Have you, over the course of the past financial year, received a government assistance payment, support payment or disaster relief supplement?

There have been a number of cases where people who received financial assistance from the government were hit with additional owed tax to the ATO, due to their payments increasing their income threshold.

When lodging your individual income tax return this year, you will need to declare certain Australian Government payments, pensions and allowances in your tax return. If you did not elect to pay tax on those payments, this could affect the payment received from your return (or mean that you actually owe money to the ATO).

Some of the taxable payments that you may need to include in your tax return include:

• the age pension
• carer payment
• Austudy payment
• JobSeeker payment
• Youth allowance
• Defence Force income support allowance (DFISA) where the pension, payment or allowance to which it relates is taxable
• veteran payment
• invalidity service pension, if you have reached age-pension age
• disability support pension, if you have reached age-pension age
• income support supplement
• sickness allowance
• parenting payment (partnered)
• disaster recovery allowance (but not in relation to 2019–20 bushfires)

Most of these pensions, payments and allowances will pre-fill in your tax return if you lodge online. You will need to make sure that all information submitted is correct though. Verify the pre-filled information with your own records to ensure that you are lodging the right information, and not missing anything.

Do you have concerns about your tax return this year? Uncertain about deductions, or if certain taxes will apply to you? Want a little more help or information about your government payments?

Be prepared for your individual income tax return with a consult with us. We can advise you on your tax returns, and potentially help you minimise the tax you will end up paying.