News location:

Wednesday, July 16, 2025 | Digital Edition | Crossword & Sudoku

Sponsored Content

Slow down, declare those side hustles

Cartoon: Paul Dorin

And so the new financial year begins, but says chartered accountant GAIL FREEMAN be sure to declare those side hustles and don’t file your tax return too soon.

Happy new financial year! The ATO has published helpful hints for preparing your 2025 tax returns.

Gail Freeman of Gail Freeman & Co.

The ATO will not have all the relevant information yet for your return. So if you lodge it now and get a refund but there is missing income, then you will have to amend the return and pay some of your refund back. You may even be charged penalties.

Therefore, you would be wise to wait until the end of July and then lodge your return.

The ATO gets heaps of information from people such as Uber Eats, Airtasker, YouTube, OnlyFans and other platforms. In addition, the ATO receives information from real estate agents, insurance companies, car-leasing companies, stockbrokers and crypto providers.

So if you don’t declare your side hustle this year you are at risk of getting an amended return, an extra tax bill and penalties.

If you have any of these side hustles or an investment property or a share portfolio, the ATO has a lot of information. So it is in your interest to make sure that you report everything. This is the first year that this volume of information is being provided to the ATO.

The ATO has recently published some of its more unusual rejected claims. For example, a truck driver tried to claim swimwear because it was hot where he was going and he wanted to swim.

Swimwear is not relevant to earning his income so the expenditure was personal.

You cannot claim personal items in your tax return. For example, if you are able to claim your mobile phone, which is used sometimes for business use and sometimes for personal use, you have to apportion the costs so you only claim the business use.

If you have an investment property and you are ahead on the repayments and you choose to draw some of this money out you will have to apportion your loan because it is the purpose of borrowing that determines whether the interest is deductible and if you’ve drawn out payments in advance that is not a deduction. It is easy to get caught in this way.

If you claim home office expenses, you need a diary showing your starting and finishing times every day, but you can’t also claim your phone and data bills.

If you use your phone for work and you don’t have a home office claim and you are unable to apportion your phone, you can claim $50 a year for your phone and $50 a year for your data and limit your claims to that. A number of people choose to do this.

If you have a novated lease on your car, you cannot also claim costs of fuel and journeys to other locations.

If you drive a utility it may not be regarded as a car and your claim may need to be in a different manner. If you have private use on your ute that is other than incidental, you will need a logbook so you can make a claim. You may also be able to claim 100 per cent on your ute but I recommend you get advice on any car claim.

Just a reminder, in order to make a claim you need a receipt and the item must not have been reimbursed by your employer or any other party and the goods must be used at work.

If you don’t have a receipt, you should try to get one. The ATO has said that your credit card statement is not sufficient, but you can write the details on the docket/receipt when you make the purchase.

The ATO has an updated app that you can download and has a secure link to your MyGov account. We are advised that this will help with the reduction of compromised tax file numbers.

If you need advice on any tax or super related matter contact the experts at Gail Freeman & Co Pty Ltd on 02 6295 2844, email info@gailfreeman.com.au or visit gailfreeman.com.au

Disclaimer
This column contains general advice, please do not rely on it. If you require specific advice on this topic please contact Gail Freeman or your professional adviser. Authorised Representative of Lifespan Financial Planning Pty Ltd AFS Lic No. 229892.

Who can be trusted?

In a world of spin and confusion, there’s never been a more important time to support independent journalism in Canberra.

If you trust our work online and want to enforce the power of independent voices, I invite you to make a small contribution.

Every dollar of support is invested back into our journalism to help keep citynews.com.au strong and free.

Become a supporter

Thank you,

Ian Meikle, editor

Share this

Leave a Reply

Related Posts

Lifestyle

Making the most of training opportunities

Some of the best venues and providers in training and education are right on Canberra’s doorstep. From all kinds of training to customised event packages, check out what’s on offer when looking to upskill or organise a corporate event.

Follow us on Instagram @canberracitynews