Who does their Tax themselves on MyGov and who uses an accountant? My husband and I got married earlier in the year and there is nothing complicated about our Tax. MyGov makes sense to me, my husband on the other hand thinks it's too hard and that most people use accountants! What do you think?
12 Replies
My Gov. Never had a problem so far :)
Its easy to do your own tax if its straight forward.
I didnt even finish high school and have done our tax returns for 10yrs and never had a problem! Its just putting the data in and it will calculate your return, simple! Do it yourself and show your hubby you can save yourselves some money
MyGov. I've done it for myself and husband the last few years and it's so easy. Half of the information is already in there for you. Takes me half an hour at most and tax return back within 2 weeks
I do ours through H and R block online, there's still a small fee (I think it was 30 dollars) but an accountant looks over it before it's lodged with ATO. We get our returns really quickly and doing it yourself is really simple if your taxes are basic.
My gov. Straight forward wages and salary returns are easy as. I do my own, my husbands and my sister's. I also do my dads who is a self funded retiree and a fair bit more complicated.
Mygov for sure! Don't waste ur money paying someone to do it when u can. It's so easy and alot is already prefilled!
I do mine on mygov because I don't earn that much or claim that much. I'm sure though that I'm probably not claiming everything I am supposed to. Husband has a business and goes to an accountant. He usually has massive claims so going to an accountant is peace of mind that it's all getting done properly and he's still able to claim things he claimed in previous years because the rules have changed or whatever. Plus they give good advice for the following tax year. So I personally think if you don't earn mych and can't really claim anything do it yourself but if you are earning in the higher tax brackets and claiming alot or it's a bit complex than the knowledge and know how of an accountant is worth every penny. Plus you can claim their fee the following year.
If youre on centrelink and have no tax or low income and can get all of your tax back, mygov is the way to go its not difficult.
If hes on a high income, pays a lot of tax, or its a bit more complicated, then an accountant will be able to get more back and he doesnt risk incurring a debt down the line as he knows its all been done correctly. For how little they charge, relax and let him outsource it.
For basic wages and returns I've always done ours (and some in laws). This year is a little different as my partner is now a contractor so I've told him I'm not doing it. I've also got a raise so I need to see an accountant going forward anyway to ensure I stay under the tax bracket I'm creeping towards.
We used to go to an Accountant, who was a family friend and had been seeing him for nearly 20 years, at $220 per person, with tax returns of less than $200 per person and this was when we had an investment property as well, so we should have been getting back loads more.
2 years ago we changed to MyGov and did it ourselves. First year $5000 combined return, second year $3500.
Turns out our Accountant wasn't claiming everything he was supposed to and we now feel ripped off. Especially for the investment we had. We ended up paying big time for his incompetence.
You can go back through previous years and re do them! Not sure how far back you can go.
Heya,
I work for the ATO. Pretty much all the advice you’ve been given is correct. If it’s straight forward, do it on myGov. It does get a bit more complicated if you run a business under a sole trader ABN and have to work out things like depreciation on assets etc. but if you work for salary and wages and are computer literate, it’s really simple.
After working for the ATO for a long time and speaking to tax agents all day, I’d be careful who I put my trust in to do my taxes.