Are you one of many time poor taxpayers who've just looked at the calendar and thought "$#&! I need to do my tax return today!"
Well you might be surprised to learn that 31 October isn't a hard-line due date.
When lodging your return via a tax agent (like us) we generally receive some additional time from the tax office to prepare and lodge your returns. The ATO gives us this additional time to spread our workload across the year, rather than cramming everything into the first few months.
This means you have an opportunity to buy some time, and get your tax result RIGHT instead of RUSHED.
So long as you are onboarded with a tax agent before 31 October, you will normally automatically receive a due date of 15th May of the following year. That's right, up to 7 months more time than the usual due date, just for engaging an agent!
Even if you aren't onboarded in time, your tax agent can generally request the extended due date after the fact (with great success rates in our prior experience).
NOTE: If you have overdue returns or tax debt, you may not be afforded this extra time automatically, but again, a tax agent can still buy you some time to get your affairs in order.
In our experience, we have almost always been able to negotiate additional time to catch up on prior lodgments and payments.
The ATO can in fact be quite forgiving in this sense, especially to taxpayers who are taking steps to get their obligations up to date such as engaging a tax agent, beginning the process of getting up to speed and committing to a reasonable action date.
If you think you will be unable to lodge on time, have overdue returns or are simply looking to make the most out of your deductions, reach out to speak with myself or my business partner Jayden Hamer on the contact page of our website or by emailing your enquiry to enquiries@jetaa.com.au.
Written by Ben Audino
