Australian Tax Return Checklist: What to Claim and What Records You Need

The ATO pre-fills much of your income data from employer reports and financial institutions, but you are ultimately responsible for declaring all assessable income. Missing any of these can trigger an ATO amendment.

• Salary and wages: pre-filled from employer PAYG Payment Summaries (now Single Touch Payroll data) - verify the amount matches your own payslip records; errors do occur, particularly in the final pay of the year
• Interest income: interest from bank accounts, term deposits and bonds must be declared - banks report to the ATO and pre-fill will include this, but check it is complete including accounts you may have forgotten
• Dividend income: dividends from Australian shares (including the grossed-up amount with franking credits) and international dividends (converted to AUD) - your broker's annual tax statement provides this; include the foreign income tax offset if tax was withheld overseas
• Rental income: gross rental income received - not net; deductions are listed separately; pre-fill does not include rental income as it is not automatically reported to the ATO
• Capital gains: from selling shares, property, crypto, managed funds or other assets - calculate using your purchase records (cost base), sale proceeds and holding period; if held over 12 months, apply the 50% CGT discount
• Business and freelance income: all income from self-employment, sole trading, contracting, Airbnb, Etsy, YouTube, and other platforms - the ATO data-matches from Airbnb, Uber, eBay and other platforms
• Government payments: Centrelink payments (JobSeeker, Youth Allowance, parenting payments) are assessable - a payment summary is available through Centrelink/Services Australia; omitting these is a common trigger for ATO data-matching notices

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Deductions reduce your taxable income dollar-for-dollar. Claiming every legitimate deduction - with the required records - is your legal right. Here are the key categories.

• Work-related expenses: must be directly connected to your current job, you must have spent the money yourself (not reimbursed), and you must have a record - receipts, invoices, bank statements or credit card statements
• WFH deductions: 67c/hr (requires full-year log of hours) or actual cost method - see the detailed WFH guide; equipment under $300 is immediately deductible; over $300 must be depreciated
• Vehicle expenses: cents-per-kilometre method (88c/km in 2024–25, max 5,000km, no receipts needed but odometer records and purpose log required) or logbook method (continuous 12-week log required every 5 years)
• Professional memberships and subscriptions: union fees, industry body memberships, professional journals, technical databases - all deductible if directly related to your current employment
• Self-education expenses: courses, conferences, textbooks, travel to education - deductible if the course maintains or improves skills in your CURRENT job; note the ATO previously required education to not lead to a new career, but the full deduction applies regardless if connected to current employment
• Charitable donations: only to DGR (Deductible Gift Recipient) organisations - check the ABN on the ATO's DGR register; the donation must be $2 or more; fundraising purchases (raffle tickets, charity dinners) are generally NOT deductible
• Income protection insurance premiums: deductible if the policy is held outside superannuation - premiums paid from super are NOT deductible to you personally; life, TPD and trauma insurance premiums are NOT deductible

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Tax offsets reduce your tax payable directly - they are more valuable than deductions because they reduce tax dollar-for-dollar rather than just reducing taxable income.

• Low Income Tax Offset (LITO): up to $700 for taxable income below $37,500; phases out to nil at $66,667 - automatically applied by the ATO based on your taxable income
• Low and Middle Income Tax Offset (LMITO): EXPIRED after the 2021–22 income year - do NOT include it in 2022–23, 2023–24 or 2024–25 returns; any prepopulated LMITO figure in myTax post-2022 is an error
• Senior Australians and Pensioners Tax Offset (SAPTO): for eligible Australians at age pension age ($700 rebate income threshold approx $50,119 single/$83,580 couples combined) - automatically applied; reduces effective tax substantially for eligible retirees
• Spouse tax offset: up to $540 if your spouse's income was below $40,000 and you made contributions to their super or income - conditions apply, check ATO guidance
• Low Income Superannuation Tax Offset (LISTO): up to $500 for low-income earners where income is below $37,000 - the ATO pays this automatically into your super fund; you do not need to claim it on your return
• Private Health Insurance offset (rebate): if you did not take the PHI rebate as a premium reduction throughout the year, claim it as a tax offset - the rebate percentage depends on your income tier and age; if your income was higher than estimated, you may need to repay some or all of the rebate
• Foreign income tax offset (FITO): for tax paid on foreign income (e.g. US dividend withholding tax) - offset is limited to the Australian tax payable on the same income; claim the offset using your broker's or ETF's annual tax statement

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The Australian tax year runs from 1 July to 30 June. Lodgement deadlines and the choice between self-lodging and using a tax agent have financial and practical implications.

• Tax return lodgement deadline: 31 October for individuals lodging their own return via myTax - if you miss this date and owe tax, failure-to-lodge penalties apply ($313 for each 28-day period, capped at $1,565)
• Tax agent extension: using a registered tax agent generally extends the lodgement deadline to May 2025 for 2023–24 returns - but you must be on a tax agent's client list by 31 October to access this extension
• myTax (free via ATO Online Services through myGov): pre-fills most income, straightforward for simple returns with wage income and standard deductions; suitable for PAYG employees with uncomplicated affairs
• Tax agent (registered by TPB): worth the cost ($150–$400 typical) if you have investment properties, capital gains, business income, complex deductions or carry-forward losses - the agent's fee is itself deductible in the following year's return
• Pre-fill availability: the ATO pre-fills data from employers, banks and government agencies approximately 2 weeks after the end of the income year - waiting until late July or early August to lodge ensures most pre-fill data is available; lodging on 1 July means much of the data is missing
• If you are owed a refund: lodge as early as possible (mid-late July after pre-fill is available) - refunds are typically processed within 2 weeks of lodgement via myTax
• Amended returns: if you discover an error after lodging (missed deduction, omitted income), lodge an amendment through myTax or your tax agent - voluntary disclosure before an ATO review is treated more favourably than omissions discovered by the ATO

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The ATO uses data-matching, benchmarking and risk profiling to identify returns that warrant closer scrutiny. These are the most common errors that attract attention.

• Claiming WFH deductions without records: the ATO specifically flags WFH deductions as a review focus area in 2024–25; 67c/hr claims without a contemporaneous full-year log of hours are being disallowed
• Rental property omissions: failing to declare rental income, claiming personal holiday use periods as investment deductions, or overclaiming interest on a loan with personal components - the ATO cross-references rental income with real estate agent data
• Motor vehicle overclaims: claiming more than 5,000km under cents-per-km without a logbook, or claiming a vehicle that logically cannot have been used for 5,000km of work travel given the occupation
• Cryptocurrency: the ATO data-matches with Australian crypto exchanges (CoinSpot, Independent Reserve, Swyftx) - failure to declare crypto gains is a priority enforcement area; each disposal (sale, swap, purchase of goods) is a CGT event
• LMITO claims in post-2022 returns: attempting to claim the expired LMITO in 2022–23 or later returns is automatically rejected and may flag the return for review
• Excessive self-education claims: the ATO benchmarks self-education deductions by occupation - claims significantly above the benchmark (particularly for first-year claimants) attract review; ensure courses are directly connected to current employment
• Wash sale transactions: selling investments at a loss then immediately repurchasing to crystallise the capital loss while maintaining the investment position - the ATO considers these arrangements under Part IVA and may deny the loss; leave at least 30 days before repurchasing the same asset after a tax-loss sale

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