How to File Individual Tax Return in Australia: Guide to Using PDFs for Your Tax Records
It’s getting near that time of year – tax time! Anyone who earns money in Australia needs to review their tax obligations and file a return for the previous year. Thinking about tax can seem like a daunting prospect, but tax preparation doesn’t need to be. We’ve put together some of the basics to get you started and help you lodge your return on time.
What you’ll learn
In this article, we’ll guide you through —
- a brief overview of filing tax returns in Australia
- keeping tax records for individual tax returns in Australia
- using PDF files for tax records
- tips for managing PDF tax records and files
Tax obligations for individuals in Australia
The Australian tax year, also often referred to as the financial year, runs from 1 July to 30 June. Tax returns for individuals in Australia are due annually on 31 October every year.
The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) is the government department in Australia that takes care of everything to do with tax. You’ll find, in detail, on their website everything you need to know and do that is related to tax obligations, from applying for a tax file number, different types of income and expenses, information on tax for Australian citizens, residents for tax purposes, foreign passport holders, and more.
You can lodge tax returns in Australia online via the ATO website, post them by mail, or use an accountant or tax agent to prepare your final return and submit it for you.
Keeping tax records for individual tax returns in Australia
When it comes to what you’ll need to complete your tax return, record-keeping is key to making it a smooth process. Keeping track of any work-related documents, receipts and paperwork that show your income and claimable expenses from the year will —
- make preparing and submitting your tax return easier
- support and backup the accuracy of the information you provide to the ATO
- potentially save your money in terms of the time a tax agent or accountant may charge, if you use one, for having to sort through your paperwork your tax return
Using PDF files for tax records
The Australian Tax Office (ATO) guidance for keeping individual tax records indicates they can be kept in paper or electronic formats, including photos, so long as they are clear and true records of the original, and in English.
In Australia, you need to retain tax records for five years after your annual tax return. So, having a system that keeps your tax records safe, secure, accessible, and shareable is where PDFs come in.
Tips for managing PDF tax records and files
Your tax records are the proof you need to keep of all your income for the year and any expenses you may be able to claim.
1. Start with a checklist of what you need for tax purposes
The range of documents you need to keep for tax purposes will vary on your individual circumstances. Create a checklist of what you need.
Income records
Income can be from a range of sources, not just your salary or wages. Remember to include all and any jobs you have done throughout the year, government allowances, pensions, annuities, overseas income, and any income you might have earned from your hard-earned cash from banks, investments, shares, and so forth. Don’t forget to include any additional income you’ve earned throughout the year from any additional part-time work, side hustles, freelancing, and jobs in the gig economy as an independent contractor.
Expense records
Claimable expenses may include deductible expenses, such as receipts for charitable donations; work-related expenses - including travel or use of a personal car or home for work purposes; and the cost of having a tax agent or accountant submit your return if you use one.
2. Think about when and how you will keep your tax records
It’s not unusual to receive the paperwork you need to retain for tax purposes in a range of paper and electronic formats. Converting or scanning tax records to PDF files means you’ve got one easy system to go to when you need it, and then store safely and securely electronically should you need to refer to them again later.
Managing your tax receipts and paperwork
It’s a good idea to get organized from the very start of the financial or tax year. Once you’re in the habit of regularly naming and filing your documents as you receive them, say once a month or quarter, it’s easy to keep it up. If not and you’ve got a year’s worth of records to collate, never fear. Organizing your tax records and putting them in PDFs as a project at tax time is perfectly achievable.
Here are some tips on how you can work with PDFs to manage the tax paper trail –
- Convert photos to PDFs — if you’ve got a bunch of paperwork and physical copies of receipts, and no scanner to send them as PDFs to your computer, you can also just take photos on your phone. It’s easy to convert JPEG, PNG, BMP, GIF, and TIFF files to PDFs.
- Scan to PDF with your mobile — if taking photos and then converting to PDF isn’t your thing, yes, we do have an app for that! It’s perfect for keeping on top of scanning receipts and documents as you receive them.
- Merge PDF files — sometimes you’ve multiple PDF files that you want to put into one. You may want to put all your income documents, such as income from employers and any other sources into one file. Or maybe you’ve been able to be extra giving this year and have a lot of tax-deductible receipts for donations to charities that you support.
- Add pages to PDF files — an alternative to merging multiple files can be simply adding pages to PDFs as you receive documentation that you need to retain for tax purposes.
Take the time to PDF your tax documents
PDF records for tax filing make sense. Portable Document Files (PDFs) have stood the test of time. Adobe invented PDFs back in the early 1990s to be an electronic file format that was easy to share between different operating systems and devices, and it still is. You can still easily view, print, share and comment on PDFs with the free Adobe PDF Reader, work like a pro in the cloud with Acrobat Pro, and even do some pretty cool stuff simply by dragging and dropping into Acrobat online.
