If you have your receipt box ready to go and all your payment summaries in check, tax time is a financial haven that you look forward to. The month of July can be a veritable ‘free money’ bonanza that you start to actually look forward to.
It is of course, different for everyone. For those who own their own business, freelance or work on an ABN, tax time can be the deciding factor if all those late nights and heavy schedules were really worth it.
The key to making tax-time work for you is claiming absolutely, positively, everything. You. Can. And although you may already have phone and Internet bills down, here are some things you can claim some dollars back for – probably which you weren’t aware of.
#1 Office Furniture
Do you ever work from home? If you took a recent trip to IKEA and the receipt shows items such as a desk, lamp, footrest or even a light fitting, you might be illegible to claim part of these back on tax. But be smart, if you try and claim back something you use for general use – that’s at your own risk.
#2 Uniform & Related Items
Get this; journalists can claim sunglasses and even sunscreen if their work requires them to operate outside. Apply this theory to your general work attire and see what you come up with. Think handbags, protective clothing and even SPF make up.
#3 Stationery
There’s a pile of home office items that can be claimed including pens, pencils, printers, printer ink, computers, paper shredders, rubbish bins and pretty much anything you buy at Officeworks. Scan your eyes over your lounge room to get your brain juices flowing,
#4 Subscriptions
Do you subscribe to a magazine of newspaper related to your field of work? Although a Spotify subscription isn’t exactly claimable, if you put a little bit of money into a credible industry publication that you can prove helps you with your work, you can get that back my friend.
#5 Laundry
If you have a work uniform the ATO will let you claim the cost of keeping it clean. Their website says you can claim $1 per load for washing, drying and ironing, or dry cleaning costs if you have the receipts. Channel your inner Aloe Blacc for this one.
Combined, you could probably score some sweet savings as we head into the summer spending seasons.