Tax - 8 Tax Planning Strategies For Australian Taxpayers to Save Tax in 2008

Posted: 07 Jul 2008 | Categories: Taxes

Are you ready to minimise your tax and increase the size of your refund?

Good, but be warned. You can only use these strategies before the end of the financial year for them to work! If you fail to plan at all in your life, you will be penalised with higher taxes, lower refunds and a lower personal net worth.

I’m going to give you eight tips to get you started.

1 - Take advantage of tax cuts from 1/7/08 by making additional home loan repayments or investing for the future through superannuation contributions or managed funds and/or shares.

2 - Delay other income - the self employed could raise or receipt June income in July 2008 and employees expecting an ETP could receive the payment after 1/7/08. Any assets that incur capital gains should be sold after 1/7/08 as the tax rates are lower.

3 - Prepayment of expenses - interest on an investment loan or margin loan could be pre-paid. Investment property expenses, such as rates and insurance, could be prepaid. Business owners could prepay expenses such as trade associations, subscriptions and stock purchases.

4 - Contribute $1000 to super if your total income is below $28,980 to receive the super co-contribution of $1,500 from the Government.

5 - Taxpayers under 50 can now make a super contribution of $50,000 per year from all sources. If you are over 50, you can contribute up to $100,000 a year over the next five years with 30/6/08 being year 1.

6 - If you are liable for capital gains tax, you can reduce the tax by selling shares or managed funds in your portfolio that have fallen in value. The capital loss can then be offset against your capital gain. The self employed can claim a full tax deduction for contributions to super (see tip 5 for limits).

7 - Employees on a salary package should look at their household cash flow up to 30/6/09 to see if additional contributions can be made to superannuation or to determine if your vehicle deal should be changed.

8 - If you are in transition to retirement (still working & salary sacrificing into super while drawing a pension), make the most of it by withdrawing up to the maximum amount. Talk to your financial planner about this before the 30th June.

And now I would like to offer you a subscription to my free newsletter for weekly tax tips, profit improvement and growth strategies for small to medium sized Australian businesses. You can get instant access at http://www.cetaxnsw.com I’d also like to invite you to our free weekly business Telewebcast by going to http://www.cetaxnsw.com/telewebcast From Cathy Edwards - Your Online Australian Tax Agent for business & individual tax returns.

Article Author :Cathy_Edwards

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