I'm wondering if I'm assuming wrong that accountants can work magic and find deductions etc.
I mean surely they will try to find you the most they can rather than ask what deductions you have if you've already handed over your expenses.
I'm referring to Payg & home office s/e income & shares
You are assuming wrong, they can't work magic.
The law is the law, and deductions are only available if the tax law allows them. Your tax agent should have extensive knowledge of the law and therefore be able to ensure you claim all deductions available to you, however they cannot magically make deductions appear.
They can also only prepare your tax return based on the information you provide. If you fail to advise of relevant deductions then the tax agent can't just guess and make it up.
There really should be no reason to use a tax agent if you are an individual with relatively simple tax affairs; PAYG income, interest, dividends, standard deductions, even rental properties. Just do it yourself via e-tax and save yourself the accounting fee. If you are unsure or anything, search it on the ATO website, everything that you could ever need is on there if you take the time.
Disclosure: tax agent for 13 years.
Whats the maximum home office and car deductions you can claim without cgt and a car logbook?
You can claim up to $300 in deductions without having written evidence to substantiate them, however there are special rules for car expenses and they aren't included in this $300 exclusion. See here
You can use a 34c per hour rate for your home office deduction, so long as you can substantiate how you guesstimated the number of hours. See here
For car deductions, it depends how many KMs you travel during the year, as there are varying rules for whether you travel more or less than 5,000 KMs. see here
For all car deductions however you do need to be able to reasonably show how you calculated / estimated your work related KMs, so being able to produce a diary or log book to justify it is advisable if they ever ask!
CGT (capital gains tax) isn't really relevant, unless you meant something else?
Disclaimer: this is general advice only and you should do your own reading to make sure it is relevant to you before you rely on it
you need a dodgy tax agent.
I understand where you're coming from Orgazmo! We are in the same boat. I posted a request asking for a reputable tax agent just the other day and basically I was asking for the same help as you. My husband works from home and we have been paying an Accountant (what seems to me) quite a substantial percentage for his efforts however, he doesn't seem to have any care factor and I'm sure we don't always get the best possible return. I'm not suggesting I want an Accountant/Tax Agent that is "dodgy", I'm just saying the average "lay man" might not be aware of what is actually claimable and may need a little "helping hand" here and there. Good luck!
It is understandable where you are coming from. Unfortunately from a tax agent's point of view, there is relatively little money to be made in preparing simple personal tax returns.
Those tax agents aren't thinking about it the right way. Good service (regardless of the clients fee) leads to more clients (and more fees). There is a point where it's simply not profitable (ie: tax agents that charge $100 or less) but I still believe you should give everyone the same quality service, you never know what they might do in life or whom they might refer or introduce you to.
I like the way you think… too bad you're not in Melbourne! ;-)
Smulder and Blockey, do you both have websites?
Sent you a private message.
replied
Accountants don't work "magic" but they should help find potential deductions or offsets that may apply to you.
I'm an accountant at a mid tier firm and at the very least we always run through two checklists with clients to help us ensure they've disclosed all their income and deductions. Then once we know what the client does for a living we usually talk about some occupation specific deductions (ie: hairdresser would usually have scissors and clippers or a PE teacher at school usually requires sunglasses and sun block).