We are seeing more and more people lately who have found themselves cut off from household Centrelink payments until they or their partner lodge overdue tax returns.
If you receive Family Tax Benefit and you or your partner have outstanding returns for any year you were receiving FTB, don’t wait until your payments are stopped and you’re unable to meet the bills before doing something about it.
It may be that you were not required to lodge a return for the outstanding year/s. If this is the case, you can simply call Centrelink on 13 6150 or notify them via online services that you do not need to lodge. If you are unsure whether or not you need to lodge a return, a quick call to your accountant should clarify things for you.
From the start of the next financial year (1 July 2010) if you or your partner have 3 or more outstanding tax returns for the years 2000-2008, your FTB will just be cancelled. Unfortunately, if this happens you may not be able to take advantage of the Education Tax Rebate. Worse yet, you’ll face the rigmarole of having to lodge a new claim for Family Tax Benefit.
You won’t be able to use eTax for overdue returns, but if you are more of the DIY type, you can contact the ATO and have them post paper tax returns out to you for the years you need. Alternatively, most tax agents offer a fee from refund facility if you’re short on cash and have to lodge in a hurry. The main thing is to not ignore it – it won’t go away and neglecting the issue simply compounds the problem.
Article by Christie Lewis
Christie is Practice Manager at Alan Lewis Accountants . Besides accounting, her passion is for all things small business (and blogging, of course). You can contact Christie directly at christie@lewistaxation.com.au.
Christie has written 811 awesome articles for us at Alan Lewis Accountants – BLOG
Twitter: @christielewis | Facebook
{ 1 trackback }