Maximise Your Tax Refund With Health Insurance And More

Did you know that you can receive a great tax return when you have private health insurance? Did you realise that you can claim a lot of your utilities expenses on tax if you work from home? Tax time is a good opportunity to take stock of your spending for the last financial year and work out when you can include in your claim. You can also check on your personal budgeting and make sure you’re not spending more than you should be.

We take a look at the three things you can look at to maximise your tax refund and more tips for tax time.

Private Health Insurance

Private health insurance does more than just give you peace of mind about your healthcare in case of an accident or injury. It also can help you avoid paying additional tax during the year.

If you fall into the high-income bracket, and do not pay for private health insurance, then you’ll be slugged with the Medicare Surcharge. As a result, your tax refund will be lower.

If you earn more than $90,000 and don’t have private health insurance, you should consider taking out a policy to reduce your tax liability.

Electricity And Gas Bills

Throughout the last financial year, many people who may have normally worked in an office environment have been working from home. If you spent any time working from home, you are able to claim some of your normal household expenses on tax. Keep a record of the hours that you have worked from home and use this to determine how much you should claim on your electricity and gas bill. Remember, even if you work from home full time, you can’t claim all of your home running expenses on your tax return – because everyone uses electricity and gas for personal use as well!

Internet Bills

Your home internet bills may have been a bit higher if you were working from home in the past twelve months. As with your power usage, you can claim a percentage of your internet bill on your tax refund if you used the internet for work purposes. However, you will still only be able to claim a fraction of your usage as a work expense.

Tips For Tax Time

The best way to ensure you get the most back at tax time is to keep accurate records through the year. Without copies of receipts and invoices, it can be hard to claim everything that you are entitled to.

Keep track of anything you’ve spent that relates to earning your income, and make sure you also include often-forgotten expenses such as self-education in relevant courses, charitable giving, and items of clothing or tools you need to complete your job.

Another good idea is to use a registered tax agent to help you maximise your claim. A tax agent can guide you through eligible deductions so that you don’t miss out on anything. Plus, tax agents fees are another deduction for next years’ tax time.