Not Long Now - Time to Get Organised

Do not be one of the thousands of taxpayers who is missing out on deductions they are entitled to this year. It's time to do some tax housekeeping and dig out those receipts.

I read a frightening statistic earlier today. Apparently new research shows that 80% of Australians are paying too much tax because they are simply unorganised or unaware of their entitlements.

"Many people could be missing out," says Tony Greco, CEO of Taxpayers Australia. "Understanding tax can be pretty daunting. Not everyone would be motivated to do all the research and they could be missing out on eligible deductions."

This is where a tax agent can be of enormous benefit. Their job is to know and apply the tax rulings to get you the maximum possible return. The thing is, they can only work with the information and records you provide them. A little organising now can make a big difference when it's time to lodge that return.

Neglected Tax Deduction #1

Okay, so most of us know what we can claim on our tax returns (or at least what we usually claim) but there are still a lot of deductions that go neglected by people year after year.

Did you know?

Most taxpayers are aware they can claim a deduction of their accountant's fee for preparing their return. We call that a "cost of managing tax affairs."

What a lot of people fail to factor in is the cost of travel to and from the accountant. Yep, you can claim that too.