Quote:
Originally Posted by Sweetpea
Still no clue what you're talking about...
It's much simpler here. You fill in a form, submit it before april first, and by may, watch the money arrive on your bank account  |
That's the way it is for most folk here - the PAYE (Pay As You Earn) lot. Your tax (and Medicare levy) is taken from your paypacket and submitted by your employer directly to the government. A relatively simple (online) tax return is submitted every year (after the 30th June), and, as you say, assuming you've deductions or other positive adjustments, the money is deposited into your bank account.
The self-employed, self-funded (eg. retirees living on investment), et cetera, submit returns, and are, or may be, required to submit quarterly amounts and returns (PAYG - Pay As You Go). Plus there's Business Activity Statements for...well, businesses, which self-employed folk have to deal with, for instance. Self-funded retirees, like myself and TL1, have to deal with PAYG. It's crap for individuals, because it's really set up for businesses...as per the newsletters the ATO sends me, telling me about new small business news, and hints and tips. Their website helps you
as a (small) business. It's hard to find simple information that relates to individuals just earning retirement income from investment (such as simple term deposits).
[insert rant about ATO keeping PAYG addresses separate from Annual Return addresses, and blaming me for not keeping the former "up to date" despite calculating my PAYG based on my most recent Annual Return]
As with most government operation, it caters well for the norm', and poorly for any variation from it. Thankfully, I've always found speaking to the ATO to be very good. Despite reputation, they've always gone well beyond just plain "helpful", and seemed to always try to get the best outcome for me (whether calling as an individual, on behalf of someone, or on behalf of my employer).
[insert second rant about the ATO Online Annual Tax Return software requiring MS Windows, despite being out for the last eleventy billion years]
Cheers,
Marc