Aged Pensioners and tax returns????

[Mak]

Anyone know if a couple on the aged pension need to submit a tax return? They have an additional income of ~ $700 in bank interest but nothing else.
TIA.

[Liz]

There should be a questionnaire type thing on the ATO site 'do I need to lodge a tax return' which asks a few simple questions and will give you the right answer.

[RhiChiChi]

^^ Yeah there is.

[Mak]

LOL - I need an extra degree to work it out I think! Will see if the website is better than the paper version - deary me! Thanks ladies!

[Liz]

Off the top of my head, you need to lodge a tax return if tax has been withheld anywhere (like on the pension or interest or investments), you need to be careful to include any capital gains they make, this is sometimes 'hidden' on investments as they may not physically see it in their bank account (if that makes sense LOL).

Maybe just ring the ato, they can step you through the questions.

[Mak]

Thanks Liz, I am going to have to - I feel really silly as I can't work it all out! No wonder my non english speaking inlaws can't!

[misty]

If in doubt, lodge one anyway. It isn't going to hurt if it turns out they didn't need to.

[Liz]

Lodging a tax return is a more long-winded process than sorting out the short questionnaire tho. For some reason my mum was getting a small amount of tax withheld from her pension so she had to lodge a return, it was such a pain. We sorted that out asap I can tell you! haha. Now we do no return, but we do a refund of franking credits form. Much easier than an unnecessary tax return.

[Rivlas]

If you have an accountant give him/her a call.

[Mak]

Thanks! I have been on the phone to the ATO - must say I was super impressed with the efficiency of their call back service. The answer is no to a tax return but they have to lodge a form to state why.