Do you receive income from Uber or AIR BNB? If so you should be declaring it as income in your tax return! Uber does not pay tax on behalf of their drivers and AIR BNB does not pay tax on behalf of their hosts, therefore tax on that income will be payable after you lodge your return and receive your notice of assessment from the tax office.

If you drive for Uber you should have an ABN and be registered with GST regardless of your income as you are in business and come under transport laws. If you rent out residential rooms you do not require an ABN or GST registration, though you do need to declare the income in your Income Tax Return.

Basically income from the emerging sharing economy is taxable income you must declare; if the income is taxable there are also tax-deductible expenses you need to be aware of!

The tax office will also look carefully at work related deductions as it is an area of abuse with 8.5 million Australians claiming $20 billion in deductions; you need to keep your records for expenses for cars, phones, travel, and home offices. The ATO is also concerned about taxpayers increasing their investment loans to buy cars or take a holiday and claiming the extra interest as tax deductions.

Tax returns need to be lodged by October 31. For those using a tax agent the lodgement date can be as late as May next year, so long as the taxpayer is not in dispute with the Tax Office.

Please contact David Jepsen from our office if we can be of assistance.

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