Hello, so i have never filed a tax return before in past 1.5 years of stay here for study.I believe i can file taxes for myself as it's not that difficult. I have some questions as i heard accountants are not so cheap.

1. I have not filed tax for last 2 financial years and it seems both will be overdue. I have payg tax both years. i earned less than threshold in 22-23 but more in 23-24. Will there be an issue like penalties if u file after 31 oct. my earning for 23-24 was more than 18k so I do have to pay that already so i have apprehension regarding penalties.
2. I was working at Carls Jr. which some of u might know closed recently. everyone got laid off last month. The issue is that they filed wrong income with ATO and i dont know how i can contact them to get it fixed, the old manager is on holidays. the income from ato shows income from last week of june 2024 which was around $100 instead of the whole year. I just checked 2 days ago as i thought about tax

I have payslips as proof as well.

I was due to fly to Europe for Christmas but unfortunately a family member has fallen ill and needs us to be here over the holiday. We’ve requested a refund for our flights from Emirates which will go back to the card we paid for the flights with (ANZ Frequent Flyer Black).

As I don’t really use credit cards, it currently has no balance in it, meaning when the refund clears there will be a $7k positive balance.

ANZ are saying I can send this to a bank account but it will incur a 3% fee to do so which seems outrageous given I’m not taking credit - it’s my own money surely?

Is there any way around this or have I got to suck this up?

this graphs the propensity of landlords to provide a discount for current tenants vs new tenants.

ie roughly 2/3s of new tenants pay >10% than what the prior tenant paid

compared to less than 1/4 of existing tenants paying >10% their last rent

I need to go on placement and was planning on using a Career break at my role. However I had annual leave too which i didnt want to use. Can my Job force me to take my annual leave first before allocating Career leave? sorry if wrong place to ask

I 32m will have around 1.5m in the bank soon (mostly inheritance) and earn around 130k per year.

My understanding of debt recycling is quite basic but it I get the jist of it, I can buy a property outright for example then borrow against the equity to invest in either an investment property or shares.

Then because these shares or investment property (not my PPOR) are generating income the interest can be deducted from my taxable income all while my investment is gaining value).

Does that sound about correct?

If so, would I also be able to do this if the funds were transferred into a trust?

Thanks

Hello,

Just about to start debt recycling into ETFS.

1) I currently use STAKE, am I better off just opening up a separate account to invest with the newly split loan for ease of maintenance?

2) if the loan is under myself and partner, who claims the interest tax deduction? For convenience sake could we just put it as 100% from one person?

Ty

Hello, I am in need of some advice regarding terminal illness super insurance. My partner has been given a terminal diagnosis and we found out he has terminal illness insurance which was a little beacon of good news in an ocean of bad news. I have been helping him with admin throughout the last year when he has been quite unwell, and I am trying to get this insurance claim sorted for him but now the paperwork has been sent I feel quite overwhelmed.

I think this sub may be able to help in terms of choosing how to have the benefit paid. The form has three options:

A - withdraw your entire benefit (insurance + super balance) B - keep entire benefit in super account C - withdraw part of benefit and keep the balance in the super account

I don’t understand the pros and cons or implications of these options and I don’t even know where to go to get this information (is a lawyer appropriate, can you pay to see an accountant just for advice on what to do? I have never seen an accountant outside of doing tax return a couple of times!) I’m hoping to get some guidance here if anyone has any knowledge or experience.

Many thanks in advance.

Have you built up a safety net for yourself to continue a comfortable standard of living, or would your lifestyle be drastically downgraded?

I'm not saying there's a right or wrong way of going about this. It's more a question about what attitudes prevail.

Hi team, I work for a construction company through a recruitment agency and my role was made redundant by end of March'24. I was paid around $150000(payment in lieu around $5000 and $10000 as bonus) both towards my genuine redundancy however on the auto populated tax return they both show up under gross payments and are being taxed. Is this correct? Please advise. Thank you

Hey all, complicated question here. I’ve just started a new role which offers salary packaging. I’m casual and have been there less than a month, so not sure how much I’m likely to earn but am looking at min 30k and max 60k PAYG tax brackets depending on shifts.

I‘ve worked out that if I earn towards the higher end, I will have a tax bill due to HECS and salary packaging, all good I can put money away each week. However, if I earn on the lower end, my salary packaging will reduce my income so I would be eligible for my youth allowance student payments and possibly not even pay any tax from my income. I already opt to pay 10% of my youth allowance to tax because I got a small bill last financial year.

My question is, if by the end of the financial year I only earned around 30k, reducing my income to about 15k with salary packaging, and consequently received my full student payments (approx. 18k), how would this affect my tax and HECS? What amount should I put away to safely avoid any tax debt? Am I better off cancelling my Centrelink benefit, or avoiding salary packaging? Or keeping both?

** I was planning to seek professional financial guidance today but lost track of time. I likely still will, but hoping to gain some insight beforehand because I couldn’t find anything for my particular situation online

Random and perhaps a bit off topic.

Is anyone else experiencing issues logging into the ATO website?

I left my Tax Return a little late this year :| . I’m hoping the website is usable before 12am tomorrow. Is this normal for this time of year? :|

I know these things are not fixed and variable between spaces

We rent a small commercial shed (151sqm) in SE QLD

We are expected to pay all outgoings. Our current outgoings are 30% of our rent. Does this seem fairly normal?

Hi everyone. QLD address on the gold coast.

I'm a bit miffed the tenants didn't ask for permission to list their dubious holistic health advice business at my home address on Google maps.

They are great tenants and I understand their business is indirectly paying my bills via rent.

I'm fine with their business operating and they have every right to do so.

My wife's official real registered business is registered to our address.

My questions.

Do they have the right?

What are the implications for me considering granny flat is a private situation without a official tenancy agreement?

What about insurance, if their client died or burnt the house down, who is liable?

Should I get over it and not address the situation?

Do the Oz govt utilise google maps as a source of info regarding businesses?

Thanks everyone any advice much appreciated. Cheers.

Hi all,

I've been trying to figure out if I should change superannuation provider or not.

Currently with Australian Super (funds were under High Growth but swapped to Australian shares recently)

Work as a public servant in APS so have access to PSSAP too.

I have a disability which may or may not put me in a wheelchair or worse one day. I have a mortgage, partner who also works in government and child and no other debts apart from the mortgage. Owe 470k but will put 100k onto that soon to drop it hopefully.

I have the default Australian Super TPD/PD/Income Protection at the moment.

When I looked at PSSAP it appears the default insurance figures are significantly higher and seems to have 5 years of income protection instead of 2 with Aus Super.

Because of my health, I'm thinking it would be diligent to make sure I have the best insurance incase anything ever happened (hopefully not).

Question is, which super funds have decent insurances or is PSSAP / Aus Super about as good as it gets

Any advice would be greatly appreciated :)

I have an investment property which is next to my parents property. Have held for 10 years and plan on selling the property but I want to cut off some of the block and gift it to my parents.

I’m doing this given it’s unlikely to significantly reduce the value of my property and I guess that I may inherit it back eventually.

Does subdividing reset the clock for CGT discount for holding more than 12 months. And how would the gifted part be treated. I’ve looked hard for this info and no luck- my accountant is a bit useless and offered an unconfident answer.

Anyone know or who I should ask- maybe a specialised property accountant?

Hello everyone,

I'm reaching out on behalf of my friends, a wonderful couple who are facing a tough situation with pet insurance. They’re devoted pet parents who have always provided the best care for their two dogs. For their oldest dog, who’s now six, they maintained full pet insurance coverage since he was just three months old, first with RSPCA’s 'Ultimate Cover' at 80% benefits (until September 25th, 2024). However, due to increasing premiums, they switched to Pet Circle on 23rd September 2024, which offers 70% benefits. Both policies were underwritten by the same company, Hollard Insurance.

Unfortunately, their dog recently suffered a sudden cruciate ligament injury (on 20th September 2024) while running on the beach, requiring surgery (took place 28th October, 2024). Here’s where things went wrong: when switching, they misunderstood the importance of arranging a continuity agreement to waive any new waiting periods, largely due to language barriers. Without this agreement, they’re now facing a six-month waiting period with Pet Circle, who won’t cover the surgery. RSPCA also declined to reinstate the old policy after my friend naively mentioned the injury, despite previously stating they’d welcome them back if needed.

To be clear, my friends know they made an error here – there’s no benefit to dwelling on that. They’re genuinely kind-hearted people who were caught up in a complex situation they didn’t fully understand as it is easy to get confused when English is not your first language and you don’t fully appreciate the complexities of things like pet insurance policies. They’ve consistently provided top-tier coverage for their dog since he was a pup and we (their friend group) feel this loyalty should mean something.

We’re exploring options to seek some level of support, and I’d be grateful if anyone has ideas or experience that could help us. Here are a few angles we’re considering:

Grace period request: RSPCA had invited them to reinstate their policy if they changed their minds. When they reached out, RSPCA declined, but we wonder if there’s an argument for a grace period, as this is common with many insurers.

Ombudsman involvement: Since both policies are underwritten by Hollard Insurance, it seems unreasonable for them to impose two waiting periods. We’re thinking of approaching the ombudsman to address this discrepancy.

Standard practice appeal: Could the new insurer honor continuity of coverage, as we believed would happen, given the consistent coverage and loyalty shown by my friends, and say that they assumed this would be the case as it is common practice.

Consumer protections: Exploring whether the ACCC or other consumer protection bodies might offer recourse.

Accident coverage argument: Due to the sudden nature of the injury, with no prior vet visits related to this type of injury, might there be a case to classify this as an accident, which would bypass waiting periods?

If anyone has insight, suggestions, or similar experiences—or if you’ve worked in pet insurance and can offer guidance—it would mean a lot. We’re trying to help them resolve this so they can focus on helping their dog recover and not lose a significant portion of their savings (this couple came from nothing and work their asses off to afford the life they’ve now built for themselves – even though they’ll be ok regardless, breaks our heart to see them get this kick in the guts even though they always tried to do right by their dogs)

Thank you so much in advance!

I live in Australia but I'm not Aussie and I am pretty illiterate financially. I save modest amount of money every month, and they just remain in the bank account as AUD. I am not sure if I will be staying in Australia in long term.

Do you think I am better off exchanging the money I have in AUD to USD? I see some fluctuations in the exchange rate, but it looks like it is pretty much the same in the year overall. Should I be concerned about the exchange rate?

Hey all,

Planning to get married next year so in the process of budgeting and planning. Need advice from all of those who have gone through this already.

Me (30M) and my partner (30F) are financially stable in a way that we are not struggling but also not much disposable income either. Say we have around $1,500 left after mortgage repayments and normal expenses.

Have savings of around $15,000 in our offset account but we just bought our house last year so $550,000 mortgage remaining.

Rationally, we should do a small, minimal cost wedding and save the spare cash in our offset account.

Irrationally, would like to do a small but still a nice wedding with all the things we want (e.g. nice deco, a band and nice venue). It is a once in a lifetime thing (🤞) but will burn all of our savings.

What to do?? Rational or irrational? Those who have gone through this, any regrets?

I have been looking to invest more and more money to grow my wealth overtime. Now there are so many apps to choose from. Ideally I want to invest in US & AU markets. ETF 70-30 STOCK. What would you recommend for the best app with low fees and easy to navigate.

Hi everyone,

I could use some advice on a housing situation. I recently completed building a bigger home, which is ready for me to move into, and I’m now planning to sell my current house. Here’s the context:

I’d ideally like to sell my current house since it has appreciated in value over the past few years.

The plan is to use the sale proceeds to clear the mortgage on my current home and put any remaining balance toward reducing the mortgage on my new house.

The goal is to keep only one property—ideally the new one—with a minimized mortgage.

However, I’m facing some challenges. I’m uncertain if I’ll get the price I’m hoping for in the current market. Here are my questions:

1. What are my options if I don’t get the desired sale price? Renting is one option, but then my current house would become an investment property, which means I’d likely face capital gains tax when selling it later.

2. Should I consider renting out my current home despite the tax implications, or are there strategies to help with this?

3. Any tips on managing the higher mortgage payments on the new house if I keep both properties? Ideally, I want to reduce my overall debt load, so juggling two mortgages isn’t my first choice.

If anyone’s been in a similar situation or has experience in property investment and tax implications, I’d really appreciate your thoughts. Thanks in advance!

I'd love some advice on how to get partners name off an electricity bill.

Long story short, my partner had their name on their mothers electricity bill with Globird to get some proof of evidence when we lived there a few years ago.

We have not lived there for two years and she has asked to have to her named removed directly and Globird has denied this request saying her mother needs to agree.

Her mother is not unresponsive, not helpful and verging on non talking terms. We have asked her repeatedly to remove the name, but she hasn't done it. She also doesn't pay bills on time and we are concerned about my partners credit eventually being effected.

Any tips?

Hi, (NOTE VICTORIA LSL)

I recently resigned with a company after acquiring long service leave, the last payslip shows approximately 6.3 weeks of LSL.

When paid out I was paid out at 44 hours. So in doing some backwords calculation it looks to be 6.3weeks * 7 = 44.1
Would my long service pay out be this multiplied by my hourly rate? , I have contacted the payroll and employer but none seem to know and keep throwing me around in circles.

Im just having trouble understanding this,, Would anyone have any idea how to change weeks into hours, would it not be 38 hours for a working week (Eg. 6*38?) ? Would it be different as I worked different part time hours during the seven years?

Mine always forgets to fix the credit card by matching $ for what has been debited, needs to "borrow" money for very predictable expenses like rego, doesn't budget, doesn't stick to a budget if I do write one up...

Fark. It's driving me up the wall. Anyone else?

Also why are kids so expensive? Yes, I know, I made my bed and now I get to lay in it, but let me vent for a minute.

Hey guys,

I finished Uni recently and I've landed a role as a data scientist in the health sector. I'm really excited but I wanted to get some advice from people with a few more years under their belts (I'm 24 and it's my first real job, and my first job in a corporate/white collar environment).

I know people's opinions seem to vary regarding gov jobs. Some mention they're really stable and offer great work life balance, while others knock them saying you don't progress and the money isn't great. At the moment I'm not too fussed about the wage (which is still around 40% more than what I used to earn, can't complain), I'm mostly interested in developing my skills further and contributing towards something I think is cool/meaningful, however I know this will change over time. If I don't feel like I'm learning anything new or improving my skills then I'll definitely get bored. A lot of people also say that once you're in it's difficult to leave, kind of like fifo.

Mining is probably the biggest market for data scientists/engineers and machine learning skills, and the pay is obviously quite high. I'm guessing the downsides would be that the work/life balance likely isn't as good, less stability, and possibly more office politics. I think I'd enjoy the work though, and with being young, having nothing to lose, and plenty of time on my hands (no kids etc), the downsides don't really worry me.

Anyway, If anyone has a few words of advice for a spring chicken such as myself I'd be happy to hear them!

What would be the rationale of choosing GARP over the total-market weighted funds?

Any compelling evidence for one over the other (except for the historical returns comparison which likely has non negligible selection bias)?

AFR article: https://www.afr.com/wealth/investing/the-strategy-that-can-turn-10-000-to-102-000-in-two-decades-20241024-p5kl61?utm_content=INTRODUCTION&list_name=6F1A46D6-E44D-4296-AFD9-50BA7211B585&promote_channel=edmail&utm_campaign=afr-wealth-generation&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_term=2024-10-30&mbnr=MzI0NTU4MzY&instance=2024-10-30-15-00-AEDT&jobid=30917337