I know I’ve already given you a couple of reminders to lodge your 2014 income tax return if you haven’t already done so – but there’s an added incentive for some!

For anyone who is eligible for family assistance payments, you must lodge your claim with the Department of Human Services (Centrelink) by 30th June, 2015.

Part of finalising your claim includes lodging your 2014 income tax return by 30th June, 2015 also.

This deadline relates to the following payments:

• Family Tax Benefit (FTB)
• Child Care Benefit (CCB); and
• Single Income Family Supplement (SIFS)

A couple of notes for you to consider are that if you are not required to lodge an income tax return, you should notify Centrelink of this by 30th June, 2015 to enable your payments to be finalised.

And if you happen to be in the small group who have been granted an extension of time (by the Australian Taxation Office (ATO)) to lodge your income tax return which pushes your due date beyond 30th June…you should note that this extension does not apply to your family assistance claim – as such you are still required to lodge your income tax return by 30th June, 2015 to meet Centrelink’s requirements for family assistance.

If you have already lodged your 2014 income tax return but have not received your reconciliation of family assistance, I recommend you contact Centrelink to discuss.

Regards

While browsing Facebook a few weeks ago, I stumbled across a post on the Asthma Australia page about an upcoming fundraiser inviting participants to do 5km each day in the month of May.

The 5km can be done anyway you can – running, walking, swimming or riding – and I thought to myself…”that’s a great idea”!

So here I am on 1st May pledging to you all that I plan on completing 5km a day in May in the name of raising awareness for Asthma Australia!

Asthma is a condition affecting the airways. Any number of things can be a trigger for asthma and when it happens the signs and symptoms include:

• the muscles around the airways tightening
• the inside lining of the airways becoming inflamed; and
• extra mucus is produced

Feeling short of breath and having trouble breathing is a terrible situation to be in, and the anxiety and distress resulting from this can aggravate the condition.

With 1 in 10 Australians diagnosed with Asthma – this disease is one of the most common in our country, so if you, a family member or friend is showing signs of asthma, please see a doctor.

For more information, you can visit the Asthma Australia website.

So tell me, are you up to the challenge of doing 5km a day in May?

Regards

If you have Private Health Insurance, then you have no doubt recently received a notice in the mail advising of your new premium from 1st April, 2015 – and in most cases I expect that will be an increased premium!

At the same time the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) have changed to way the Private Health Insurance (PHI) Rebate applies, and the amounts of the rebate.

The ATO advise that “To be eligible for the rebate, you must have a complying health insurance policy and meet other criteria. The rebate amount will depend on your single or family income. You can claim the rebate as either a premium reduction or a refundable tax offset. From 1 April 2014, the rebate percentage is adjusted by a rebate adjustment factor.”

Essentially, there are a number of factors which will impact on your ability to claim the PHI Rebate, namely the type of cover you have, when you started this cover and your income level.

But the key here is the new rebates as adjusted by the rebate adjustment factor.  You can use the table here to look up your income level and the relevant rebate for the period 1st July, 2014 – 31st March, 2015 and 1st April, 2015 – 30th June, 2015.

There’s no need to contact your Private Health Insurer to make a change to the rebate percentage, unless you have determined that you may fall into a different income threshold.

Regards

Over the past couple of weeks we’ve been looking at budgets:

– budgets for start up enterprises (part 1 and part 2)

– the profitability budget, and

– the cash flow budget

The information provided in these posts is not intended to be exhaustive, this is merely a chance for me to let you know about some of the areas I’ve come across where others have had a few troubles, and which I would love for you all to consider…

Having said that, there’s one more issue I’d like to raise with you – and that is a reminder that budgets aren’t just for business, they can be for individuals and households too!

Anyone who is savvy with a spread sheet can prepare a budget, but there are also some pretty amazing (and cost effective) software tools available for assisting with this process as well as recording your actual results and in some cases allowing for electronic filing of documents!

If you’re unsure where to start, The Tax Chic can help!

Regards