My return wasnt anything huge and just went to bills, what are you spending yours on? Let me live vicariously through you!
What Are You Spending Your Tax Return on?
cassidy02 on 15/07/2018 - 12:10
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i'll be paying my ozbargain subscription so as i can receive my ozbargain shit, lanyard, keychain and ozbargain discounts card
drugs and whores
And blackjack.
I will be putting my tax return straight into my bank account…
To replace the $300 I spent on Lego a fortnight ago.
We've started to go a bit lego mad in our house… What set did you buy?
I owe them $30 for some reason.
Could be that they found some interest on a deposit you earned somewhere which you forgot to mention.
Think I will buy a new Audi.
I'm apparently due $7,000 estimated so defo will go towards a vehicle purchase. Maybe an offroader.
All on black
All on red.
I set some aside for super co-contribution in the next FY. The rest go to my mortgage. I used to buy traded indexed fund aka vanguard but recently I just want to focus on paying off debts
You can now also top up the last few years of super contributions up until $25k in case you had not already maxed it out.
I get a significant return every year (almost enough to buy a brand new small car). Has been this way for several years
For a couple of years, I couldn't quite work out why this was. It turns out the reason is that when you have HECs coming our of your pay, you need to tell them to stop taking it out once it's paid off- it doesn't automatically stop getting taken out.
So what happens for me is at tax return time, all the money that gets taken out of my pay during the year for my non-existent HECs debt gets returned to me.
I know that this isn't the smartest way I could be managing my money, that I could be investing/earning interest on it during the year etc. But to be perfectly honest, I don't mind. I'm used to this 'arrangement' now, and our family enjoys tax time coming around as we can treat ourselves a bit. We live fairly frugally during the year, so its good fun :-)
The other advantage I like with this, is that we've effectively gotten used to living on a much smaller wage than I actually earn. If I had to look for another job one day, I could take a massive pay cut but still support my family and our current standard of living.
To the original question, typically about 40% of my return will get spent on 'fun' stuff that isn't really needed. This year, that was a new (to me) motorcycle, a new laptop, craft supplies for my wife, a special toy for my son etc. Roughly 10% I 'invest' in something- nothing too serious, more speculating than anything. Might be gold / silver, maybe some crypto-currency. The rest will just go on the home loan- a little boring but effective.
Again, I freely admit that this isn't the smartest of arrangements, but it works for us :-)
I've been doing this too. Tends to go against credit card / mortgage, but we don't live that frugally imo so it balances out.
No refund. Not much you can really do on an office-based PAYG salary.
I was the same as you for many years but there are a few little things you can do depending on your work circumstances.
Other things can include:
- 5000km of travel (max amount you can claim before having to provide proof - hopefully you would have claimed some small amount of travel already and it would be on your group certificate as I found that this helped justify the claim)
- Mobile phone bills
- Home internet (assuming you have to work from home every so often)
- Home office things like Stationary, PCs etc (situation dependent)
- if you do work travel, those car maintenance bills, fuel etc (need a proper log then)
- Probably a lot of other smaller things like the 45c per hour working from home etcThere's was a news article that says they're cracking down in the 5k travel, you still need to show that you have done the KMs. If an office worker that does not have heavy tools/needs to see clients etc there is no justification for claiming any KMs.
If the office worker does not need to receive calls outside of being in his office on his office phone he can't claim mobile expenses.
Even home internet cannot be claimed if his workplace provides internet for him at work and there is no reason to have to use the internet at home.
Office based workers are limited in their tax deductions :(
7 dyson v10s baby!! YEEWWW!
i didn't get a lot, but i'm off to melbourne for a weekend to go to a wedding. the tax means i can get a nicer hotel and do some extra things whilst i'm down there (going to an AFL game and stuff)
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Should start a thread on how much tax did you pay and how much are you getting back. I will go first. I paid ~$35k tax and now have to pay the government an extra $1k at tax time. I am a standard office worker :(
That’s what mine looks like too but I paid even more in tax initially. Waaah :(
scrambles for deductions
Grand total on return was $0. Tax paid was 36K. Maybe time to meet an accountant!?
Paid $46k, got $2,600 back :(
Waiting on another payment summary before I can lodge - expect about $8200 in the return.
Drop it into my investment account with the last two returns - haven't decided on what to use it for - probably buying a new motorcycle soon.Well looks like I have no worries about getting audited with the ridiculously large refunds people here are bragging about :P
Not sure that is a reliable way to think about things. I mean sure, I guess that large refunds might be more likely to attract attention, but I know plenty of people that have been audited that get much smaller returns that me (for example).
Although I personally get a large return, my accountant is very good and doesn't cut any corners or seek to claim 'grey area' stuff (things that a lot of people might claim and generally get away with claiming, but by the letter of the law probably shouldn't be claiming). I've never had any issues.
According to my accountant, they are using nearest-neighbor analysis. It basically places people on a map based on certain parameters, such as profession, age, location etc… The more similar two people are, the closer they are placed on the map. Then they pick the individuals with highest claim in the group. So, how you fare compared to your group is more important than your total claim amount.
Cheers
Flights to Japan and Hawaii and a set of tyres. But realistically it will probably only cover one of these things.
Utility bills.
Just did my tax with tax lady. How long does it take for the return to be direct deposited into my bank?
10-14 business days would be a standard expectation.
FYI, I am assuming you have not done the following:
1.If you’re lodging previous year tax returns at the same time as your current year tax return
2.If you forgot to enter or mistakenly entered the wrong information such as your date of birth, your bank account information, etc.
3.If your return needs to be further checked by the ATO. This could be the case if;
* the ATO needs more information or data checked with the Department of Human Services
* the ATO notices potential errors (ie: overstated claims)
* you have insolvency-related obligations
100% of it on the credit card. might as well use the opportunity to get ahead
…or blow it all on carparts that will make my neighbours hate me
Not a very wise OZBARGAINER myself as I have to fork out this year.
How upsetting.My radiator started leaking this morning, so probably that
Didn't pay enough HECS so I ended up having to pay back
It all went into my home loan account, and fairly soon most of it will be withdrawn to pay shire rates.
Straight into the house deposit. Taking me past 20%!
i put extra into my tax every week(payroll at work does it) to cover my council rates, car registration and car insurance and then a bit extra so i have around $2,000 after these bills to spend on something, new iPhone, holiday etc.
i used to put it into a bank account that my bills get direct debit to but seeing i pay my other bills monthly and my council rates, car registration and car insurance yearly its easy this way.
i recommend people moving out the first time do this once they know what there bills are that way a certain amount get taken out of your pay for bills, extra tax and mortgage or rent if you have it, savings and then whatever else you have left you spend on food, going put etc. that way you will always have money for your bills,
its also nice to have a 'bonus' $2,000 or so to spend on something you like, also when i work public holidays i put that away into a savings account, it all adds up.when i first started to work 9 years ago i ticked/or didn't tick the claim tax free threshold so would get back like $5,000 every year and would save it seeing i used to live on more money when i lived at home with dad.
They give you a summary of where it's spent.
The #1 thing is aged care.