E-Tax
Welcome to a new financial year. As with any new year, the world is before you. Endless possibilities, and dreams of making millions. Well, at least having more money in the bank in 12 months time than you do now.
Fortunately, we’re given the perfect opportunity to make a start by being able to submit our tax returns and get a nice little boost to start us off.
Over the last few years the tax office has taken to the internet with gusto, and E-Tax has made getting your tax done, submitted and returned easier and saved plenty of trees at the same time.
E-Tax is a program downloaded to your computer where you enter your information and submit it electronically to the tax office. For the vast majority of tax payers who have simple returns, E-tax saves time and generally your return is completed within 14 days.
Who can lodge a return through E-Tax?
According to the ATO, anyone who has:
- lodged a tax return for any of the previous five years (2003 to 2007)
- lodged a refund of franking credits application for any of the previous five years (2003 to 2007), or
- lodged a baby bonus claim for any of the previous five years (2003 to 2007)
is able to use E-Tax to submit their return to the ATO electronically. If you do not fall into one of those categories you can still use E-Tax to complete your return and print the relevant pages, sign them and post them to the ATO with any relevant documentation.
What are the benefits of using E-Tax?
Personally, I find many benefits to using E-Tax. Here are just a few:
- Able to work on our returns in dribs and drabs as the information arrives. I can save E-Tax and next time I log in I can see where I got up to and what I still need to fill in. This is far better than waiting until all the information has arrived and putting it off because it’s such a big job and leaving it til the last minute!
- Ability to show an estimated return. This is especially handy if you have a vague idea of how much you expect your return to be. It’s like in maths if you know the answer you can figure out how to get there - using E-Tax you can pick up errors in what you’ve entered by looking at the estimate to see if it’s where you expect it to be or not.
- Less paperwork. While you still need to keep records of your income and deductions claims, by submitting your return electronically you are not required to send them in, saving time and paper by not having to arrange copying of all your claims.
How does E-Tax work?
E-Tax is a software program you download to your computer. You can then open and work in E-Tax offline and submit it electronically. From the ATO “The e-tax lodgment process uses a secure sockets layer (SSL) session to prevent unauthorised access during transmission over the internet to the Tax Office. ”
Where do I get it?
E-Tax can be downloaded here from the ATO. Make sure to check system requirements and read the instructions before you get started. The instructions are comprehensive and I find them easy to follow.
What next?
If you do your returns yourself, E-Tax can be a simple way to work on and submit your tax. Remember, the sooner you get it done, the sooner you can get your return. After all, isn’t it better in your bank than theirs?
What about you? Do you use E-Tax? Do you find it easy? Difficult? Time consuming? Easier to pay someone to do it?
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