Beat the tax man and still be his friend

Bit miffed about all the tax you lose out of each pay slip? Then you’ll be delighted there’s plenty you can do to secure a fat refund.

Spend up big

Assuming you’ve earned a tidy sum and are looking to cut your tax bill, fork out for additional deductible expenses. For example, nurses can claim uniforms. Search ato.gov.au for a list relevant to you. This will help most if it pushes you into a lower tax bracket.

Delay pay

Once again assuming it’s a prosperous year, do what you can to shunt further income into next year. Bonuses, commissions, overtime… defer them until the next tax year and you’ll come out ahead. If instead, the year’s been a little lean, delay expenses and scrounge all the income you can to take advantage of the lower tax rate. If you have any high-performing assets, such as shares or property, you’d like to offload, now’s a good tax time.

Weigh a prepay

You can take good timing to a whole new level if you’re likely to cop a far bigger tax bill this year than next – pay the next 12 months of some deductible expenses up front. Think of the big ones such as income-protection insurance and interest on investment loans (but consider if this is the best use of the money).

Rummage for receipts

Suppress that groan, fill in those mileage logbooks and hunt down your receipts. Don’t miss one cent of money you are entitled to from the government – deductions are probably the easiest and best way to slash your tax. You may be able to claim any cost that relates to your income, for example, nurses can claim dry cleaning and car costs if they carry equipment.

Get giving

Donations to a registered charity are tax deductible, which means they will cost higher-rate taxpayers little more than half. Kerry Packer famously said: “If anybody in this country doesn’t minimise their tax, they want their heads read.” What better way to do it than helping others?

Get travelling

It is possible you can claim deductions for work-related or investment-related travel. So give thought to a work jaunt and/or investment-property inspection. You can usually claim whatever portion of the trip is business related. And don’t forget work-related training could also be tax-deductible (you might have to reduce the amount by $250).

Support your spouse

Make an after-tax super contribution of $3,000 for a non- or low-earning spouse (less than $13,800 taxable income) and you can earn a rebate of up to $540.

Supe(r) up your own bottom line

This is not technically a tax tip, but if you’ll earn less than $36,021 this tax year and you make an after-tax super contribution of $1,000, you’ll get $500 from the government (a co-contribution). The government will still contribute, on a sliding scale, up to an income of $51,021. This goes directly into your super fund – so you can’t get it until it’s unlocked at your preservation age, but extra money is extra money.

Make proper(ty) money

We Aussies love our investment property, but many of us fail to claim enough deductions. Generally these are anything to do with managing or maintaining the property (so agent’s fees, repairs, rates, water and insurance) and also loan interest. But a professional depreciation schedule could give you the biggest boost; get an adviser, accountant or quantity surveyor to calculate the decline in value of furniture, appliances and renovations you could claim over a number of years.

Buy health cover (maybe)

If you earn more than $90,000 a year as a single or $180,000 as a couple and don’t have private hospital cover, you’ll pay a fine of up to 1.5 per cent called the Medicare Levy Surcharge. Often this is more than the cost of cover itself. Put health insurance in place for the year (remembering you may also qualify for a tax rebate on your premiums).

The ATO website, ato.gov.au, has lots of information, tools and handy calculators