Hi Everyone,
My annual income is $102,000 per year and I am a single earner with a family of four.
From 1st of July 2015, the Govt. is reducing the FTB part B income threshold to 100,000 which will reduce my FTB B payments to zero. At the moment it is around $3950/year.
Just wanted to discuss ideas for reducing my income by $2001 to bring it down to $99,999 to continue receiving the payments.
Your ideas are welcome. I guess many other people will be in the same boat as well.
Sadly someone still thinks 100k pre tax per annum for a family is a lot.
I don't. But then I don't understand why your partner wouldn't get a job, assuming that your kids are school-aged? So this in most cases is a lifestyle choice. Not judging. But I stand by what I said: I shouldn't have to subsidise your life choice.
My wife and I both work. We have 2 young children. The house still gets cleaned, clothes gets washed and (sometime) ironed, shopping gets done, meals get prepared, the dog gets taken for his walks…etc and we both spend quality time with our kids. So it can be done and we're not the only doing it. 40% of families with children under 16 are dual income earners.
If what you earn is not enough to meet your needs, then get your dependent partner to help out.
Serious question , what do stay-at-home parent do while the kids are at school? I don't actually know any stay-at-home parent.
I take it that I just got negged by a stay-at-home parent. Why not answer my question? It was a genuine question. I would really like to know.
My wife spends her time on charity work, volunteering, etc.
We don't quality for any assistance anyway, so she can pick/chose where her time is spent.
My wife does:
Because of this when I get home from work dinner is ready and i spend my evening with quality time with the family, not just housework then bed.
If my wife went back to work, after childcare we might make an extra $20 per day. For us its a no brainer. Once the little on is in school it may be worthwhile. For now we get by on one income.
My wife goes to cafes and the beach with our little one, every day. I asked when she will go back to work- she then suggests we have another kid…
:)
Get you tubes tied, don't tell her!
Live in Sydney on $55K a year, 2 children, 1 at School another at Preschool 1 day a week, wife stays at home, works an occasional Saturday just for a little bit of extra cash now an then but earns less than $5K a year.
We are in a similar boat to Nicktorious, we would be (at best) $20 ahead a day, more likely less, if my wife worked. With before and after school care and day care, which are also subsidised by the government it just doesn't make sense.
It just doesn't make sense to have us both being smashed at the end of the day and the kids being in care for a measly $100 extra a week. I know $100 isn't a small amount (that's almost 8 packs of eneloops) but when factoring in quality of life then I think it stacks up.
On the one day my wife does have to herself she has a day for herself, because even on the weekends Dad is still not mum and my girls always go to harass her first even though I am there to help, so that one day is her weekend. Once our youngest goes back to school we will re-asses and see if she can find some work from 10am - 2pm so we can still get away without having to have before/after school as I would prefer we try to be there for the kids.
I too wonder about the amount of assistance people get, it is too much for some, I think the $100K limit is where it needs to be. I think it should be scaled back in some areas as well as it really is not balanced and some people are getting more than they really need
If I was on $100K (or even the apparent average income of $72K) I feel I would not need it, this is just where I feel my situation is. I think we budget well, we don't really have holidays besides visiting family interstate and locally and we pay all our bills on time. We don't have a mortgage, and only a small amount of credit card debt which we are desperately trying to kill, but it is a slow and painful death.
I have no complaints on a whole, if anything even I get too much assistance and am happy for some to get trimmed, but without some assistance I would be struggling no matter the budgeting that I currently do.
Upvoted almost entirely on your point that $100/week = 8 packets of eneloops. Needed some humour!
My wife is a casual teacher. Sending her to work would be a gamble. There is a glut of a surplus 40,000 teachers in NSW. Many of those are younger than my wife and if you don't think ageism happens go take a survey of your local primary school. If my wife takes on any work we have to find child care and have to pay whether or not the child goes. My wife has 2 degrees and it makes absolutely zero sense for her to work at least until both my children are at school full time, and even then it's going to be hard to find after school care.
As for your question of what stay at home parents do, are you freakin' joking? Clearly you don't have kids. Do you think children raise themselves, or a house tends to itself. 30 or 40 years ago stay at home parent would be the norm. Now the norm is both parents working themselves to death while the kids run wild and society complains that kids these days have no respect. Women's lib movement got it wrong. It wasn't suppose to double the workload for both parents. And people think you're rich.
Some people claim the communists funded & pushed the womens libs to destabilize the west and cause the failure of western society.
Perhaps it could be phrased as if she has some say in it instead of, "sending her to work". Perhaps that why you still quote "women's lib", you sweet old fashioned thing you.
Oh no did I offend your delicate feminist sensibilities? Gimme a break. That is exactly what I would be doing - SENDING HER TO WORK. She actually WANTS to stay with the kids while they're under 5. So I'd be the one pushing her out the door based on a financial decision. Which is why I haven't done that. She has had and does get a say.
And I spoke about a historical movement using the exact terminology they used at the time.
Not every man you meet is a pig. Get over yourself.
You are the one mentioning pigs, I don't know why … You are a tad sensitive, is it just old fashioned aggression?
Your sarcasm was clearly passive aggressive and you accused me of speaking about my wife in an offensive manner. What exactly did you expect and why on earth would you try to make out that I'm being "sensitive"?
Not wanting to start any fights… but why do so many people insist on how expensive it is to live in the city. Fuel costs in the country (and inflated grocery costs, and distance to / lack of services) are an issue too.
It's not as simple as just looking at housing costs (hell… we pay more in rates to out local council than most of the state; and the provision of services is pretty weak in comparison).
Moved from the city to the country recently. As a family we receive 50% less wages but have 200% more of a life. Yeh fuel is more expensive, but local food can be cheaper. Great quailty rump steak for $9.99 kg, free eggs from the chickens, home grown spinach.
I have time and money to take the kids to activities, couldn't afford the time or money in the city. And having no extended family to help, the city was killing me, most of my wages in the city went to pay off some baby boomers mortgage. Overall city work for me was cost neutral.
Shame as I loved the job.
And yes our rates our high, but hey I can get to some of the best surf beaches within twenty minutes, so I'm not complaining. Love it
high rates? Thats got nothing to do with land coverage right… zzz
please don't start that free-range egg thing again….
When is the last time you had to choose between a 2 hr commute each way to work, and living in a suburb with a median house price of half a million dollars and/or enduring a high crime suburb where it's not safe to walk outside at night? You're going to compare your fuel bill to mine are you? What do you think it costs to travel 15km when you're crawling through traffic. Not to mention the wear on your car. 30km might be cheaper and quicker in the country.
I live in the country and our median house prices are almost half a million (thanks sydney retirees) it's not like a high property market is a capital city thing, it's an australian thing and is so because we are willing to pay for them.
I don't think that when people bought houses 30, 40,whatever years ago they had crystal balls to see what houses prices would do in all those years later. You may want to consider what the over seas buyers are doing to property prices before you eat the oldies. Or, the government lack of planning to provide enough land for developers to build on.
@syousef:
http://www.realestate.com.au/neighbourhoods/port%20macquarie…
Port Macquarie. $437k it said when I just looked and right down the bottom you can see a bunch of similar places close by with similar median house prices. Coffs, Sawtell, nelsons bay….Brunswick heads is $700k median. Add to that port has one of the lowest median incomes in the state due to being the oldest electorate in the country (so full of retirees with little income).
I don't know how most of the town affords a house here…but I suspect cashed up retirees drive it up a lot. (The other places I listed are big retiree areas too).
Really? You are cherry picking and complaining about prime realestate at seaside resort towns and calling that "the country"???
Give it a rest. My parents live on the Central Coast and the reason the prices are high is it's absolute heaven to live near the lakes and ocean. People retire and commute from there because it's a slice of heaven. Are you also going to complain about the poor retirees at Point Piper?
There is much more affordable housing across the nation.
In case you hadn't noticed nearly all of us live beside the sea….so that makes it an australian thing. It's not a capital city and consists of the rest of the population so yeah I would call it the country. I did specifically say that it is so because we are willing to pay. And have you been to these seaside resort towns with prime real estate. Hate to break it to you but suburban coffs and port is the same as suburban everywhere else, it's just a much shorter drive to the beach than Penrith and there's no infrastructure because the populations are too small.
Did you even read my comments? Poor retirees in piper point? Wtf? I was saying sydney retirees come to these coastal towns and drive up prices…I didn't say anything about poor retirees.
You live in Sydney and think its the only place with high property prices, move to perth or melbourne or Brisbane and they are at least equal. You just said the Central Coast was high…everywhere people want to live is high it's not a sydney exclusive thing. And if you don't like it move to wilcannia and quit crying.
Oh but I can't get a job there….exactly, and you can't in port macquarie either which makes it crazier that it has such high prices, but people are willing to pay them because almost all aussies want to live by the sea.
Maybe look at affordability compared to wages and then see where Sydney sits as it's got much higher wages then everywhere but tiny mining towns like port headland. (And you don't want to know what their property prices are like)
Because Australians living in Albury or Alice Springs aren't Australian?
There would be plenty of real estate a little further inland that doesn't cost anywhere near that much.
The statistics are very clear about Sydney being different.
http://images.smh.com.au/2014/01/02/5047793/wide-housing-pri…
And here's affordability compared to wages as you requested:
http://www.rba.gov.au/publications/bulletin/2012/dec/2.html
Note this graph - the green line is Sydney:
http://www.rba.gov.au/publications/bulletin/2012/dec/images/…
Perth has gone stupid too, but see that Sydney dominates.
Instead of making up what you think ought to be true try actually finding information.
Nice job cherry picking arguments.
that was one simple and obvious example I gave. I could just as easily have said public transport (lack of services) and access to medical care (if you wanted to think rather than fixating solely on fuel prices).
You're talking about cherry picking but want to talk about lack of services and medical care when nothing is stopping you from going into a big city and/or ordering online to fulfill that hole in your life. That isn't even close to being on the same level as having to raise $1 million just for a place to call your own, or pay the equivalent in rent all your life. You would have to literally commute every single day to live in the country and work in the city.
and how exactly does one "order online" to see a specialist? or get radiotherapy or oncological treatment?
Sometimes SERVICES are location based (hospitals, ambulance etc).
ACCESSIBILITY is a major issue that you're clearly ignorant of.
you use Albury and Alice Springs as examples (very good! you looked at the first letter of the alphabet! now you MUST now what it's like living in those areas)… but still want to talk about crime as though it's something specific to "certain suburbs". (seriously… if you had half an idea about the number of… oh.. lets even just go with Arson for an example you'd think twice before mentioning Albury).
Accessibility sometimes means going into a major center for treatment when it comes to hospital. Albury is about 6 hours. That's not great but it's doable. If you have a chronic condition you may need to temporarily relocate. As for ambulances don't pretend that you can't get one in Albury. These are not circumstances that compare with working all your life and still being unable to pay off a home.
Why not ask your boss for a pay cut of 2k and then claim 4k benefit which makes you 2k better off.. You can Prob negotiate more time with the wife and kids.
He/she would be better off than $2k better off. They would be $3950 better off with FTB, less the $2k x 0.61 ($1,220) = $2730 approximately
Sorry if this doesn't make much sense, but I am trying to say he/she would also save the tax @ 37% and Medicare levy @ 2% on their reduced $2000 earnings
who dares neg me! glares lol.
Because asking for a pay cut is asking never to go beyond that $100k barrier. FTB doesn't get much larger….if you push through to $105k you'd be better off again.
fringe benefit add on to the taxable income.
How about take some study and claim self education? It improve your skills and provide you with reduction of income for that year.
The rules are fairly strict in this area so if he were to go down this route the education needs to be linked to his current vocation.
hmm… does not reduce your taxable gross income
http://www.humanservices.gov.au/customer/enablers/adjusted-t…
Can you ask your boss to give you a weeks leave without pay eachyear? One week less work aand and pay should do it.
Nope. Not 1 week, I did the calculations you need to take off 6 days.
Taking 5 days will only decrease it to $100,038.46
Sorry, I mis calculate how much u earn, but u get my point.
Yes this, take Leave without Pay is the best option. You may need to have a considerate employer and explain the circumstances.
As already mentioned, take a week off work. However, instead of using that week as an added holiday week, swap roles with your stay-at-home partner. Send her out of the house for the hours that you normally would work and then assume her role.
It'd give her a week off a job with no annual leave and give you an appreciation of what her week is like at home.
Donate $2001 to charity
are you sure donations work? i thought it was just a deductible but when they calculate it, they take into account all of that. I maybe wrong though haha.
Taxable income means your wage less allowable deductions, which donations are.
FTB is calculated on your Adjusted Taxable Income which is simply your Taxable income adjusted for things like reportable fringe benefits, reportable super contributions etc. (But your allowable deductions are not added back).
Donate $2001 to charity and you lose that $2001. If you kept it you'd only be taxed about $500 on it. So you're throwing away $1500 in an attempt to make $4500. For that year you would profit but you'd only have an extra $3000. The following year if worked very hard and in fact had a pay increase to $105k, you'd be throwing away $5 to $4500.
That's the really crappy thing about the abrupt cut off. The years you work harder to get ahead you actually go backwards.
If you're unhappy about that change you're going to hate the new change to FTB Part A, escpically if you have 4 kids, so no A or B for you
From 1 July 2015, a per-child add-on amount will no longer be used to calculate a family’s higher income-free area for Family Tax Benefit (FTB) Part A. The higher income-free area of $94,316 will remain, without the add-on amount of $3,796 for the second FTB child and subsequent FTB children.
http://www.humanservices.gov.au/corporate/publications-and-r…
I think the only way to get around it is to discuss with your employer then take some unpaid leave.
If you take 6 working days unpaid leave it will drop your annual income down to just below 100k.
If you take 5 days off you will miss the cutoff by $38.46, therefore only 6 days will make it below 100k.
Well folks, I don't see where this is all leading, trying to add an expense (perhaps even create one) in order to make what? Just a net of $2000 from FTB Part B. And all that brings OP's income to the threshold of $100,000 whereby he just manages to meet FTB B limits. If OP is PAYE earner, will almost certainly get CPI wage rise yearly which will take him once again over the limit! He has to report his income to Centrelink and believe me, they watch over you like hawk when you are at the ultimate limit anyway. So he reports, and they will cut of his FTB B and once again, he goes about trying to reduce his gross to the 100000 limit. CL only indexes once a year and chances are any pay rise you get will not coincide with their indexation. And then if you don't report, and come reconciliation time, they find out you didn't qualify, you have to repay everything not due to you. If you spend all your time trying to beat Centrelink, you have less time to think about ways to earn much more, boost your income and make money! I would give up being on this FTB B bandwagon, and be looking to boost up my salary by more than the $2K net that OP is trying to claw back from CL.
The 100k cut-off won't be indexed. That's the magic of it from the Government's POV.
Simple
Make a donation and reduce the income
Seriously, can't believe all these replies and not a single
Person thought of it
If you read earlier posts, there have already been donation suggestions. However I think it's silly to go through all this just to get back $2K net from Centrelink. I guess I can't read OP's intention like the way he does. Looks like everytime OP gets a payrise or some income drops into his lap, he's going to dread it and start worrying about 'how am I going to reduce my taxable income so that I can still get FTB Part B'.
I'm in a similar situation to the OP but am able to adjust my annual salary simply by cutting back on weekend work. Due to a colleague going on an extended holiday over summer I had to work every weekend for a couple of months but now that he's back and the financial year winding down I'll be backing off the weekend work, spending more time with my 5 kids and basically sliding in at around $98-$99,000.
It makes perfect sense to find a sweet spot whereby you're maximising your income relative to your efforts, which means educating yourself about tax law and centrelink benefits, and making adjustments where possible.
Large corporations employ accountants to do this exact same thing, while retires and baby boomers avoid a lot of tax through super, and small business owners write off assets through depreciation. Yet some of the less reflective types from those same groups will look down on a working family with a bunch of kids and claim they are "working the system"
To quote someone:
It always amuses me how people confuse paying tax with making deposits in a savings account.
The tax base is not a savings account for you to use your own tax money for things that benefit you. It is there to benefit society as a whole. If you are fortunate to never need to draw on that base in the form of welfare, then that is something you should be proud of. Not lament.
I couldn't agree more.
Have to agree that what our young generation has to go through to get that first home is a painful contrast to the luxuries and tax breaks enjoyed by baby boomers. Yet the very same baby boomers hold office in parliament and they are not about to change things to their disadvantage. Remember most of those pollies had free university education, if not their kids also. (Need I mention a certain 'minister' whose child received a 'privileged' scholarship and fee free college education)
Congratulations to the Australian government. Way to stimulate the economy. People working less on purpose because if they work harder they lose money…yet they won't tax corporations because "you can't punish success".
We are one of the highest taxing nation and it's because the welfare system is massive and generous. Just read that Singapore about to increase its highest marginal tax rate to 22 % for earners over $320K imagine having a 22% max tax rate? And the govt feels anxious about this hike. Malaysia has a maximum 26% tax rate for highest bracket. But these 2 places do not have a welfare system.
Have you seen how the poorest people live in Malaysia? I would be disgusted if my government only taxed 26% and let it's people live the way they live.
Try comparing western countries.
Poverty in flat rate countries are disgustingly low.
I have a cousin working as an expat in Singapore, he is basically paying no tax, based on legitimate tax strategies.
For a nation of our size and population our taxes are actually low.
I've noticed that the people who really complain about taxes are those on the 100k mark. They have this delusion that they earned every dollar, they ignore that they had a free education, that they could not of earned that $ if it were not for the structure of the nation.
We live in a nation where individuals can cross 'class' barriers. Theres not much of that in those flat rate nations, born poor stay poor.
It's actually quite legal as per John Howard et al making it so, and not avoidance for retirees to not pay tax on payments from their super fund. It is quite lawful.
Best way to "reduce" your income is to negatively gear an investment property, complete a tax withholding variation form (get taxed less throughout the year, which helps with cashflow), then pay someone $500 to do a Tax Depreciation report- this will give you approx 3k in additional deductions per year.
Won't work. Rental dedications are still counted as income for family tax purposes.
Bugger
I am in the same situation as op and FTB B came very handy paying off some bills (2x car insurances and 2x regos) but mate I am pretty sure we will manage to survive without to be fair….:-)
Donations are tax deductible. Donate enough to get below the threshold
I only had one parent working whilst growing up, taxable income less than $50k, 3 children in the house. We didn't have a luxurious lifestyle and we survived. Just gotta know how to spend your money wisely, and not splurge on everything you see.
1) Use your car for 4000 km of work related trips. On a cents per Km basis, that at least $2k worth of deductions.
2) unpaid leave for 6 days
3) do a work related course or buy some work related items.
4) investigate the dozens of other allowable work related deductions allowed.
several people have mentioned unpaid leave and i think
purchasing annual leave is a better way of achieving this result with the benefit of your annual leave, sick leave, long service leave etc. continues to accrue.
if you take unpaid leave, your benefits stops for the week or two that you take unpaid leave.
every week of annual leave you purchase, you will get ~2% pay cut. Just make sure you take the leave else this won't work.
If you get a bonus, you need to watch out for that too because that's income too.
This thread is a great example of why you should not listen to anyone on the inerwebs. So many folks confuse Taxable Income and Adjusted Taxable Income. It's really not that hard guys…
Salary sacrifice, super, donations, negative gearing, etc WILL NOT work.
http://www.humanservices.gov.au/customer/enablers/adjusted-t…
As a handful pointed out. The only way is to work less. Spend third time with the kids. In this instance - that time off work actually pays for itself with generous returns
Oh and if anyone still confused. Expenses for work or education won't cut it either.
Are you sure of that?
Donations and work related expenses reduce taxable income and adjustable taxable income at the same time. There is no add back for these items as there is for RFB, RSC or net investment losses.
Ah - you're right. There doesn't seem to be an add back for expenses and donations.
I give up. Now I'm about to google 'taxable income' and ' adjusted taxable income' to find out the difference myself. Accountant has just adviced that a donation will be allowable to reduce OP's income, you say not?
Thanks everyone for your sincere advices.
I was initially thinking of increasing the Super contributions so that the money stays with me but few of the above comments suggest that it is not an option any more so purchasing leave looks like the best option for me at the moment as the company allows it too.
Living in Sydney with two kids is not easy.
Wife not working because younger kid is under 1 year so all lies on my shoulders.
Rents, House Prices, Insurances, bills, Baby expenses, school expenses etc. it all add ups and especially for the people who are migrants and don't have deep roots here.
I am paying tax of around $25k per year so getting any tax benefit from the Govt. is not like I am being a leech, it is a portion of my tax money given back to me.
To be honest, decreasing the FTB-B threshold from $150k to $100k per family is a bit harsh especially for a single earner.
Loosing $4k per year is a big loss for me as it will decrease my savings substantially and it will take more longer to save for buying a property and the way prices are going up in Sydney it will probably be out of reach after a couple of years. I don't know much about other big cities in Australia but Sydney is very expensive to live so you have to find ways to increase your savings for a better future.
or go part time…
Not if this is any much help, but other cities (Melbourne is second most expensive after Sydney), like Adelaide, Brisbane, are more affordable. Perth comes 3rd most expensive. You might consider a move interstate if the job is there.
I don't think decreasing the threshold is harsh as you say. Earning 100k a year is a hell of a lot of money. It really is. I think you may be getting a bit greedy if you ask me.
I only earn a quarter of what you make and I have 3 kids a wife and a mother in law to look after, all on the one income. I don't receive any benefits other that the FTB. I'm probably on the poverty line and it's tough, but at the end of the day, my family and I are all happy and have everything we need.
Instead of trying so hard to get your 4k from the Government, why don't you look at your life style and re evaluate what you are spending all your money on. You'd probably save a lot more than 4K.
OP admitted that he is using the FTB to bolster his savings (to save for a property). I am pretty sure that is not what the FTB is intend for. Genuine people (like yourself) use it towards the basics in life and most people are happy that tax dollars are used in this manner.
How about if OP said that FTB is used towards his family expense and he saves some of his own salary for a rainy day? Does it sound different if I word it that way?
Not everyone spends every penny that they earn and saving for a property to house his own family is something a lot of responsible breadwinners do…
If you say you are happy earning $25k a year then I might say that you are a very content person. I am paying that amount as tax every year so I think I deserve some benefits.
In my humble opinion, we have to increase our income otherwise it will be difficult when it comes to the retirement age. Working more is one way of increasing but I am already working enough hours/week.
If someone is getting around 4k year and it suddenly stops, it definitely hurts.
A better approach by the Govt. could be to gradually decrease FTB if your income crosses 100k.
You don't 'deserve' anything. Every working person pays tax and for the tax you get hospitals, medicare, schools, roads, armed forces and police and plenty of other things foreigners do not have access to in their countries. Lose the sense of entitlement.
Actually you don't get any of those things from your tax. While I completely agree with your sentiment (I think we should pay more tax on some items like fuel). The fact is our PAYE Tax essentially solely funds welfare. Hospitals, education, roads etc comes mostly from GST taxation.
So while I don't want our taxation reduced I cartainly would like it shifted, pensioners get far more than a uni student and that's terrible (they had a lifetime to build wealth) my family get some assistance through child care rebates and I happily take it but I'm also aware it's ludicrous that we do.
I would love to see less middle class welfare but it's never going to happen when we have a massive middle class (which is definitely a good thing)
Good on you for looking after you mother, can you share your secret on how do you manage with 25K on food,utility and rent without centerlink support ?
Thank you.
When I got retrenched and started my home business with my wife, we really had to smarten up with everyday expenses. Not having a regular income was a wake up call.
I think our biggest savings are made through our food buying.
We really shop around and don't just shop at one supermarket, we go where the specials are. Buying whole meats from butchers and shopping at the fruit and veg markets can save you a bucket load.
We have cut back on luxuries such as takeaways and going to the movies and things like that, but we make sure we always treat ourselves occasionally. Could be a 6 pack of beer or a pack of Tim Tams. There's so much more I could tell. I could write a book on it.
We make sure rent is paid every week though. That is a must. Electricity bills are hard to keep up sometimes. I usually ask for a payment extension if I can't pay on time and they are happy to do that for me.
Also, if anyone is a low income earner with a health care card, ask your electricity/gas company if you are entitled to a rebate. It's not something they advertise, but a lady at Origin Energy was kind enough to let me know about it. I get at least $50 taken off my bill.
How on earth do you support everyone on $25,000??
Edited… Never mind, didn't read before posting
I make 60k a year and have been told by centerlink that I am not eligible for this tax benefit. I have a one year old, and another coming on July. What the hell is going on lol
Your partner works?
If both yourself and your partner are working, then you're not entitles to Family tax B benefit.
"Family Tax Benefit Part B gives extra help to single parents and families with one main income."
http://www.humanservices.gov.au/customer/services/centrelink…
Yes, but your partner can still earn an income.
"If you are the secondary earner and your partner earns $150,000 or less, you can still get some FTB Part B if your income is below:
$27,065 a year, if your youngest child is under 5 years of age, or
$21,043 a year, if your youngest child is 5 - 18 years of age
"
Taken from: http://www.humanservices.gov.au/customer/enablers/centrelink…
I was also under the assumption that none of these changes have passed parliament yet, so the limit is still $150K for the time being?
It starts degrading quickly after about $5k
2 babies in 18 months! That's some impressive work. Hats off to you, sir :b
Edit: and congratulations to you and your partner :)
Haha thanks! Wife is technically employed, but is on unpaid maternity leave. Looks like because we had the 3 month government maternity payment, we are not eligible to claim the tax benefit during that same financial year. Totally confusing, but we'll have to brave the centrelink lines to get reassessed soon!
Buy a $2500 gaming laptop - deduct it from your tax
Sell the laptop on eBay
Repeat next year.
Don't you have to depreciate the laptop? If you sell it on eBay, you'd have to declare what you sold it for
A pensioner can have up to 50k tax free… and still receive the pension.