E-Tax 2013

[drewbles]

Don't forget that you still need to do "pre-work" for your accountant in some cases, and may also need to consult with them to confirm details. Understandably this should ideally be collectively shorter than the pre-work you need to do if you did the return on your own, but it should be factored in.

Of course, I'm speaking from my family's experience here (I'm the only one of the four of us who does their own tax return - no, I am not an accountant). You may have a situation where you just dump everything on the accountant with no or very little further intervention on your part.

My pre-work is pretty simple. Take PAYG summary, Health Insurance statements, receipts, and throw my shares into a spreadsheet (pretty easy really just franking credits they want). No more than an hour to put it all together for me, then 15 minutes in the accountants. They have my TFN on record, they throw it into taxcat and it pre-fills most my stuff for me too (most my shares even, but I like to make sure I have it all setup just in case).

 

[cirqueboy]

Wouldn't it have made more sense for the ATO to spend the $5M+ on turning "e-tax" into an online app? I don't know too many companies outside of the banks and very large (and old) corporates still planning to write and deploy software in this way.

Agreed. Considering the spent some cash on improving the personal log in section for general details and super, surely it would have made heaps of sense to thought the $5M+ into expanding that service into an online e-tax so matter what flavour of operating system you choose to use, you can still do your tax!

 

[medhead]

I've given up on accountants after one bad experience. Used an accountant one year, which was good, but they turned out to be a colleagues wife. Went to another accountant the following year gave them the previous return with everything else required, all in spreadsheets. They failed to carry over a capital loss! Lucky I checked and first mistake, ok I didn't explicitly mention the loss. But for the fee charged I'd expect them to read the previous return. Then the following year, the mistakes were legion. Also got them to do SWMBO's return as well. This basically involved listing payg income, half of a few shares (ie the numbers are the same as on my return) and a hecs debt. They messed (i like to use a different word) that up! Then got smart coughd when SWMBO rang to have their mistakes fixed. Oh and charged a massive fee, when I'd done most of the work and all they had to do was transcribe numbers from a spreadsheet and run their depreciation software.

Good luck to anyone with a good accountant. There are plenty of rubbish accountants around.

 

[stewiejp]

I'm no accountant but do a few tax returns using etax and have always found it quite simple, and quick IF you already have the deductions/dividends/income etc recorded. The Good Lady went to an accountant for years before we met, never got anything back but a tax bill as well as an accountants bill - once she was even fined after the accountant failed to declare some interest earned. The fine was waived after a few calls since the amount wasn't huge, and the accountant had passed away (ATO suggested asking him why it wasn't declared), she simply paid the overdue tax, no fine or interest.
Since I've started doing them she always gets a return, and I don't fudge or exaggerate figures.

People using accountants note, (and I see this all the time), if it is not done properly, and you receive money back from the ATO which you are not entitled to (most commonly by making too many deductions), YOU are responsible for the repayment, interest, and possibly a fine, even a conviction. The accountant is NOT. Just a bit of food for thought if any accountants are promising big returns. There are a few.

Happy EOFYS everybody

 

[Mal]

Yep. After being burnt by some "tax agents" I do it myself. At least I don't have to check someone else's work or muck around waiting for them to do their calculations ( the majority is just pull the pre fill data from the ATO I believe... And enter in the paperwork I hand them).

 

[Bundy Bear]

For those who have done e-tax before, how long does it take you (say you earn enough to have to pay the additional medicare levy, have a medium level of deductions and maximum private health with a spattering of shares; not hugely complex, but a little more than your run-of-the-mill return)?

I've never done it online, instead opting for a good accountant who charges reasonably and it takes me all of 15 minutes to walk in there with paperwork, spit out some stuff to sign, pay (and claim last years tax fees on this years returns). My accountant is also handily around 300m from my new house (and I didn't move there for that reason ).

Now that I have a rental property I like the idea of using an accountant to do my tax return, although now that the accountant that we used to do the company tax return has now changed and now I have moved West I need to work out whether I should keep the same accountant, but they are expensive, try and find another local accountant in Brisbane who should be cheaper, find one in Perth or use Etax.

But I need to wait for the share information to come in as well, thank to anat0l for that reminder.

 

[medhead]

What I really need from an accountant is advice about my tax arrangements. That seems hard to get as they are mostly interested in doing your return.

Now that I have a rental property I like the idea of using an accountant to do my tax return, although now that the accountant that we used to do the company tax return has now changed and now I have moved West I need to work out whether I should keep the same accountant, but they are expensive, try and find another local accountant in Brisbane who should be cheaper, find one in Perth or use Etax.

But I need to wait for the share information to come in as well, thank to anat0l for that reminder.

Rental properties are fairly easy. The big hurdle is getting the capital value stuff worked out for your capital works deductions. Also making sure you claim the capital works deductions. Otherwise it's pretty much income vs expenses, and all the categories are listed in etax.

 

[blackcat20]

If you have all the paper-work handy (i.e. know how much those deductions will be etc) then it should not take much more than 2 hours. If you have done it before and know which parts you need to read and which parts you can skip, then it could be done in an hour.

I find the majority of the time is in the preparation - gathering all the information, assigning it into the right category (donations, travel-related expenses, interest, car expenses, other work-related expenses etc).

The prep is definitely the biggest part. I keep a spreadsheet which only needs a little finalising before I head to e-tax. Last year was fun with five employers and a business! This year I think its just three plus the business, and I get better at it every year.