Your first Australian Tax return

[Guest fishermanswife]

Hello there,

I am a bit over organised when it comes to paperwork and was wondering what documents should I keep for my husbands first tax return, and is it better to claim the child care benefit yearly or monthly off your school fees?

Medical / chemist slips? Daycare fee payments? immigration costs? Uni fees ? Any others I am not aware of.My husband also does a bit of work at home so I am led to believe he can claim a portion of our rent? I do not want to claim anything i am not allowed to?

Thanks

FMW

Edited October 10, 2007 by fishermanswife

[MzT]

I am a bit like you and tend to err on the side of caution when it comes to keeping invoices and receipts etc (read: I keep everything! )

I find it easier to claim the child care benefit once at the end of the year rather than every month, but each to their own.

Your hubby should be able to claim a portion of his rent. My hubby was working at home a while back and he could also claim part of the telephone account and his mobile phone costs. He just needed a letter from his work saying that he uses the phones for work purposes.

You can also claim his travelling expenses to and from work.

Not sure what line he is in but my husband could also claim for work boots and overalls.

I can't think of anything else offhand but will let you know if I do.

You can also look online at the tax office website, which is helpful. Or go and see them and pick up some booklets. They are also pretty helpful there. I'm not sure what the closest one to you is but I went to the one at Mt Cravatt.

Are you going to do the return yourself? I did my hubby's online for the first year and found it really easy to follow. He has a company now so it has to go through an accountant. Good luck.

[Go RSA]

Hello there,

I am a bit over organised when it comes to paperwork and was wondering what documents should I keep for my husbands first tax return, and is it better to claim the child care benefit yearly or monthly off your school fees?

Medical / chemist slips? Daycare fee payments? immigration costs? Uni fees ? Any others I am not aware of.My husband also does a bit of work at home so I am led to believe he can claim a portion of our rent? I do not want to claim anything i am not allowed to?

Thanks

FMW

You can claim for less than you think!

For medical expenses, unless you spent over $1500 for the year, there is nothing to claim. Then its 20% of the amount over $1500. Medical is doctors, dentists, optical and scripts (but not misc stuff you buy at the chemist). Also, any medicare rebate you get or are entitled to has to be deducted.

To claim home expenses, you'll have to have a dedicated area for working, then you can claim based on area used, e.g. 5% of home area. But best to check with the ATO web site and read their rules on this. You don't want to get in their bad books.

If its your first return, it may be a plot to see an accountant to get the ground rules right. Then you can do your own tax returns thereafter. Thats what I did. Its pretty easy to do if you keep good records.