2018 Tax Return Lodgment Due Soon

If you own rental property, you should be aware that you are no longer able to claim a deduction for depreciation of second-hand assets in relation to the property in this year’s tax return. The denial of deduction applies to second hand assets acquired on or after 7.30pm on 9 May 2017 (unless it was acquired under a contract entered into before this time), and second-hand assets acquired before 1 July 2017 but not used to earn income in the 2016-17 income year. In addition, travel expenses related to residential investment properties are no longer deductible.

In relation to superannuation, from 1 July 2017, the spouse income threshold for the tax offset has increased, meaning that more people may be able to claim the offset in this year’s 2018 tax return. You may be able to claim an offset of $540 if you made a contribution to your spouse’s superannuation fund in the income year and your spouse’s income is less than $37,000. If your spouse’s income is between $37,000 and $40,000, a partial offset may be available.

In addition to the changes in the tax return, the ATO has also outlined 5 of the most common mistakes that they have seen, which are:

• leaving out income from temporary jobs or money earned from the sharing economy (g. Uber, Airbnb, Stayz);
• claiming deductions for personal expenses, such as home to work travel, normal clothes, or personal phone calls;
• no records or receipts kept of expenses;
• claiming for something that wasn’t paid for or was reimbursed;
• claiming personal expenses for rental properties including deductions for the private use of the property or interest on loans used to buy personal assets.

Assistant Commissioner Kath Anderson said: “[t]his time we will be paying close attention to claims for private expenses like home to work travel, plain clothes, and private phone calls. We will also be paying attention to people who are claiming standard deductions for expenses they never paid for.”

According to the ATO, around half of the adjustments they make to tax returns are due to the taxpayer having no records or poor quality records. For those taxpayers who are putting in claims, especially work claims without any evidence, the ATO says it will be checking all the data, either by data matching against other taxpayers in similar industries to find discrepancies or by contacting the taxpayer’s employer when a “red flag” is raised.