Thinking about tax can be \u2026 taxing (see what we did there!) – but it is a vital topic to wrap your head around, especially as you enter the workforce.<\/p>\n
Even if you\u2019ve found a casual or part-time job, or maybe you\u2019re even picking up some freelance gig work and earning a little side income – chances are you\u2019ll need to consider if you need to pay tax and how much.<\/p>\n
For the next instalment of our Explore Careers Money Management Guide<\/a>, we\u2019re tackling the topic of tax. Let\u2019s get stuck in!<\/p>\n When you earn an income, you\u2019ll begin contributing towards tax.<\/p>\n This is a sum of money deducted from your pay that goes towards supporting essential services in our communities, including:<\/p>\n The amount of tax deducted from your pay depends on how much you earn. Tax brackets are set across different pay scales, so if you earn more, you\u2019ll pay a higher percentage in tax.<\/p>\n Think of it as the contribution you make towards maintaining a functioning, healthy society that we all need to use at some point.<\/p>\n Once you start work, you will likely have to pay taxes.<\/p>\n Tax is deductible from your earnings once you earn over $18 200 a year. This equates to around $350 a week – and that\u2019s an accumulative amount.<\/p>\n So, if you have a couple of small jobs or casual work you take on over the summer, you’ll need to pay tax if the total you earn is over this amount. So, even if you\u2019re just mowing lawns and helping your neighbours with other odd jobs, if you\u2019re earning money from this, you should declare it for tax purposes.<\/p>\n Other things that contribute towards income include:<\/p>\n It\u2019s best to declare everything you earn when you file your tax return each year, so the tax office can accurately assess what you owe.<\/p>\n You can find a complete list of things you need to declare as income here<\/a>.<\/p>\n The good news is that paying taxes is – for the most part – really easy!<\/p>\n When employed, your employer automatically calculates and makes payments towards your tax on your behalf. When you receive a payslip, there will be a section that advises \u2018Pay As You Go\u2019 (PAYG) – this is how much tax your employer has paid for you.<\/p>\n When it comes to filing your tax return, all you have to do is check that all of your personal details and employment information are correct, declare any other income you might have earned, and submit!<\/p>\n In some cases, you may have paid too much tax, so you\u2019ll receive a refund (yay!).<\/p>\n In other cases, you may have paid too little tax, and you\u2019ll be given an invoice for how much you need to pay (boo!).<\/p>\n If you work for yourself, you won\u2019t automatically pay tax, so it\u2019s important that you set aside a percentage of your income each time you earn some to pay towards any tax you may owe when you file your annual tax return.<\/p>\n When you start work, your employer will ask you for your unique Tax File Number<\/a> (TFN).<\/p>\n Your TFN stays with you for life, and you\u2019ll need to provide it to every employer you work with so that they can attach the contributions they pay on your behalf to you. The government will use this number to track your income, superannuation and any governmental debts you accrue (such as HECS-HELP, the student loan that helps support your university tuition fees).<\/p>\n Without a TFN, you will be charged a higher percentage of tax and won\u2019t be able to access government benefits or HECS-HELP.<\/p>\n You don\u2019t need a TFN before starting work, but if you want to be organised, applying for one is very easy.<\/p>\n Once you start paying taxes, you\u2019ll need to lodge your tax return<\/a> at the end of each financial year. In Australia, the financial year ends in June – not December (just to be confusing!).<\/p>\n Tax returns need to be submitted by October 31st each year.<\/p>\n When you\u2019re just starting, filing your tax return is super easy. You can use the Australian Taxation Office\u2019s (ATO) free myTax<\/a> tool, where most of your information is prefilled. You\u2019ll simply need to check all the information is correct and submit it.<\/p>\n When submitting your tax return, make sure you:<\/p>\n And that\u2019s it!<\/p>\n As you earn more or try your hand at freelancing, there will be other things to learn and know about taxes and maximising your income, but you can learn these things as you go.<\/p>\n When you\u2019re just starting, the best thing you can do is get your head around the basics, get a comfortable understanding of what tax you need to pay and lodging your tax return.<\/p>\n Tax doesn\u2019t have to be taxing, and the more you invest in your knowledge in this area, the more benefits you\u2019ll reap! Keep your eyes peeled for more from our money management series coming in the future!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Thinking about tax can be \u2026 taxing (see what we did there!) – but it is a vital topic to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":15465,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[37],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/explorecareers.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15464"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/explorecareers.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/explorecareers.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/explorecareers.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/explorecareers.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15464"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/explorecareers.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15464\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15466,"href":"https:\/\/explorecareers.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15464\/revisions\/15466"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/explorecareers.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15465"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/explorecareers.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15464"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/explorecareers.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15464"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/explorecareers.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15464"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}First Things First: What Even Is Tax?<\/strong><\/h4>\n
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Should You Be Paying Tax?<\/strong><\/h4>\n
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How Do You Pay Tax?<\/strong><\/h4>\n
How Does the Tax Office Know How Much Tax You\u2019ve Paid?<\/strong><\/h4>\n
What is a Tax Return?<\/strong><\/h4>\n
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Taxes: They Don\u2019t Have to Be Taxing!<\/strong><\/h4>\n