Most common mistakes for personal tax
Did you know what the most common mistakes on individual tax returns are
Surprise surprise – it is omitting income. So if you are not yet aware the ATO can easily detect you omitting income such as payment summaries, interest, dividends, Centrelink payments and even capital gains all via your TFN being attached to records which are sent into the ATO such as bank interest, payment summaries and dividend income. If you have quoted your TFN – the ATO will ultimately (it may take time) detect the income. Typically if you have not included some income, they will advise you and if you do not dispute it they will adjust your notice of assessment and add the additional tax payable to it. This error we believe occurs most when people complete their tax return early in July, when typically not all the information is yet available to the ATO, tax agents and prefill reports.
Other common mistakes include:
- having a wrong TFN to employers, banks and on tax returns
- ATO spelling your name incorrectly.
- Not providing a correct bank account for your refund. This will normally delay your refund.
- Many do not complete the income test and spouse details.
- Lodging more than one tax return in the same year.