Whether you’re getting organised for an individual tax return or a business tax return, the more preparation you do before heading in for an appointment with your accountant, the more time you’ll save and ultimately the better your tax return will be.
Tax returns require you to have a handle on two essential things: money earned and money spent related to your work. In other words, income and expenses. It’s easy to overlook items that can be claimed and to include items that the tax office will reject. To help you gather your financial information, we’ve compiled a checklist of key items for both income and expenses, so you can become tax time ready for 2023.
INCOME SOURCES
Here is a list of the most common sources of income, each of which must be included in your tax return.
Your wages
- PAYG salary or wages
- Allowances, earnings, tips, director’s fees etc
- Employer lump sum payments
- Employment termination payments
Any interest earned
- Interest
- Dividends
- Capital gains
- Distributions from trusts, partnerships, managed superfunds
- Superannuation lump sum payments
- Foreign source income (including foreign pensions) and foreign assets or property
- Bonuses from life insurance companies or friendly societies
Personal or government allowances
- Car and vehicle allowances
- Travel allowances
- Other allowances, such as entertainment, meals etc.
- Pensions and allowances
- Australian Government allowances and payments like Newstart, youth allowance and Austudy payment
- Australian Government pensions and allowances
- Australian annuities and superannuation income streams
- Australian superannuation lump sum payments
- Attributed personal services income
Other sources income
- Child support
- Foreign income
- Income from investments such as rental income or dividends
- Employee share scheme
- Net income or loss from business
EXPENSES CHECKLIST
Your expenses, or outgoings, are any item or service purchased that you or your business required to help you earn an income.
Employees
- Wages and salaries
- Travel costs – national and international
- Training costs
- Courses, education and seminars
- Superannuation contributions
- Protective clothing and uniforms
Vehicle expenses
- Motor vehicle expenses based on business use percentage (include your log book, if applicable)
- Travel and accommodation – domestic and overseas
- Vehicle expenses based on log book method or cents per km
Office
- Home office expenses
- Computer and software
- Telephone, mobile phone, internet
- Utilities – gas, water electricity
- Tools and equipment
- Building and maintenance costs
- Subscriptions and union fees
- Journals/periodicals
- Depreciation
- Sun protection products (i.e., sunscreen and sunglasses)
Other expenses
- Interest deductions
- Dividend deductions
- Gifts or donations
- Cost of managing tax affairs
- Deductible amount of undeducted purchase price of a foreign pension or annuity
- Freight and transport costs
- Medical expenses
- Childcare expenses
Make an appointment with the Colledges Team today
The team at Colledges Accountants + Advisors is here to help make tax time as seamless as possible. We work with you to implement comprehensive accounting and taxation solutions and have more than 50 years of accounting and taxation experience. We’ll be right by your side as you grow your personal assets or business, and will help you stay up to date, compliant and profitable, so that your financial foundation is stable and supporting your growth.
We offer a range of sophisticated accounting, taxation, superannuation, corporate secretarial, business structure and bookkeeping strategies for individuals and businesses of all sizes and types.
Please call us on (03) 9851 6500 or book a 30 minute free consultation online here to discuss your accounting needs.
