There has been some media focus on the approaching 31 October deadline for lodgement of individual or personal income tax returns. There has been particular mention of possible late lodgement penalties starting from $220.
Here are the facts:
31 October is the due date to lodge your tax return if you used the MyGov service in the previous year. This is also your due date if you have more than one year to lodge.
15 May (of the following year) is the due date to lodge your tax return if you used the services of a tax agent in the previous year, unless you have more than one year to lodge.
Penalties are rarely imposed by the Tax Office in relation to individual tax returns, especially where your tax return result is a refund. In most cases when penalties are imposed, they can be negotiable, you just need to ask.
If you are not able to make the 31 October due date or you have more than one year to lodge, our advice is don't panic. Make an appointment, get your records together and we will walk you through everything.
Record keeping hot tip
Use your phone to take a photo of your receipts and save the file to an album or folder labelled "tax records". You can then go through the folder in preparation for your tax return and summarise everything in a spreadsheet. Start a new folder or album for each financial year. Make sure to back-up your data regularly to a cloud drive service.