Free Tax Return Help for Low Income Earners - Tax Help Program

Posted in ESTAS BLOGS OFFERS, SPECIALS & ANNOUNCEMENTS

Friday July 30, 2010

Free help for low income earners with their tax returns and baby bonus claim.

If you want free help filling out your tax return and you are on a low income our trained Tax Help volunteers may be able to help you.

What is Tax Help?

Tax Help is a network of volunteers who provide a free and confidential service to help people complete their tax returns at tax time. These volunteers are people from within the community who give up their time each year. They are not Australian Taxation Office (ATO) staff, but they receive training and support from the ATO.

Where is Tax Help available? 

Tax Help is available in all capital cities and many country centres across Australia, with volunteers operating from convenient locations in the community. In most places the service is available from July to October.

Who is Tax Help for? 

Tax Help is for people on low incomes including, but not restricted to, those who are also seniors, students, people from non-English speaking backgrounds, people with a disability, Aboriginal people or Torres Strait Islander people. Since tax can be complex, volunteers are only able to help with fairly straightforward tax returns. They can help identify and record income received through:

• Pensions
• Australian government benefits and allowances, such as unemployment and sickness benefits
• Salary and wages
• dividends
• managed funds, and
• interest

Am I eligible for Tax Help? 

The following table will help you determine if you are eligible for Tax Help.

If you are …	and your taxable income is …
a single person	$40,000 or less.
married or de facto	$40,000 or less plus $2,500 for each child.
a single parent	$40,000 or less plus $2,500 for each child.

Then, you are eligible for Tax Help if none of the following situations applied to you in the previous income year:

• you were employed as a contractor (for example a contract cleaner or taxi driver)
• you were in business, including being a sole trader
• you sold shares
• you sold an investment property
• you owned a rental property
• you received royalties
• you received distributions from a trust other than a managed fund
• you received foreign income other than a foreign pension or annuity

What can Tax Help volunteers help with? 

If you need to fill out a tax return a volunteer can help you do this. In some cases people on low incomes do not need to lodge tax returns. Tax Help volunteers can work out if a tax return is necessary in your case. If it is not necessary, and you lodged a tax return last year, it is important that the ATO knows this. Tax Help volunteers can help you to fill out a Non-lodgment advice if this is necessary. Tax Help volunteers will also be able to assist you with claims for refund of imputation credits and Education tax refund.

Tax Help volunteers cannot assist clients with:

• business tax returns
• partnership and trust matters
• capital gains tax (CGT)
• rental property.

What to read/do next

Once you have determined that you are eligible for the Tax Help program and want to make an appointment please phone 13 28 61. Tax Help is only available July to October each year.

* Information Sourced from ATO, click here to visit ATO

This Information which was supplied from the ATO website, was last modified: Friday, 22 January 2010

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