Each income year you need to assess your personal circumstances to work out if you need to lodge a tax return. Reasons you need to lodge a tax return may include if you:

• had any tax taken out (withheld) from income you receive
• had $1 or more of foreign income
• pay or receive child support
• had business or investment income
• are leaving Australia and have a study or training support loan.

To lodge your tax return, we recommend you have all of the following information available. You will need your:

• bank account details (BSB and account number)
• income statement or payment summaries from all of your employers
• payment summaries from Centrelink (Services Australia)
• receipts or statements for the expenses you are claiming as deductions
• your spouse’s income (if you have one)
• private health insurance information (if you have cover).

Ensure you have included all income when collecting your tax information, including capital transactions and investment activity. If income is missed from your Income Tax Return, the ATO may automatically amend your lodged return and you may have an unexpected debt in the future.

The ATO receive information from a variety of third-party sources, including:

• employers
• financial institutions
• companies
• private health funds
• businesses
• government agencies.

Much of the matched data is pre-filled in taxpayer returns. Pre-filled data is available from early July, with most data finalised by the end of July. Some data is received later, like trust distributions.

The ATO use this information for data matching against the amounts taxpayers report in their tax returns.  Matching data ensures that taxpayers declare all their income, offsets and exemptions correctly. It helps to reduce errors and prevent delays in processing returns.

If you have questions in relation to the above, or any other matters, please do not hesitate to contact our office on 1300 620 345.