Your personal information is the key to your identity. Protecting your personal information is just as important as locking your front door. Do you know what you need to protect and how? The Australian Taxation Office has a webpage dedicated to tax related scams. Their latest scammer video advising taxpayer’s how to protect themselves against.Your personal information, like your identity — is unique. You use it to verify who you are and to access things like bank accounts, loans and tax returns. Protecting your personal information is important. But do you know what to protect? Personal information includes your name, address, date of birth, credit card details, myGov details, tax file number and driver’s licence details. Without proper protection your personal information can be stolen. For example, a scammer might use a fake job recruitment process to ask for information like your tax file number. Scammers can also email you, knock on your door and collect your details via online ‘classifieds’. Like locking up your house or covering your pin at the ATM, make protecting your personal information part of your day. Here are a few simple tips to follow. Firstly, don’t put your tax file number on your resume and only give it to an employer after you’ve started a job. Never share your tax file number on social media. If your relationship status changes, think about changing any passwords you shared, and if you’re going to use a tax agent, make sure they’re registered. Protect your personal information and you’ll protect yourself.

The 2013 tax extension deadline is a about a month away on October 31th. Chances are if you missed the first April tax deadline, you may be still procrastinating and will be rushing to make the final October 31th tax deadline. There’s no need to worry. If you start preparing now, and follow these 6 tips, you will be on your way to beat the tax deadline and avoid a late filing penalty. 1. Gather Your Documents – Make sure you have all your documents, receipts for expenses, mortgage interest, and your kids’ social security numbers in front of you when you sit down and file. 2. Don’t Forget What You Did Last Year – Don’t forget that spring cleaning you did last year or other expenses may lead to a nice tax deduction. Taxpayers rushing to the deadline may forget they donated to charity, had job search expenses, or unreimbursed employee expenses. Have receipts for these types of expenses ready when you sit down to do your taxes. If you forget any expenses when you sit down to do your taxes, TurboTax automatically double-checks your tax return as you go, searching for every tax deduction and credit you’re eligible for. 3. File Electronically – Save money and time by easily and accurately electronically filing your taxes online from the comfort of your own home. Your information is sent electronically to the ATO. And you will receive notification of receipt from the ATO. 4. Review Information Entered – Make sure you double-check the names and social security numbers you entered. Incorrect social security numbers will cause you to miss out on valuable tax deductions. 5. Still File If You Owe – Even if you owe money, you will still need to file your taxes to avoid a late filing penalty. 6. Contact Our Credentialed Tax Experts if You Need Help – If you have any last minute tax questions don’t hesitate to contact our credentialed tax experts. AussieTaxRefunds.com.auis up to date with the latest tax laws and is here to answer your tax questions so you can beat the final tax deadline. Already filed? If you filed using AussieTaxRefunds.com.au, don’t forget to save a copy of your tax return for your records by October 31th.

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There are a few simple tips everyone should consider to maximize their personal tax refund. Tip 1. Claim a deduction for every expense you are legally entitled to claim. This is the simplest way to increase your tax refund. Keep a receipt for everything that relates to your work and you are required to pay for. If you aren’t sure whether you can claim a certain item, keep your receipt anyway – our AussieTaxRefunds Consultant will advise you how to claim everything correctly. Don’t overdo it! Faking claims and adding guesses will lead to ATO reassessments, audits and surprising tax bills arriving from the Australian Taxation Office. You must claim legitimate items that you have receipts for only. There are many honest and legitimate ways to increase your personal tax refund and AussieTaxRefunds agent will help you with. 2. Keep good records Each and every year we hear from our clients during tax season that they spent countless amount of time searching for receipts from the past 12 months. Those people wasted hours of their time. Probably, they missed out on hundreds or even thousands of dollars in their tax refund! Unfortunately those clients lose money at tax time… But solution is simple: be organised, keep tracking of receipts or fill in car logbooks regularly. Organising your receipts and logbooks will take just 5 minutes a week and have you hundreds or even thousand dollars. 3. Get the advice of professional accountants Over 75% of Australians use a tax agent’s services like AussieTaxRefunds.com.au. And there is a good reason! Using an accountant’s help with your tax return will not only save you time and stress – it will also ensure that you get a better tax refund. An accountant will check your return from errors and and can also find extra deductions or tax offsets that you were not aware of. And here is the best part: any fee your accountant charges for your tax return are fully deductible with your following year’s tax return. 4. Never miss the small stuff! A $5 donation to charity or a $10 music album might not seem like much, but each of these small purchases across a yea can add up to hundreds of dollars to your tax statement. Don’t miss any money that you can claim as deductions on your tax return. Whenever you buy anything related to your work, it doesn’t matter how small it is, always keep the receipt. Keeping track of the small purchases is a surest way to ensure you receive the best possible tax refund. 5. Use a tax agent service like AussieTaxRefunds.com.au for your tax refund 75% of Australians lodge their tax return via a tax agent. You want to know why? A tax agent is someone working on your side to help increase your tax refund and help you avoid ATO trouble. But tax agents are not all the same. Accountants from AussieTaxRefunds.com.au are qualified and experienced professionals. Plus the form you fill in is the most advanced, complete and easy-to-use tax form in Australia Why use AussieTaxRefunds.com.au? It’s simple. You can use the fastest and easiest online tax refund any time, from anywhere, using any computer or tablet. Plus you will receive the help and support of highly qualified accountants and consultants whose job is to maximise your tax refund. Our accountants will find anything you may have missed as well as suggest further deductions you may be entitled to. Your return will be checked twice by an accountant before lodgement! 92% of AussieTaxRefunds.com.au users agree that the quality advice and checking makes the online return better… David Potts, Sydney Morning Herald columnist, points out that Australia’s tax legislation is about 16,000 pages – roughly six times bigger than the White Pages! Who wants to read that? Your accountant does! To be confident you’ll get the best possible tax refund, you don’t have to read tax legislation, do an accounting degree and complete tax agent training. A tax agent like AussieTaxRefunds.com.au will do it instead of you, avoiding ATO troubles while maximising your tax refund. And this is all for a very low tax-deductible fee.