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CLIENT INFORMATION COLLECTION FORM FAQ’S
We’ve provided simple, helpful definitions of key terms you’ll encounter in the client information form you will use for your Tax Return. These are here to make the process easier and ensure you feel confident as you fill it out. If anything is unclear or you need further assistance, please don’t hesitate to contact our team; we’re always here to help.
An ATO (Australian Taxation Office) pre-filling report is a summary of information the ATO has already received from third parties about your income and financial activity for a particular financial year. It’s a tool we use to help ensure your tax return is accurate and complete.
What Does It Show?
The pre-filling report can include data such as:
- Employment income: Reported by your employers via Single Touch Payroll (STP)
- Bank interest: Reported by financial institutions
- Dividends: From listed companies and managed funds
- Private health insurance details
- Government payments: Such as Centrelink or Services Australia income
- Share transactions and capital gains: From participating registries
- HELP/HECS repayment thresholds and other obligations
- PAYG instalments or withheld amounts
What It Does Not Show
While helpful, the pre-filling report is incomplete and should not be solely relied upon. It may not include:
- All deductions: Such as work-related expenses, donations, or tax agent fees — these need to be provided by you.
- Rental property income and expenses: You must supply detailed figures.
- Business or sole trader income
- Foreign income or foreign asset details
- Certain investment or capital gains details not yet reported to the ATO
- Timing delays: Some data may not appear in the report until later in the financial year
Why It Matters
We use the pre-filling report as a starting point to prepare your return, but you must review and supplement it with your own documentation. Letting us know about any additional income, deductions, or changes ensures your return is complete and compliant, and helps avoid ATO audits or penalties.
The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) considers someone to be a dependent child if they meet certain criteria. This definition is important when assessing eligibility for tax offsets, Medicare levy reductions, and some family-based assessments.
To be considered your dependent child, they must:
- Be under 21 years of age, and
- Not be working full-time, and
- Be wholly or substantially dependent on you for financial support (such as for food, housing, clothing, education, and medical care)
Alternatively, the ATO also considers:
- Full-time students under 25 years old who are financially dependent on you to also qualify as dependent children.
Why It Matters
The ATO uses this definition to determine things like:
- Your eligibility for certain tax offsets
- Whether you qualify for a Medicare levy reduction or exemption
- Calculations that are based on family income, not just individual income
If you’re unsure whether your child qualifies as a dependent under ATO rules, we’re happy to help review your situation.
If you’re claiming car expenses using the logbook method, the ATO requires that your logbook meets specific standards. Here’s what you need to know to ensure it’s compliant:
✅ What Your Logbook Must Include
- Start and end date of the logbook period (must cover at least 12 continuous weeks).
- Odometer readings at the start and end of the logbook period.
- Details of each business journey, including:
- Date of the trip
- Odometer reading at the start and end of the journey
- Number of kilometres travelled
- Purpose of the trip (must be work-related)
- Total kilometres travelled during the 12-week period (including business and private use).
- A calculated business use percentage, which is:
(Total business kms ÷ Total kms)×100\text{(Total business kms ÷ Total kms)} \times 100
🕒 How Long Is It Valid?
- A logbook is valid for 5 years, provided your usage pattern doesn’t significantly change.
- However, if your work situation or travel habits change, you must start a new logbook.
🚗 Other Requirements
- You must keep written evidence (e.g. receipts or invoices) for all car expenses: fuel, servicing, insurance, registration, loan interest (if applicable), etc.
- You must record your odometer reading on 30 June each year.
⚠️ Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Not recording every business trip in the 12-week period
- Providing vague trip purposes (e.g. “meeting” – instead, say “client meeting at XYZ Co.”)
- Forgetting to note odometer readings
Why It Matters
A non-compliant logbook can lead to rejected claims, reduced deductions, or even penalties in the event of an ATO audit. Keeping a detailed and accurate logbook helps claim the maximum allowable deduction while staying compliant.
An ATO SGC Statement (Superannuation Guarantee Charge Statement) is a declaration employers must lodge when they fail to pay their employees’ superannuation contributions on time.
If super contributions are late or unpaid, the ATO considers them non-compliant even by one day. At that point, you must legally lodge an SGC Statement and pay the associated charges.
✅ What the SGC Statement Includes
When lodging an SGC Statement, you’ll need to account for:
- ✅ The superannuation shortfall – the unpaid or late-paid super
- ✅ Interest – calculated at 10% per year from the due date until the statement is lodged
- ✅ Administration fee – $20 per employee per quarter
- ❗️ Nominal Interest continues to accrue until the ATO receives the payment
🛠️ What You Must Do as an Employer
- Lodge an SGC Statement with the ATO even if you’ve since paid the super to the fund late.
- Pay the SGC amount to the ATO, not the employee’s fund — the ATO will distribute it.
- Keep accurate records of pay and super to support your calculation.
❌ What the SGC Statement Is Not
- It’s not optional — it’s a legal obligation once super is overdue.
- It does not replace the super payment itself — it’s a penalty and recovery mechanism.
- It does not eliminate liability even if you make the super payment late — the SGC must still be lodged and paid.
📌 Consequences of Not Lodging
Failing to lodge an SGC Statement can result in:
- Higher penalties (up to 200% of the charge)
- Additional compliance action by the ATO
- Risk of being listed as non-compliant in ATO public records
✅ How to Stay Compliant
- Ensure super is paid quarterly by the ATO deadlines:
- Q1 (Jul–Sep): due 28 Oct
- Q2 (Oct–Dec): due 28 Jan
- Q3 (Jan–Mar): due 28 Apr
- Q4 (Apr–Jun): due 28 Jul
- Use Single Touch Payroll (STP) systems to stay current
- Set reminders or automate super payments to avoid accidental non-compliance
Summary
An ATO SGC Statement is a mandatory declaration and penalty for late or missed super payments. Lodging it promptly helps minimise penalties and shows good faith to the ATO. Staying on top of super deadlines is essential to avoid compliance issues and protect your business reputation.
Division 293 tax is an additional tax on superannuation contributions for individuals with higher incomes. It’s designed to make the tax treatment of superannuation contributions fairer by reducing the tax concessions available to high-income earners.
You can pay Division 293 tax if your income (including salary, investment income, fringe benefits, and super contributions) exceeds $250,000 in a financial year. If this threshold is met, the concessional (pre-tax) superannuation contributions you or your employer make are subject to an additional 15% tax, on top of the standard 15% contributions tax—bringing the total to 30%.
This tax applies only to the portion of your concessional contributions pushing your income over the $250,000 threshold or to all of your concessional contributions if your income exceeds that amount.
You can pay the Division 293 tax out of your pocket or by releasing the amount from your superannuation fund using a release authority provided by the ATO.
If you’ve received a Division 293 tax notice, the ATO has assessed your income and super contributions for the year and determined that this additional tax applies to you.
When you receive a private health insurance (PHI) rebate, it’s based on an estimate of your income for the financial year. This rebate is usually applied as a reduction to your monthly insurance premiums. However, when you lodge your tax return, the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) reviews your income. If your income exceeds what was estimated, you may have received too much rebate during the year.
This difference is known as an “excess PHI rebate.” You are required to repay the excess as part of your tax assessment. It’s not a penalty but a reconciliation to ensure the rebate you received matches your actual entitlement based on your income.
To help avoid this in future years, you can select a lower rebate tier with your insurer to receive a smaller rebate throughout the year.
The Medicare Levy is a tax that helps fund Australia’s public health system (Medicare). Most Australian residents pay it as part of their annual tax return. The standard Medicare Levy is 2% of your taxable income.
Almost everyone who earns above a certain income threshold is required to pay the Medicare Levy. For the 2024–25 financial year, you generally start paying the levy if your taxable income is over $24,276 (this threshold is higher for seniors and pensioners). The levy is calculated automatically when your tax return is prepared.
It’s important to note that the Medicare Levy differs from the Medicare Levy Surcharge (MLS). The MLS is an additional charge, on top of the 2% levy, that applies to higher-income earners who don’t have private hospital cover. The MLS is designed to encourage higher-income people to take out private health insurance and reduce demand on the public system. Depending on your income, it can range from 1% to 1.5%.
In summary:
- Medicare Levy: 2% of taxable income — paid by most taxpayers to fund Medicare.
- Medicare Levy Surcharge (MLS): Extra charge for higher-income earners without private hospital cover.
If you’re unsure whether the MLS applies to you, we can assess your income and private health cover status to confirm.
Some financial advice services may be tax deductible, but it depends on the nature of the advice and how it relates to your income-producing activities.
In general, fees for financial advice are tax deductible if they directly relate to managing your existing investments or income-producing assets — such as shares, rental properties, or managed funds. For example, if you receive advice on how to grow or manage your current investment portfolio, or assistance with record keeping or preparing paperwork for your tax return, those fees may be claimable.
However, initial advice or fees paid to set up a new investment or financial plan are usually not deductible, as the ATO treats these as capital in nature — meaning they’re part of establishing your financial position, not managing an ongoing income stream.
It’s also worth noting that some advice fees paid from superannuation accounts may be deductible to the fund, but not to you personally.
If you’re ever unsure whether a specific financial advice fee is deductible, feel free to send it through and we can assess it based on the ATO’s guidelines.
As part of our commitment to ensuring the accuracy and compliance of your tax return, we are required to ask you the same set of questions each year, even if your circumstances appear unchanged. While we understand this may seem repetitive, we cannot simply carry forward figures from previous years without reconfirming the information with you.
The ATO has advanced data-matching and evaluation systems in place, which are designed to detect inconsistencies or patterns that suggest information may not have been properly updated. Using prior year data without verification can increase the likelihood of a review or audit.
By confirming everything with you each year, we help ensure your return is accurate, compliant, and less likely to attract unwanted ATO attention. We really appreciate your patience and understanding — it’s all part of getting things right for you.
The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) defines a spouse as a person who is:
- Legally married to the individual, or
- In a de facto relationship with the individual.
A de facto relationship, according to the ATO, exists when two people:
- Are not legally married to each other,
- Are not related by family, and
- Have a relationship as a couple living together on a genuine domestic basis.
This definition applies regardless of gender — so both opposite-sex and same-sex relationships are included.
The ATO considers your spouse to be your partner even if you are not living together, depending on the circumstances (e.g., if the separation is temporary). Your spouse’s income and financial information may be relevant when lodging tax returns or claiming specific tax offsets or benefits.
Simply put Nathan and team has ensured all my accounting and tax needs just happen. Seamless to work with and always anticipating what needs to be done. NGR executes with excellence.
David Standen – DOLANS BAY MARINA
Nathan has acted as my business and family Accountant and Tax Agent, and I have found his knowledge and service to be exceptional. Nathan is of good fame and character, I would and have referred him onto numerous clients, friends and family members.
Gillian Rendall – THE SHIRE CONVEYANCER
NGR Accounting continue to pay a vital role in the growth of my business. Not only do they take care of the compliance aspect of tax, but are always on hand to offer strategic advice and another ‘set of eyes and ears’ when considering business decisions. They go above and beyond what is typically expected of a tax accountant.
Heath Hebenton – FINEXTRA WEALTH
The team at NGR Accounting are masters of their craft. They expertly dealt with my last minute tax return requirements and provided advice to guide my sole trader business. The team genuinely care and already have saved me a fortune in tax. If you’re looking for the best, Nathan and his team beat the rest.
Jasper Musgrave – TWISTED TRUTH PRODUCTIONS
I was using another accounting firm that didn’t really care about my business. Nathan and his team were exactly what I was looking for. They actually care about my business. They took the time to understand what I do. It feels like Nathan and his team are an extension to my business. Highly recommend.
Ryan Mitchell – TENS AUSTRALIA
Nathan Rigney and his team in NGR Accounting have been looking after my personal and business taxation and finances for over 3 years. His professionalism, service and dedication to me as a client is what keeps me coming back, and why I have no hesitation to recommend him. He and his team made it so easy to set up my company, and look after all my taxation needs.
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