What's your average tax refund?

[Floweryfields]

On one of the current affairs shows last week, they said the average tax refund is up this year by about $400 - bringing the state averages to somewhere between $2000 and $2500!

WHA! Does anyone actually get a refund of this amount? I have just done a rough work up on etax - yet to get final group certs, etc and this year with a huge chunk of medical bills to claim as an offset, I still will be about $700 off that average - this is the most I've ever had to claim.

I am thinking, if that is the average, there are alot who get a heck of a lot more than this and alot who get a lot less.

[Tinks]

Ours fluctuate between about $400 and more than $2500. This year's one will be bigger with the education refund though. I'm looking forward to that.

[DoubleK]

dp usually get around $1700-$1900 back

no idea what mine will be, as i only worked July-March09. still l ooking forward to it though!

[luna moth]

I've had more than $3000 for the last three years.
Education claims and charitable donations do it for me. Also having a HELP debt and never earning enough to pay any of it off - although this year I will.

[kawazuki]

i had a big one of 7 grand one year.

and last 2 years have been over 3 grand and hubby gets about 2 grand most years.

[FabFiona]

Last year we were officially -in the money-. Between two of us we got around $10 K. A combination of paid off HECS, claiming a heap as I did some consulting and negative gearing our investment property.

I don't think we will get that much this year, but I can always dream!

[briggsy's girl]

ours is usually fairly significant as DH has a lot he can claim due to the type of work he does. thankfully, his bosses are able to pay him part of his income at a rate that has the tax left off anyway (his living away from home allowance is tax free so they pay it tax free during the year - if not, that alone would be almost 14k he is able to claim) - most years he gets back around 5k, mine is around 2k. might be more this year though

[NaeNae]

my average is about $200 but this year should be more due to donations etc. its already spent too

[skybie]

lol ours is usually u owe us x amount! DF's a tradie and his wage has gone up significantly each year so screws us over a bit.
BUT this year we're expecting about 2800 back coz he bought a brand new car and got the government tax rebate thing, very very excited, it's a really nice change.

[Tinsel]

Wow, I haven't received a refund for years. I have to always pay the tax man and last year it was $900. I am in my 30's without private health so the Medicare Levy does it for me plus there is nothing I can claim

This year we will be getting our family benefits and $1000 ruddy money from Dec so that is something to look forward to. I was also on half pay and months of no pay for maternity leave so maybe I will get some back this year.

[Floweryfields]

For a number of years when I was young I had two jobs - and little to claim.* With two jobs, even though you pay the required tax amount - and a higher rate for the second job, I still used to end up with a tax debt which really stunk!* I had my second employer take extra tax out to avoid this.* I even wrote the the tax dept to ask if they set the levels, why do I end up with a bill?* Funny - I'm still waiting for their reply!I usually have a large deduction for donations, this year I had education expenses and my medical bills, so that was a sizable offset.* I am pretty excited to get back a larger amount for a change!

[Floweryfields]

dp usually get around $1700-$1900 back

no idea what mine will be, as i only worked July-March09. still l ooking forward to it though!

With only working that short amount, you should get most of your tax back!

[~Hestia~]

I usually only get back about $1000, same for my DH.

[Bathsheba]

We usually get over $2000 per year. I put it down to me being a dependant (I don't earn a cent) and that we have 3 children But DH does pay a huge amount in tax... also DH claims losses in shares and property... and home office depreciation gets quite a bit back too.... ETA: DH has done his own tax return online for the past two years.... that has saved us a fair bit too.

I'm worried this year though because he left his old job of 22 years (and got his long service leavce paid out) that we might actually incur a BILL!!! eeeek! we've never had that before!

[Visitor9]

I dont take the 6,000 tax free threshold so I always get about 6-7 thousand back..its my saving scheme

[danniellabella]

I think I normally get $400-$800 back

[Hummingbird]

Wow! I'm so jealous of you guys! We only ever each get a couple of hundred back each year, though we have salary jobs so the tax is pretty much spot on and we don't have too many claimables except for a bit of travel and charity.

[Floweryfields]

I got long service paid out (part of) when my boss sold the business and I was kinda made redundant. I didn't pay extra tax on that $8000 because it was a redundancy thing. Hope you don't get a bill!