The Past Year May Have Pushed You Over The Tax-Free Threshold – Here’s Why

Did you know that, regardless of how many jobs you worked over the past year, once your income reaches $18,200 it has crossed the tax-free threshold?

 

The tax-free threshold is the maximum amount of income that you can earn in a year without having to pay any tax.  Currently, that limit is set to $18,200.

Did you also know that payments from the government could also be counted as taxable income, which contributes to your tax-free threshold?

The previous year has not been without challenge for many Australians, who may have faced difficult issues with maintaining employment during business shutdowns or disasters, and required supplemental income (such as payments from Centrelink, government support or disaster relief).

Those payments may have pushed you over the $18,200 threshold without you realising. This will create an issue particularly if you failed to elect to have tax withheld from the payments.

This could impact the amount of money that you might otherwise receive from your tax return claim, as it could push you into a different income bracket for your return.

Centrelink payments, disaster relief payments and government support packages may be considered as taxable income. This, on top of what you may have earned during employment, is what the ATO will consider when calculating your tax return claim.

Want to get the most out of your tax return for this upcoming financial year? Speak with us so that we can advise you on deductions, your income and other queries you might have that we could help with.