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[eBook] 'The Ultimate Tax Deductions Guide for Australians / Office Workers' - $16 (20% off) @ Smart Tax Deductions

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[eBook] 'The Ultimate Tax Deductions Guide for Australians / Office Workers' - $16 (20% off) @ Smart Tax Deductions
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bobloblawlawblog on 10/10/2020 - 15:20 smarttaxdeductions.com.au (2431 clicks)
Last edited 10/10/2020 - 15:56 by 1 other user
producthunt

Saw this browsing Product Hunt a few days ago. There are quite a few sample pages on their home page https://www.smarttaxdeductions.com.au/ to check out to see if it is something you'd get value from.

I bought it and have been skimming it this weekend whilst I work on my return.

My 2c:

  • There is a money back guarantee if you don't like it
  • Cost of the guide is tax deductible for this FY
  • 200 pages long
  • Nice page design
  • Easy to read
  • Not gonna teach you how to pay $0 tax but explains the concepts well and goes through some practical real life examples and how to navigate "grey" areas
  • There's two versions of the book. A general one and an office worker one. I got the latter but assume the code works for both

The main difference between this and the ATO website is I found this a lot easier to read and much better organised. I always end up opening up about 5 tabs on the ATO site and giving myself a headache. The FAQs and Examples were more practical and thorough than what i've seen elsewhere.

The biggest benefit (to me) was that the author is willing to tackle some grey areas. I find this is my biggest frustration of the ATO site and a lot of other stuff I read, they outline the only white and the black.

If you fancy yourself being pretty handy with the topic already its probably not for you. I'd say its beginner to novice level.

EDIT: 1 thing to mention. The portal you pay in seems to charge you in USD. Use your citibank/ing etc cards to avoid any foreign currency xaction charges.

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closed Comments

  • theHMASfriendship on 10/10/2020 - 15:21
    +15

    Is this tax deductible?

    • bobloblawlawblog on 10/10/2020 - 15:30
      +17

      Apparently so

      It should fall under buying tax reference material i think

      https://www.ato.gov.au/individuals/income-and-deductions/ded…

    • ely on 10/10/2020 - 22:48
      +1

      I clicked through only to ensure that someone had asked this, and I'm relieved to see that someone had. Well done sir, well done.

      • capslock janitor on 11/10/2020 - 16:09

        how much can we get back

        • ely on 11/10/2020 - 17:31
          +1

          Depends on your marginal income tax rate.

          • capslock janitor on 11/10/2020 - 17:31

            @ely: best and worst?

            • ely on 11/10/2020 - 17:37

              @capslock janitor: I'm not an accountant, but… 0% marginal tax rate (including medicare levy) at very low income, so nothing back, 47% back (45% income tax + 2% medicare levy) over 180k taxable income = 0.47 * $16 = $7.52. There may be situations where you somehow have a higher marginal tax rate, I don't know.

  • tgk247 on 10/10/2020 - 15:35
    +3

    any use if i already have an accountant?

    • muwu on 10/10/2020 - 15:39
      +2

      Depends on the accountant.

      If you don't already have a foreign trust, there's more you could be doing

    • RMBC on 10/10/2020 - 15:55

      If they're worth their salt, it shouldn't be. Of course it may prompt you to mention something they weren't aware of, which is often the hardest thing for a tax agent to discern

    • bobloblawlawblog on 10/10/2020 - 16:31

      it depends i guess. i dont have much in terms of complex investments etc.

      the book has 200 pages of content and not much of it is fluff. not all of it will be relevant so lets assume conservatively 25% is. from my past accountants i doubt theyd want to teach me or ask me 50 pages worth of content. it's usually in and out. at the very least it'd help to know this info beforehand so you can have a more efficient, informed discussion with them for the cost of about $10-15 after you factor in the deduction

    • qazwsx on 11/10/2020 - 06:57
      +3

      Used to work tax. Yes there is still a use.
      Tax agents don't know everything about your life and your spending, they heavily rely on you to present the things to them. Unless you present things, it won't get taken in. If you didn't think about how your spend could be justified as a deduction, less likely you'll present it in the first place.
      Also it pays to know a bit so you can tell if your tax agent is good or not. How can you tell if you don't know the basics of what they're doing? Remember the person doing it may have been a temp staff, not the tax agent signing off your return.

  • dust on 10/10/2020 - 15:47
    +1

    The grey area are why tax consultants charge the big bucks!

    • mini2 on 10/10/2020 - 17:45
      +6

      Unfortunately you’re on the hook if anything goes pear shaped. Not them.

      • sk3iron on 11/10/2020 - 04:32

        That system is ridiculously broken, in any other business type transaction standard agency law would apply. This isnt entirely a bad thing but it leaves alot to be desired when sorting out the terrible accountants from the good ones.

        • astarman on 11/10/2020 - 22:23

          you the taxpayer will sign a form from the tax agent to say every thing presented is true and accurate.

          If the tax agent however was negligent or just didnt do their job properly - you take them to the board or ask for safe harbour

          however if you go to a tax agent and ask for the most agressive borderline wrong return with over the top returns - getting 100k refund on your 60k income… and you sign off on it . wonder whos more at fault?

  • jace88 on 10/10/2020 - 15:55
    +12

    I had a quick read through of the sample pages and even though I'm a qualified accountant myself, I can see the appeal of how it's written in a much more easy to understand way. I do question the way the "Top tips" is written but it seemed accurate enough.

    • bobloblawlawblog on 10/10/2020 - 16:32
      +1

      ah thanks, good to know!

      i found the examples and FAQs the most useful. theres probably more tips and tricks in the FAQs than the tips and tricks section!

    • thydzik on 10/10/2020 - 22:29
      +1

      thanks for the review.

      I also had a look at the samples, easy to read.

      For someone that DIY's their tax, seems like a good price even it it just clarifies some of my knowledge.

  • mr_asstight on 10/10/2020 - 16:23
    +4

    I'll stick to reading the Master Tax Guide

  • fantombloo on 10/10/2020 - 16:35
    +3

    Business owners, investors, etc - fair enough, accounting is part of the game and a reasonable cost. But for PAYG employees to require the use of anything beyond what the ATO offers for free is IMO bad design (negligence?) from the ATO.

    (Nothing against this book, just the way tax works here).

    • bobloblawlawblog on 10/10/2020 - 16:42
      +3

      YES

      Agree 100%

      I dont see any reason why the ATO cant produce something like this. It's not rocket science but it can be a bit confusing. The ATO site has all the info but organised strangely, theres info inconsistently peppered through pages and PDFs, and its like they paid someone to write as few words as possible. Some of the examples are so brief they're borderline useless.

      • sk3iron on 11/10/2020 - 04:33

        Cost

      • qazwsx on 11/10/2020 - 07:27
        +1

        It's unfortunate but ATO generally sticks to definites - generally the law and precedents.

        Parliament and the courts are the ones responsible for tax laws and its interpretations. All the grey areas you talk about, it's because the law hasnt covered it specifically and the courts haven't resolved it. The ATO doesn't want to venture there because it is not the one who interprets the law (the courts do), and problems arise where the ATO issues guidance and is found subsequently wrong. One example: around 10-15yrs ago the courts found the ATOs guidance in denying certain deductions to those on youth allowance; to fix this, the ATO had to go back to all those who had youth allowance and had the circumstances that would allow them to claim these deductions and provide a deduction based on some average typical spend as a concessionary measure (you could also amend your return if it was better for you). This is generally a really bad situation, it's a headache to the ATO and it's procedurally unfair to taxpayers who may have had more expenses they can't claim because they didn't keep records thinking it wouldn't be useful.

  • AustriaBargain on 10/10/2020 - 16:59
    +4

    Might start reading this October 30.

    • capslock janitor on 11/10/2020 - 16:12

      Why 30 Oct

      • AustriaBargain on 11/10/2020 - 16:42
        +6

        You’re right. I’ll leave it to the morning of the 31st.

  • abc on 10/10/2020 - 18:33
    +1

    Doesn’t tax law change all the time? So the content will become out of date down the track?

    • PopCounty on 10/10/2020 - 23:30

      Having read the book shall give you whole lot of information that you would haven’t looked at otherwise.
      Along, you also get to understand how to read the fine prints. So any new changes every year could be looked at differently.

    • No ONE on 11/10/2020 - 10:24

      General principles still apply.

  • Zafar1180 on 10/10/2020 - 19:06
    +1

    I'll stick to reading the Master Tax Guide

    • Daabido on 10/10/2020 - 20:09
      +3

      Copied directly from mr_asstight including lack of punctuation and posted twice.

      I better check out this Master Tax Guide.

      • capslock janitor on 11/10/2020 - 16:15

        where can we check this Master Tax Guide?

    • bobloblawlawblog on 10/10/2020 - 21:37
      +2

      Will it teach me to be a master tax debater?

  • Tgb on 10/10/2020 - 22:32
    -2

    Interesting business idea - but can't help to feel may be better off sticking with an established publisher / series like this for $8.20: https://www.amazon.com.au/101-Ways-Save-Money-Your-ebook/dp/…

    • bobloblawlawblog on 11/10/2020 - 15:52

      Hmm nice, haven't seen this before. Have you read it? I had a look at the ToC and they seem to be slightly different. Your one covers a lot of topics, this book covers literally only tax deductions.

      101 looks interesting though. Do you think it's worth the buy?

      • Tgb on 25/10/2020 - 10:40

        Yes have read this one - its a well known resource written by an experienced chartered accountant.

  • Pandaroo on 11/10/2020 - 02:55
    +1

    Looking at the contents it appears it has no info on investment properties (depreciation etc.) , can anyone please confirm? Thanks

    • abadacus on 11/10/2020 - 09:59

      Interested in this too

      • bobloblawlawblog on 11/10/2020 - 15:54
        +3

        Hey nah sorry didnt see anything on investment properties

  • littlegreenman on 11/10/2020 - 07:00
    +2

    Looking at the samples on the website I find they go with hard and fast rules which are not necessarily correct BUT it's not like that has stopped the ambitious ever before… I guess you get what you pay.

    • bobloblawlawblog on 11/10/2020 - 15:47

      what do you mean? any examples?

      • littlegreenman on 12/10/2020 - 07:03
        +1

        Yeah the sample provided on their website. For example carrying bulky equipment, a ladder for a builder. That's hard and fast and ignoring the facts. You only get to deduct your travel IF there is no safe way to store the equipment anywhere else, it is part of your job description to carry such items, your under clear control and instruction from your employer to carry the item, etc. I think it was Mr Stone in the High Court who found out the hard way that carrying a bulky double bass was not sufficient to claim a deduction. Mr Bell didn't do much better in the tribunal either arguing he had to carry drums of diesel in his ute. Funnily enough Mr Bell relied on a guide like this one to claim is $18k deduction which got denied and landed him a penalty of $5k for recklessness and extra 7k in tax as a result of suck a great guide.

        Also they completely skip travel between workplaces under 25-100 and itinerant workers which doesn't even need the carrying of bulky equipment and yet you're still allowed a deduction.

        Very, very poor and inappropriate summaries ignoring the facts in my humble but professional opinion. To put the icing on the cake, they state an estimated tax saving for each item. How can they do this not knowing the background, marginal rate, km travelled, etc? I've seen judges in the Federal Court handing out hefty fines for a taxpayer relying on this dribble in the past. Derrington J comes to mind. Rightly so.

        • bobloblawlawblog on 25/10/2020 - 21:28

          Sorry just saw this. Didn't expect this to get so detailed but I am curious. You know your stuff! Thanks for taking the time to respond :)

          Tax deductions have been a source of irritation for me in the past so I have some views about the topic.

          I'm not sure if your opinion would change if you read the full guide but imo things like this will always get caught in a struggle between readable and approachable vs detailed and technical accuracy.

          But i think the reality is - what is the alternative?

          I assume your charge out rates are pretty expensive, and youre not in the business of educating average joes. Assuming its unaffordable for average punters, we are still left with a best-of-the-rest scenario.

          My alternatives seem to be

          a) local accountant who treats me like a statistic and i assume (maybe wrongly) that they cant/wont want to go into this level of detail with me anyway. i doubt it but maybe thats negative given my past experiences
          b) ato website that is less detailed than the guide and way more confusing
          c) blog content which is even more generic
          d) etax/pop tax which im not keen on giving my personal data too and is a bit of a black box from what i can tell
          e) marry you or someone with your skills haha

          In my humble opinion as very much a lay person, the guide has been heads and shoulders above anything else i've come across. For a topic that impacts a lot of australians, it's surprising how little quality content there is on the topic. What frustrates me further is im sure my previous accountants spend 80% of their time repeating the same 20% of the same stuff to a lot of clients, they could easily write something like this but it doesn't make commercial sense.

          2) I think your point on the summaries is too harsh. I used it as an order of magnitude way to help me navigate the content in the book. I think it would be obvious to most readers that its an estimation. I believe the estimations are drawn from the examples in each chapter. If i just used their ballpark numbers and did my deductions id deserve to get fined too!

          It is interesting because obviously you are very knowledgeable and you look at the material and see deficiencies. In the same way i'm sure an experienced financial planner might look at the barefoot investor and thinks wtf its way over simplified. I honestly dunno if its possible to write something that would please both the professional accountants and the lay person.

          For a lay person like me I look at it and am just grateful the information exists in a format I can understand, and actually had some care towards making it easy to read and understand. For me at least the design and style was part of the appeal.

          I didn't really think this post would get any attention but it seems like at least a few others share my frustrations. Like another commenter said, it'd be awesome if there was something like this for investment properties.

          The beauty is I know all these guys want from me is $16 and that's it. No up sells,no "free" consultations, no ulterior motives. I pay them to make my life easier and it's no strings attached. Unfortunately this is becoming increasingly rare on the internet but i digress.

          PS But if you want to get married hit me up

    • No ONE on 11/10/2020 - 10:30
      +2

      WTF are you trying to say; any chance you are related to Morrison: " if you have a go, you will get a go".

    • jace88 on 11/10/2020 - 11:04

      You realise this site is OzBargain?

      • prhino on 11/10/2020 - 12:33

        I knew that comment would get a reaction

  • captaincabinets on 11/10/2020 - 12:52

    Keeps saying I'll be charged USD11. I'm on mobile. Anyone else?

    • brokenglish on 11/10/2020 - 14:26
      +2

      Yes, it's the same on desktop. The website charges in USD.
      USD 11.59 is ~AUD 16 at the moment.

  • eddybaha on 11/10/2020 - 15:42
    -1

    Anyone wanna split the book cost? (Assume it's a pdf)

  • capslock janitor on 11/10/2020 - 16:17

    Comes with COVID-19.

  • djprima on 11/10/2020 - 16:18

    Bought this morning but haven't received a download link or anything. Anyone in the same boat?

    • brokenglish on 11/10/2020 - 16:42

      The checkout page says "You'll get instant access to this eBook" though, you sure you didn't get any?
      I was about to press buy until I read your comment.

      • Wongtong on 11/10/2020 - 17:10

        You get an email with a link and license key to access the book.

      • djprima on 11/10/2020 - 17:31
        +1

        My bad, it was a link in the invoice itself

  • kgree92 on 11/10/2020 - 20:00
    +3

    Bought it, looks pretty good.
    Anyone know an equivalent for Investment Properties?

    • bobloblawlawblog on 25/10/2020 - 18:58

      yeah also keen to know if there is an IP version of something like this

  • congo on 12/10/2020 - 14:13

    If it is for Australians, why are they charging USD?

    • bobloblawlawblog on 25/10/2020 - 18:57

      I think its just cos they use gumroad which is an american company

  • congo on 12/10/2020 - 15:41

    It’s is good?

    • bobloblawlawblog on 25/10/2020 - 18:58

      yes thought it was pretty helpful for me. ymmv

  • lordra on 31/10/2020 - 10:06

    Hey OP,
    I now get:
    "Sorry, the discount code you wish to use is invalid"
    Can you please confirm if it's still valid?
    Thanks

    • walugi on 31/10/2020 - 13:14

      Yeah tried just now and it's invalid. There's another code from their FB page. Try fb15 it worked for me

  • walugi on 31/10/2020 - 13:13

    Code no longer seems to be working but I found another code on their FB page (fb15). Will post another deal albeit it's not as good

    Edit: not sure how to mark this as expired in the mobile view

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