Kymmbo Posted July 13, 2016 Share Posted July 13, 2016 (edited) Hi, please help, my tax return is killing me and going round in circles online! Myself and partner and child emigrated to aus in December. He has been working since we arrived, I have not. We both worked in the UK before we arrived. So, do I fill in the tax return for my partner and just put me on the spouse details. Or do I submit a non-lodgement for myself? Or, do I fill one in for us both? And, do we need to use the supplementary forms to declare our previous UK earnings? Or not, as already paid UK tax on this? I declared all previous uk income when we arrived so that I could apply for family tax/child benefits etc. We can't really afford to get someone to do the forms for us, and our situation isn't complicated anyways - just don't know where to begin with it! Any help greatly received! Cheers Edited July 13, 2016 by Kymmbo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boganbear Posted July 13, 2016 Share Posted July 13, 2016 Doing your tax return using the new online system is quite easy and not as scary as it looks but you can go to a tax agent and claim the cost as a tax deduction so it doesn't technically cost you. Just make sure you have your payment summary and a list of any other income such as savings interest. Enter them into the system and it tells you what you owe or they owe you. Do your returns separately but you need your partners final salary figures to complete yours. If you have settled your uk tax affairs there you don't need to worry about them here. In in your first year here you may get quite a good refund. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vickyplum Posted July 13, 2016 Share Posted July 13, 2016 Make an appointment with someone like H&R Block. It's $130 which you can then claim back the following year. I had the same confusion when I arrived here last year, but they made light work of it and I got my refund pretty quickly. Went back to them again this year and have been able to claim deductions against a few things + BUPA private health insurance. It's worth the outlay to avoid hassle and necessary stress IMO, and the appt. only takes 30-45 mins. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gbye grey sky Posted July 13, 2016 Share Posted July 13, 2016 Doing your tax return using the new online system is quite easy and not as scary as it looks but you can go to a tax agent and claim the cost as a tax deduction so it doesn't technically cost you. Just make sure you have your payment summary and a list of any other income such as savings interest. Enter them into the system and it tells you what you owe or they owe you. Do your returns separately but you need your partners final salary figures to complete yours. If you have settled your uk tax affairs there you don't need to worry about them here. In in your first year here you may get quite a good refund. Sorry to be pedantic but I hear this said a lot. In essence I believe you can claim an expense for the tax return in the following year but that will help you recover only the tax element of the expense at whatever marginal rate of tax you pay and not the whole cost. And if you don't earn enough to pay tax the following year you don't recover any of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Collett Posted July 13, 2016 Share Posted July 13, 2016 Non lodgment advice for you, and a tax return for your husband. More info is here: https://www.ato.gov.au/Individuals/Lodging-your-tax-return/Lodging-your-first-tax-return/ Best regards. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Collett Posted July 13, 2016 Share Posted July 13, 2016 Make an appointment with someone like H&R Block. It's $130 which you can then claim back the following year. I had the same confusion when I arrived here last year, but they made light work of it and I got my refund pretty quickly. Went back to them again this year and have been able to claim deductions against a few things + BUPA private health insurance. It's worth the outlay to avoid hassle and necessary stress IMO, and the appt. only takes 30-45 mins. Private health insurance premiums are not personally tax deductible. You are maybe thinking of this? https://www.ato.gov.au/individuals/medicare-levy/in-detail/private-health-insurance-rebate-and-medicare-levy-surcharge/ Best regards. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmjg Posted July 13, 2016 Share Posted July 13, 2016 Also, did you fill out the P80 form in the uk to give you a rebate on the tax you overpaid in the year you left? It can be quite a nice sum too....... Or have they changed the ability to do this in the last few years??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vickyplum Posted July 13, 2016 Share Posted July 13, 2016 Private health insurance premiums are not personally tax deductible. You are maybe thinking of this? https://www.ato.gov.au/individuals/medicare-levy/in-detail/private-health-insurance-rebate-and-medicare-levy-surcharge/ Best regards. Yes I mean the rebate. I'm not clued up on these things after 1yr here, which is why I don't do it myself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kymmbo Posted July 20, 2016 Author Share Posted July 20, 2016 Thanks for your replies folks! Think I'll be safer getting a tax agent to do it and hopefully it won't be as confusing next time round once we've been here a full year. Cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BadgerLady Posted July 20, 2016 Share Posted July 20, 2016 Good choice! It's actually not possible to do it online yourself the first year anyway... you can register, but it won't let you submit until you've got at least one tax return already under your belt. So go to a tax agent this year, then do it yourself next year when you have more confidence. Don't worry - it's much simpler than you think it will be Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loulou Posted July 20, 2016 Share Posted July 20, 2016 Just done mine online and only arrived in May?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NicF Posted July 20, 2016 Share Posted July 20, 2016 Good choice! It's actually not possible to do it online yourself the first year anyway... you can register, but it won't let you submit until you've got at least one tax return already under your belt. So go to a tax agent this year, then do it yourself next year when you have more confidence. Don't worry - it's much simpler than you think it will be Umm, I did mine online the first year I was here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BadgerLady Posted July 25, 2016 Share Posted July 25, 2016 Umm, I did mine online the first year I was here. Fair enough! Must be new. It was September last year I was working with the ATO and they confirmed it wasn't possible, but that they were working on a solution ;-) I had no choice but to use a tax agent my first year, did it online the second and third... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NicF Posted July 25, 2016 Share Posted July 25, 2016 Fair enough! Must be new. It was September last year I was working with the ATO and they confirmed it wasn't possible, but that they were working on a solution ;-) I had no choice but to use a tax agent my first year, did it online the second and third... I arrived 4 years ago and was able to do it online in 2013. I don't know why they told you it wasn't possible, unless it was something specific to your circumstances. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BadgerLady Posted July 25, 2016 Share Posted July 25, 2016 I arrived 4 years ago and was able to do it online in 2013. I don't know why they told you it wasn't possible, unless it was something specific to your circumstances.Aah, it was only since the launch of MyGov - a security requirement. So just us in-betweenies affected then! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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