From the title, I assumed this was some neat third-party tool. It didn’t occur to me that they would be talking about the official tool. I had no idea that barely a third of people used it. I just assumed that’s how most people would do it. It’s how I’ve always done it, and until this year (thanks to having done a few more complicated tax things like selling loads of shares and paying off HECS early) I had never even considered doing it any other way. It’s literally free and simple as.
I worked for ITP for a tax season way back in the day. Did a 12 week course that CES subsidised and voila I was a professional. The base cost was like $79 (30 odd years ago) and it was the equivalent of filling in your name and address details in the current system and pressing submit. Every other box that we filled in was an extra $5, unless you had business income. Anyway, some people came in because it was cheaper than an accountant and they couldn’t be arsed doing it themselves the rest were just people with no clue. The number of arguments I had with people telling them that “I could claim your uniform laundry expenses but it won’t change your refund, because you are already getting all of you tax back and I will just have to charge you more money now” was mind boggling.
Filling out the basics of a tax return should be taught in school, it’s not hard.
From the title, I assumed this was some neat third-party tool. It didn’t occur to me that they would be talking about the official tool. I had no idea that barely a third of people used it. I just assumed that’s how most people would do it. It’s how I’ve always done it, and until this year (thanks to having done a few more complicated tax things like selling loads of shares and paying off HECS early) I had never even considered doing it any other way. It’s literally free and simple as.
I worked for ITP for a tax season way back in the day. Did a 12 week course that CES subsidised and voila I was a professional. The base cost was like $79 (30 odd years ago) and it was the equivalent of filling in your name and address details in the current system and pressing submit. Every other box that we filled in was an extra $5, unless you had business income. Anyway, some people came in because it was cheaper than an accountant and they couldn’t be arsed doing it themselves the rest were just people with no clue. The number of arguments I had with people telling them that “I could claim your uniform laundry expenses but it won’t change your refund, because you are already getting all of you tax back and I will just have to charge you more money now” was mind boggling.
Filling out the basics of a tax return should be taught in school, it’s not hard.
> because you are already getting all of you tax back
Sorry, but what do you mean here? Are these people who already have a taxable income within the tax-free threshold?