Do You Go For Copy Pasting Your Previous Year Expenses? Be Aware Of ATO’s Sight!

Arpit Umrewal
3 min readMay 22, 2021

If you are thinking of copy-paste your expenses for the previous year, you should beware of the ATO sights. The tax office has issued a fair warning to every taxpayer if they opt for the “copy-pasting” the work expenses they claimed last year.

The people who have accused of traveling to their workplace or the laundry expenses, but the truth is the people were working from home. So if you are also doing the same mistake and copy-pasting the expenses, stop doing that until you have some proof or evidence for that expense.

You can consult with the tax accountant Melbourne and then claim the expenses that are real. If you are mentioned or try to claim any work-related expenses, it will not be eligible, such as car and travel, clothing and laundry, etc.

While it has been seen, there are many people who have taken the right decision and do not make any false claim? ATO’s data analytics will check out for the people who have taken high claims this time.

How ATO do knows you have claimed high?

  • ATO will check out the taxpayer’s deductions, and if someone with a similar job or income has higher deductions, they will look closely for that particular taxpayer.
  • They will look closely for that particular person who has worked from home. If those people have maintained or increased their expenses such as car, clothing, or travel expenses, they can get trapped because they claim the expenses they did not even spend.
  • But according to Tax Accountant Melbourne CBD, if you have the evidence for that particular expense, then you can claim that; otherwise, you will not be spare.

The ATO has updated that about 8.5 million people in Australia have claimed the false expenses in which nearly $19.4 million is claimed for work-related expenses for the year 2020 in which people do not even get out of their houses for work.

Expenses that people have claimed falsely

The expenses that are claimed falsely by people are-

  • Car and traveling expenses
  • Clothing and laundry
  • Business trip

However, the Tax Accountant Melbourne CBD has said they have expected the rise in the claim but not the traveling and clothing. They have also said the people with the job that in which they have to come across with the people they can claim the expenses on PP kit, gloves, masks, sanitizers, and other work-related things.

Expenses that people can’t claim

If you are at home, then the expenses that you are spending on tea, coffee, and other things cannot be claimed. It is because they are your personal expenses. Other expenses that are ineligible is the child’s education and large upfront cost.

The expenses such as a computer you need for the work purpose cannot be claimed now because it should be spread for many years.

Outcomes

Now, here comes the final part in which if a taxpayer claims a higher deduction than their income, then they may expose to the capital gains whenever they leave their houses. It means when they will work from the office again; then they will have to pay the capital gains.

That is why it is important for everyone to consult with the tax accountant Melbourne and if there is any extra claim that you have written should be removed immediately; otherwise, you may have to pay more when you leave your house.

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