ATO medicare levy question

[rikyuu]

Done a couple of tax returns since we came here. Mine is quite simple, I work full time, earn a little interest on savings and have a wife a 2 kids who don't work.

 

Some things on the return are prefilled, I always double check them from my bank statements and end of year tax report from my company. Each year, it caculates that I owe the medicare levy (not the surcharge) of around $1000.

 

Today a colleague mentioned to me that our company already pays that as part of our income tax payments, news to me.

 

So I checked how much tax I should be paying online and compared it to what I actually pay and I am indeed paying about $1000pa too much on my income, which I presume is also intended to cover the medicare levy. Therefore I appear to be paying the levy twice.

 

So I have a couple of questions;

 

1) how does the ATO and hence my tax return form, know that part of the tax deducted from my wages is for the medicare levy?

 

2) if it doesn't know it's for the levy, why doesn't the tax return see that I've paid too much income tax and give me a refund (of the $1000) which is then used to pay the levy? (I get no refund or offsets for anything and end up with a charge of $1000 + a bit for savings interest).

 

3) if this is a mistake (for this year and last year) is it possible to get it corrected and get a refund?

 

Thanks for any advice

[nevsm]

Done a couple of tax returns since we came here. Mine is quite simple, I work full time, earn a little interest on savings and have a wife a 2 kids who don't work.

 

Some things on the return are prefilled, I always double check them from my bank statements and end of year tax report from my company. Each year, it caculates that I owe the medicare levy (not the surcharge) of around $1000.

 

Today a colleague mentioned to me that our company already pays that as part of our income tax payments, news to me.

 

So I checked how much tax I should be paying online and compared it to what I actually pay and I am indeed paying about $1000pa too much on my income, which I presume is also intended to cover the medicare levy. Therefore I appear to be paying the levy twice.

 

So I have a couple of questions;

 

1) how does the ATO and hence my tax return form, know that part of the tax deducted from my wages is for the medicare levy?

 

2) if it doesn't know it's for the levy, why doesn't the tax return see that I've paid too much income tax and give me a refund (of the $1000) which is then used to pay the levy? (I get no refund or offsets for anything and end up with a charge of $1000 + a bit for savings interest).

 

3) if this is a mistake (for this year and last year) is it possible to get it corrected and get a refund?

 

Thanks for any advice

 

I would take your tax returns to a tax agent -the charge is about $100 and tax deductible . Get them to do return and check what deductions you could be eligible for. If you are the sole earner in a family of four sounds as though you should be keeping records of all out of pocket medical expenses( dentist ,doctor, prescriptions,etc) as over a certain amount they are eligible for a deduction, and if your children are school age some of these costs can be tax deductible . A tax agent will give help and should be able to assist if you made any errors on previous returns and will give you an idea of what to look for if you file your own return in the future.