Tax Time

[enotoarts]

Before I start I'll just mention I know the rules (another post on tax was picked up) I'm not looking for financial/taxation advice I just want to know what you do and I know I can't apply your situation to my situation but I might be able to figure out what I am supposed to do.

This year is the first time I have made money with photography and I will need to put in a tax form for it. I have another job which is my main income so photography is kind of the 'pocket money' job. I have an ABN so I can claim my deductions and what not but I'm not earning enough to charge GST yet so that won't be a problem.

What I want to know is if you have a full time job and have photography as a side job how do you do your tax? do you do them both together as one tax return or do you do one for your regular job and another for the side job? or do you just take everything to a tax agent and have them deal with it all?

Thanks

[ameerat42]

It's always just one return, but you may have to use the Tax Supplement form as well.

How do I know? Because that's how I have to declare any rental income - which is not "usual day job income".

But you'd be right in taking the whole lot to a tax agent and letting him do it.
Am.

[reaction]

I have an ABN so I can claim my deductions

Where did you get this info? Until you earn 20k/yr you can't claim deductions nor do you declare income.
I'm not sure if ABN changes things.

rental income is completely different because it's one of the most common investments. Not many people have half-hobbies like photography where gear $>>>> income!

You could call the ATO get some free advice

[enotoarts]

thanks for you answers, i've contacted the ato and they are going to get back to me. As far as I'm aware you have do declare all income received even it is just small, but we will see what they say.

[reaction]

well you dn't care about the income, it's the deductions you want right?

[nwhc]

Hopefully reaction is right but i have always though you had to declare everything.

Having said that i give a big pile of all my stuff to the accountant and he makes it look good :)

[kiwi]

You cant claim photography expenses against any other income than that generated by the photography

Whether you need to record the income is largely determined by the hobby test, most tax advisers and ATO will say the income figure is over $10K, so, not sure about the $20K though I have heard that as well

But, the income is not the only test applied and you can not rely on that alone.

Great advice to get FREE advice from the ATO - or pay an accountant, visit H&R Block etc

[reaction]

yeah, great thing about ato advice is that you can hold it to them, whereas if an accountant makes a mistake, it's your fault not theirs.

[reaction]

Here's a relevant doco

http://www.ato.gov.au/businesses/content.aspx?doc=/content/25193.htm

PDF, pg36

you carry your loss unless you have some way to offset your other income.

[simonw]

Get an accountant from H&R or similar to do your tax, it will cost you less than $200 and they know all the tricks, so you will end up getting more than that back!

Remember, ATo will give good advice but their mission is to maxamise government income, not to minimise your tax repayments.

[Mark L]

Remember, ATo will give good advice but their mission is to maxamise government income, not to minimise your tax repayments.
The ATO will give advise according to the law.

[reaction]

to get $200 'back' they'd have to 'find' at 30% marginal rate $667 of deductions that YOU WOULD HAVE MISSED.
that's just to break even.

[AutumnCurl]

I spoke to my mother today, who is a agent at the tax office, and some of the information that has been mentioned here is not correct.
There are a few ways you can do GST and claiming it depends on that.

Please ring the ATO and speak to a small business get expert for advice, it really is situation based and also the thresholds have recently changed.

[kiwi]

I read that Abraham Lincoln once said not to rely on tax advice on the internet

[Colinc1]

One of the biggest deductions you are able to make is on your vehicle/travel expenses, there are about 3-4 different ways of calculation your eligible deductions.

Go to the ATO site, look up the above options, do your calculations on each option, then pick out the one that gives you the best return (depending on your circumstances )