An easy checklist for tax time

Tax time runs a lot smoother when the paperwork is ready before you sit down with your accountant. It is quicker, it usually costs you less, and it means nothing you are entitled to gets missed. Here is the short version of what to pull together, and why each piece matters.

Most people leave their return until the documents land, then hand over a shoebox and hope for the best. That works, but it is the slow and expensive way to do it. A little order up front does most of the heavy lifting, and it is the part you actually control.

Start with your income

Your accountant can only claim what they can see. Before anything else, gather the records that show what came in over the year, from every source, not just your main job.

• Income statements from each employer (these come through your myGov or payroll, and most are pre-filled now).
• Bank and investment interest, plus any dividend statements from shares.
• Rental income if you have an investment property, along with the agent’s annual summary.
• Side income from contracting, a small business, or anything you were paid for outside your regular pay.

If you are not sure whether something counts, keep it in the pile. It is far easier to set a record aside than to chase it down in October.

Then the deductions

This is where a tidy set of records pays for itself. The rule of thumb is simple: if you spent money to earn your income, there is a good chance some of it is deductible, but only if you can show it.

Work-related expenses

Think tools, equipment, a portion of your phone and internet, professional memberships, and any training tied to your current work. Keep the receipts, and a short note of what each one was for.

Working from home

If you work from home, there is a method for claiming the running costs, and it needs a record of the hours you worked there. A simple log kept through the year beats trying to reconstruct it from memory.

The deductions you miss are almost always the ones you did not keep a record for. Order beats memory, every time.

Don’t forget the offsets and the admin

A few things sit outside the income-and-deductions split but still change the outcome, so they are worth having on hand:

• Private health insurance statement, which affects the Medicare levy surcharge.
• Any spouse or dependant details, if your circumstances changed during the year.
• Last year’s notice of assessment, which gives your accountant a useful starting point.

None of this is complicated on its own. The value is in having it together in one place, so the return is a single clear pass rather than a back-and-forth that drags on for weeks.

The short version

Bring your income records, your deduction receipts with a note of what each was for, your work-from-home hours, and your health cover statement. Get those four things sorted and you have done the part that matters. We will take it from there, tell you where you stand, and make sure nothing you are owed slips through.

General information only This article is general information, not personal advice. It does not take your particular circumstances into account. Before you act on anything here, talk to us so we can give you advice that fits your situation.