As you know the financial year ends June 30th which means its time to lodge your tax return and this means $$$ in your bank account. Whether you’ll use it to pay off your credit card, a trip to bali, hiking in NZ, whatever you may do, you’re entitled to the money, it’s yours.

How much your refund will be is no simple question, it really depends on a few things, obviously how much tax you’ve paid, what rate you paid it at, whether or not you’re a resident for tax purposes and of course how much you earned during the financial year. At the bottom of this piece we’ve included the tax rate table to give you an idea of tax brackets in Australia.

Finding an Agent

The next step is finding a Tax Agent, now there’s a lot of tax agents that specialise in doing refunds for backpackers and they generally run on one of 2 pricing models. Percentage fee based or fixed fee, now while fixed fee always seems more daunting up front, let me tell you, percentage based fees are the silent killers. Check the Tax Refund comparison table we have on site, this will show you why.

To give you a snapshot, most fee based agents charge around $100-$160 while most percentage based agents charge roughly 10% of your refund. If your refund is $2500 ( average refund) you can already see that fixed fee is $125ish while percentage fee based is $250. Obviously each firms pricing is slightly different but you get the picture, and some percentage based fees can even be 11%. Ouch! Leave me out.

Tax Refund Estimate

Now if you’re unsure of how much you’re going to receive, which most people are, even I am when I submit my tax! Then we recommend getting a free tax refund estimate. No obligations to do your tax of course. We’ve contacted an agent which we believe has the best pricing in the market, if you don’t agree, that’s fine, but try find an agent that is cheaper than $99 + GST.

At the end of the day there’s no point referring you to a percentage based agent for a free estimate if they’re going to charge you $250 to do your tax, what a nightmare!

You can contact Tax Elite here, and they’ll get back to you with your free tax estimate.

Processing Times

Tax Processing times can vary, it will generally take longer in the first two weeks of July, as the ATO hasn’t prefilled your taxation file. ( Prefilling means they’ve updates all your income and tax details which makes it a lot easier for the agent to complete) Overall it generally takes 7-10 working days for your refund to be processed, then the funds can be sent to your nominated bank account.

Group Certificates

When pre filling hasn’t occurred or the ATO are unable to upload your pay details you will need your PAYG Summary ( often called Group Certificate) to obtain your refund. Your employer will provide you with the Pay As You Go (PAYG) payment summary. From this certificate a tax agent can determine how much income you’ve received and tax you’ve paid and calculate your refund prior to any deductions you may have.

Deductions

Workwear, equipment, training courses related to your employment can be deducted of your taxable income. Therefore if you’re in the 30% bracket, and you have $1000 in deductions to claim, you’ll effectively be required to pay $300 less tax, in turn increasing your refund by $300. ( But remember you still spent the $1000 in the first place right)

Okay guys, I hope we gave you a good insight in Taxation with Tax Season upon up. If you have any questions in relation to tax please email taxelite@fruitpickingjobs.com.au and a member of the Tax Elite team can help you out.

If you would like to apply for a refund, I suggest checking the the Tax Refund comparison page, and have a look at the employer profiles and make your decision from there

Have a Great Day,

Dimitri

FruitPickingJobs.com.au All Rounder and Co-Founder