the amount you earned, how long you have been working, whether you had any work expenses, that kind of thing.
She added: “Our customers receive an average Australian refund of $2,500 and your money can be sent anywhere in the world.”
If you have earned more than $450 a month then you are also eligible to apply for a superannuation refund. This can only be done once your visa has expired however, so best leave that one till home time.
if you dont wanna pay out and havent got really complicated expenses, just do it yourself – its well easy
By: moneyman on July 13, 2010
at 12:16 pm
Its also worth looking at the ATO website to see what personal allowances you are entitled to claim back – these are based on your occupation and there a number of things you might be entitled to claim for – work expenses, uniforms, cleaning, travel, magazine subscriptions etc. You don’t always need receipts.
You can the include these details in your tax return using etax (download from ato.gov.au) or a using a tax pack to make sure you get all your money back.
By: Mark Xpnsit on July 14, 2010
at 11:32 am