Adrian Raftery - 101 Ways to Save Money on Your Tax - Legally! 2021 - 2022

This payment provides financial help for people who are the primary carers of children. It is means tested on both your income and assets.

If you are unemployed, looking for work and aged between 22 and the Age Pension age (currently 66), or you are sick or injured and cannot perform your usual work then you may be eligible for the JobSeeker Payment from Services Australia. The maximum fortnightly payment varies depending on your family situation but ranges from $620.80 per fortnight for single jobseekers with no children to $850.20 per fortnight for single principal carers.

There will be a waiting period of between 1 to 13 weeks depending on how much you have in liquid assets and you will not be eligible for the JobSeeker Payment if your other income or assets are over certain amounts.

Individuals may be entitled to the full JobSeeker Payment if your other income is less than $150 a fortnight and your partner earns less than $1124 per fortnight. It phases out once you reach an income cut-off point (from $1217 if single with no children to $2321 if single and you are the principal carer of a dependent child with no mutual obligation requirements.

Single homeowners must have assets other than their home worth less than $268 000, rising to $401 500 for a home-owning couple. These thresholds increase by $214 500 for non-homeowners ($482 500 for singles and $616 000 for couples).

The Youth Allowance is a government benefit paid to eligible students, apprentices or those looking for work aged 16 to 24. It is means tested based on both the young person's income and his or her parents' income. The allowance is assessable and must be included in your income tax return. Unfortunately, Youth Allowance recipients cannot claim a tax deduction for expenses incurred in relation to their studies.

People with a permanent or significant intellectual, physical, sensory, cognitive and psychosocial disability and aged between 7 and 65 may be eligible to receive support via the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS). If you have a child less than 7 years old who has a developmental delay or disability, the NDIS has partnered with early childhood partners across the nation to deliver the Early Childhood Early Intervention program to assist.

Transition to Work provides pre-employment help to eligible young job seekers who are aged between 15 and 24 years, and are not involved in study or work. Eligibility is only available if the young job seeker does not have a Year 12 (or equivalent) or Certificate III qualification.

If you or your partner are of Age Pension age, you own real estate in Australia and you receive less than the maximum rate of the Age (or Disability Support or Widow B) Pension, then you can apply for a non-taxable loan if you need extra income or to help for a short time or an indefinite period. The loan is capped up to 1.5 times the maximum rate of pension, paid fortnightly. The 2021–22 federal budget proposed a no negative equity guarantee on the loan and access to a capped upfront lump sum payment of 0.5 times.

The principal from the Pension Loans Scheme is accruing interest at a rate (currently 4.5 per cent) which is significantly higher than what banks lend at. Whilst we all know of the benefits of compound interest when saving, with no minimum repayment back to the government, there can be sizable detriment as interest is charged on interest over time.

Under the gifting rules, the maximum amount that you can gift to a friend or relative is $10 000 in each financial year and $30 000 in total over the previous five-year period. Any excess amounts are added back as part of your assets under the assets test.

Each state and territory has a free Seniors Card scheme which provides transport concessions and participating business discounts on a range of goods and services. To be eligible you must be a resident of the state, 60 years of age or older, and not working more than a set numbers of hours per week in paid employment (for example less than 20 hours in NSW and 35 hours in Victoria and Queensland).

The following additional benefits may also be available to families:

energy supplement

single income family supplement

telephone allowance

stillborn baby payment

education entry payment

carer adjustment payment

assistance for isolated children scheme

rent assistance.

While we all want to have the perfect marriage and live happily ever after, the sad reality is that approximately one-third of marriages end in divorce in Australia.

The tax system has provisions in place to assist with easing the financial burden of separating families. These provisions apply to capital gains tax (CGT), superannuation and income from child- and partner-support payments.

Normally, when you sell an asset that was acquired after 19 September 1985, you are liable for CGT. However, when you transfer assets to your spouse as a result of the breakdown of your relationship, it is classified as an ‘automatic rollover’ of those assets and you will not have to pay CGT at that time. Any subsequent disposal of the asset will trigger the CGT provisions, except for the family home, which is exempt.

There is no CGT if you transfer a property to your former spouse under a court order following the breakdown of your marriage.

This rollover ensures the spouse who gives the assets disregards a capital gain or capital loss that would otherwise arise, and the one who receives the asset (the transferee spouse) will make the capital gain or capital loss when they subsequently dispose of the asset.

If you and your spouse divide your property under a private or informal agreement (not because of a court order, a binding financial agreement, an arbitral award or another agreement or award), marriage or relationship breakdown rollover does not apply.

The splitting of superannuation between divorcing partners is similarly treated as a rollover. As the funds are not being released as a payment, this rollover split does not need to wait until retirement.

You do not need to include any child support or spouse support payments that you may receive in your taxable income, but they are part of your adjusted taxable income calculation for tax offset purposes. Similarly, there is no tax deduction available for child support or spouse support payments.

The ATO cooperates with the Child Support Agency to:

supply information to the Child Support Agency for the purpose of calculating child support payments