2011 might be the time to sit back and rethink your tax return deductions that you've been claiming year after year.
It seems that the tax office are hitting out hard with a campaign to review large deductions, and from what we've seen it doesn’t take much to tip the scales of review.
So what can you do?
- The first thing to do is to check that the occupation code you are using is the closest match to what you actually do.
- Ensure that all your deductions are directly related to your employment.
- Make sure that you have receipts for all of your deductions, or where you have expenses that don’t require substainiation that you have a reasonable idea of how your claims were calculated.
- Where you have large claims for travel or self-education look at having your employer reimburse you for the cost or salary sacrifice the costs where possible. This means that the deduction will be claimed via your employer instead of having a large claim in your individual tax return. If you have receipts you have nothing to worry about, this just takes the light off you.
- If in doubt, get your tax return prepared by an experienced and professional tax agent in public practice. Remember, don’t hire a professional and then argue with them when they tell you something isn’t deduction! Your tax professional wants you to have the most deductions possible, they are not in business to tell you want you can’t claim, they do this out of their interest to protect you.