June 30, 2022

Tax Time 2022

It’s time to prepare for your 2022 tax return

30 June is with us, so now’s the time to get things in order for your 2022 tax return. Here’s our tips for this tax season. You can also download our tax time checklists and book your tax appointment online.

Key focus areas for 2022

For Tax Time 2022, the ATO will be focusing on four priority areas:

1. Record-keeping

The ATO will be taking ‘firm action’ to deal with taxpayers who deliberately try to increase their refund, falsify records or cannot substantiate their claims.

Here is information on the penalties that may be imposed for false or misleading statements or for failing to meet record-keeping obligations.

2. Work-related expenses

Some people have changed to a hybrid working environment — i.e. partly in the office and partly at home — since the start of the pandemic, which saw one in three Australians claiming working from home expenses for 2020–21.

If a taxpayer has continued to work from home, the ATO would expect to see a corresponding reduction in car, clothing and other work-related expenses such as parking and tolls.

There are three methods for calculating a deduction for working from home expenses:

The fixed rate method — a rate of 52 cents per hour for additional running expenses incurred as a result of working from home. The work-related portion of depreciation, and phone, data and internet expenses, is also deductible.
The actual cost method — the actual additional expenses incurred as a result of working from home.
The temporary shortcut method — an all-inclusive 80 cent per hour rate, only available from 1 March 2020 to 30 June 2022.

The ATO reminds taxpayers that:

if the taxpayer’s working arrangements have changed — do not just copy and paste the prior year’s claims
if the expense was used for both work-related and private use — the taxpayer can only claim the work-related portion of the expense.

If the taxpayer has kept track of their expenses with the myDeductions tool in the ATO app, they can email the records to their tax agent.

3. Rental property income and deductions

Rental property owners need to include all the income they have received from their rental, including short-term rental arrangements, insurance payouts and rental bond money retained.

The ATO advises that if it notices a discrepancy, it may delay the processing of the refund as it may need to contact the taxpayer or their registered tax agent to correct their return or to ask for documentation to support claims made.

For more information visit www.ato.gov.au/rental

4. Capital gains from crypto assets, property, and shares

If the taxpayer disposes of an asset such as property, shares, or a crypto asset, including non-fungible tokens (NFTs), they will need to calculate a capital gain or loss and disclose it.

Through the ATO’s data collection processes, it knows that many Australians are buying, selling or exchanging digital coins and assets. The ATO expects to see more capital gains or capital losses reported this year. the ATO also reminds taxpayers that they cannot offset crypto losses (capital losses) against their salary and wages.

For more information visit www.ato.gov.au/crypto

See the cryptocurrency 2014–15 to 2022–23 data-matching program protocol

Book your Tax Appointment

To schedule a tax return appointment this year, you can book through our online booking system here, or phone our office to schedule a time. Appointments are available face to face, online via Teams / Zoom, over the phone, or by email.

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