Haha, what luck. Didn’t even get to spend it on myself. Oh well, I’m sure that “stimulated” the economy.

Remember guys, as long as you are eligible, your payment should come by the 16th of May either via cheque or direct deposit, depending on how you received your tax return payment last financial year.

If you used a tax agent to lodge your tax return last financial year, you should check with your tax agent whether the payment is with your tax agent. Also make sure your bank details and address are up to date with the ATO.

If you still haven’t received payment by the 16th of May, you should call 1300 686 636 and the ATO may be able to help you if you are eligible.

It’d be interesting to find out how you spent your tax bonus payment.

Related Posts

• Australia’s Economic Stimulus Package – Tax Bonus for Minors, Children, Students under 18
• Australian Tax Bonus: Beware of email scams
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When asked by Perez Hilton on her views on whether other states should legalise gay marriage like Vermont, the fourth state to do so, Carrie stood up for her beliefs and responded that a marriage is between a man and a woman, therefore no, she does not support gay marriage.

I think this severely pissed Perez off (as you can see in the later part of the video) because he’s gay if you didn’t know.

First thing that comes to mind is, why on earth is Perez Hilton a judge at a beauty pageant? He’s a celebrity blogger who indulges himself with gossip and a lot of trash media. Not only does he lack quality judging abilities, he’s even taken that response as a personal insult and insulted her intelligence via his website. Very unprofessional. Has Miss USA become the new Jerry Springer pageant show?

Anyways, I truly support her response as a marriage is absolutely defined as a union between a man and a wife. There’s no argument about that. It is under the covenant of God that a man unites with a woman and they become one to each other. The husband is a part of the wife, and the wife part of husband. Stop saying God made Adam and Steve.

If gay couples want to have some sort of formal recognition of union-ship, please call it something else but do not taint and tarnish what God has defined what a marriage should be. Should we start legalising marriage between a man and a tree or a goat if that person is a tree huger or is into bestiality?

Yes, sure they demand their rights and recognition – no doubt about that. But is this something we should compromise to accommodate their rights and freedom of speech? No, or else everyone will be queuing up to demand “their rights”.

I’m aware that my opinions may be insensitive (offending) to the gay community but I too am not sorry for what I believe is true and Godly. I do not apologise that God clearly condemns the sinful act but that does not mean I hate you as a person. If you do think that I do, well you’ve misunderstood me.

In fact, God has called us to love one another and remember that Jesus did not come to condemn you as a person but to make aware of your sin and draw you back to God.

Carrie Prejean, you are indeed the winner as everyone is talking about you and I support you for standing firm in what you believe is true. Heck, not even I know who won Miss USA.

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Well, I’ve saved you the trouble and done some research so hopefully this will answer your question.

The ATO website states that if you were a minor (under 18) at 30 June 2008 (end of last financial year), your child may be eligible if

• The child was an excepted person, or
• The child received excepted assessable income, and
• The child fulfills all other requirements

If you’re still not sure whether you’re eligible, you can look at your 07-08 notice of assessment statement and follow the ATO’s notice of assessment example. A short summary of it is that you must earn under $100,000 per annum and have paid more than $0 in tax last financial year (07/08).

As we’re now into April, we should be expecting the tax bonus payments to start flowing through now. If you still haven’t lodged your tax return for 07/08, now is probably the best time to do so and you have till 30 June 2009 to lodge this and be eligible.

Related Posts

• I Got My Economic Stimulus Package
• Australian Tax Bonus: Beware of email scams
• Australia’s Economic Stimulus Package – Tax Bonus Payment
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This will recommence on Sunday, 4th of October which will require you to move your clocks forwards an hour at 2am (will become 3am).

Don’t say I didn’t warn ya :)

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iPhone developers now have access to the updated software developer kit (SDK) with more than 1,000 completely new APIs. To join the iPhone developer program, it is $99 for the standard program and $299 for the enterprise program.

Some of the new features of upcoming update are:

• Search your Apple iPhone
• Cut, copy and paste
• Send photos, contacts, audio files and location via MMS
• Read and compose email and text messages in landscape view

You can watch the Apple presentation below.

iPhone users should now expect more applications being developed to provide a richer user experience. It is said that iPhone users will get a free update where as the update on the iTouch won’t be free.

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Cardholders will now be shown the ATM owner fee prior to making a transaction at a foreign ATM or a “non-customer” ATM. You will have the option to either accept the fee or reject and cancel the transaction. This will be effective as of March 3, 2009.

A foreign ATM is a any ATM that doesn’t belong to a financial institution. These types of ATMs are usually found in convenience stores, pubs and other random places. Majority of these foreign ATMs are owned by Customers Limited.

A “non-customer” ATM is an ATM that belongs to a financial institution that you are not a cardholder with (i.e. Commonwealth Bank customer withdrawing from a St George ATM).

You may also be charged for a disloyalty fee by your financial institution if you withdraw from a different ATM. Basically, you may be charged two kinds of fees: direct charge and disloyalty fee.

Below are some breakdowns of 4 major banks and their ATM charges.

• Commonwealth Bank
  • $2 Direct Charge Fee (for non-CBA customers – inclusive of balance enquiries)
  • No disloyalty fee
  • Free unlimited ATM access for CBA & Bankwest customers (may be subject to conditions)
  • Largest ATM network in Australia
• National Australia Bank
  • $1.50 Direct Charge Fee (for non-NAB customers – extra $0.50 for balance enquiries)
  • $0.50 disloyalty fee (used to be $2)
  • Free unlimited ATM access for NAB customers (may be subject to conditions)
• Westpac
  • Direct Charge – unsure
  • No disloyalty fee (used to be $0.30)
  • Free unlimited ATM access for Westpac & St George customers (may be subject to conditions)
• ANZ
  • $2 Direct Charge Fee (for non-ANZ customers – inclusive of balance enquiries)
  • Disloyalty Fee – TBD
  • Free unlimited ATM access for ANZ customers (may be subject to conditions)

So here are some tips on how to save on your ATM charges,

1. Make sure you use your own financial institution ATMs
2. If you have to use a “non-customer” or foreign ATM, make sure you withdraw a lump sum to avoid withdrawing again
3. Be wary of using foreign ATMs as they can randomly set their own fees. Make sure on a big night out (before getting drunk), withdraw sufficient cash to last you all night
4. Get cash out from EFTPOS transactions (I’ve tried it at McDonalds by purchasing a $1 apple pie!)

Hopefully this will help you be more informed with the new changes to how ATM charges work.

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Please remember that the Australian Tax Office (ATO) will never send out emails asking for personal details such as credit card and bank details. You also won’t be charged a fee to receive the payment and if you didn’t know, the bonus payments are tax free. If you do receive an email pretending to be from the ATO, delete it immediately. The ATO has released an official statement on this.

You can read on the details of the tax bonus / stimulus package in my other post.

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• I Got My Economic Stimulus Package
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So it’s been like 3 days since I’ve gotten the phone and I had some trouble connecting my phone to my home wireless network. Everytime I tried to connect, I kept getting this error message,

WLAN: Unable to connect.

WLAN Network Not Found.

It friggin’ took me 3 days to figure this one out. Was driving me insane.

So here’s a few tips on how to troubleshoot your wlan problem.

1. Update your Nokia PC Suite software by going Web, Nokia PC Suite on the web and then select your region.
2. Once you’ve updated your Nokia PC Suite software, update your phone software (circled in red). Make sure you make a backup beforehand with your software and your phone is fully charged.
3. Go to your nearest starbucks / mcdonalds free wifi access and try it there. If it works, then it must be a router issue. If it doesn’t, I’d recommend contacted Nokia support or sending it back for repair.
4. If your have MAC filter turned on, either disable it or add your Nokia E71 MAC address to the list. To get your MAC address, type in *#62209526#.
5. Disable your router firewall & security settings. Try connecting again.
6. If you use a static IP address (default auto), go to Menu, Tools, Settings, Connection, Access Points. Then edit your network, and under Options, go to Advanced Settings. Go to IPv4 settings and go to Phone IP address. Put in your static IP address. You can also configure proxy servers, IPv6 and DNS in the Advanced Settings too.
7. Make sure your wireless network name (SSID) has NO spaces. This was the culprit that caused me 3 days of anguish and misery. If you do have spaces, rename it without spaces.

Hopefully these steps will help you troubleshoot your wlan/wifi problem. If all else fails, contact Nokia support or bring your phone back to your dealer.

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In the wake of a global recession, Australian tax payers will be getting a tax bonus payment from the government to help struggling low to middle income earners as well as encourage spending to get the economy flowing again. It is no surprise that everyone has decreased if not stopped spending with massive retrenchments happening globally and nationwide. Job uncertainty is definitely in the fore front of our minds.

New businesses are slow to come by and even managers have strict budgets to follow and are reluctant on committing to long term spending. This downward spiral is expected to continue throughout 2009 and many fear the worst is yet to come.

The details of the tax bonus payment are:

• You will need to have lodged your 07/08 tax return to receive payment directly into your bank account or a cheque sent to your address  if you are eligible. Make sure your details are up to date. You can update your details by visiting the ATO website (you have till 15th of March to do so).
• You are eligible if you:
  • Earned under $100,000 (taxable income) in 07/08
  • Paid tax (greater than $0) in 07/08
  • Your 07/08 tax return is lodged before 30 June 2009
  • Full eligibility details can be found on the ATO website

The tax bonus payment brackets are:

• If your 07/08 taxable income is under $80,000, you will receive $900
• If your 07/08 taxable income is between $80,001 and $90,000, you will receive $600
• If your 07/08 taxable income is between $90,001 and $100,000, you will receive $250
• If your 07/08 taxable income is over $100,000, you will receive $0 and a pat on the back for your tax contribution

You can expect these payments to be progressively handed out starting from early April 2009.

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• Australia’s Economic Stimulus Package – Tax Bonus for Minors, Children, Students under 18
• I Got My Economic Stimulus Package
• Australian Tax Bonus: Beware of email scams
• Australian Individual Income Tax Brackets & Rates
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All you have to do is pay USD$50 to sit for the IQ test and you’ll need a passing mark of at least 75%. Once you’ve passed, you’ll be registered as  Google Analytics qualified and this qualification lasts for 18 months.

If you fail, you’ll be able to re-take the test (max twice within 30 days).

To prepare, Google has made available online courses that will help equip with the knowledge and skills necessary to be qualified. This will most definitely add value to yourself when looking for jobs as well as add value to the company you’re working for, showing that your company have employees individually qualified with a high skill set and knowledge.

What this qualification means is that you’re a proficient user of Google Analytics and your skills are complete and up to date. Basically, you know what you’re doing when it comes to Google Analytics, be it basic or advanced configurations.

This is similar to the Google Adwords Professional (GAP) qualification, but for Google Analytics.

If you’re working for a company that’s already GAAC qualified, Google will be issuing 2 free test vouchers per company. By the second quarter, each GAAC qualified company must have at least 2 qualified individuals in the company.

So get cracking and rummage through the online courses right away! I know I’ll be doing so :)

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