Australia’s Economic Stimulus Package – Tax Bonus Payment
The Rudd government signed off on a $42 billion dollar stimulus package in February 2009 with hopes of reviving and encouraging long term economic growth in Australia.
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.
Australian Individual Income Tax Brackets & Rates
I got bored so I decided to create a spreadsheet and a graph to calculate the percentage of income tax, how much you earn after tax and the percentage of tax you’re paying against your pre-tax income.
The graph above displays these information with salaries ranging from $10,000 to $300,000. These calculations do not take into account any offsets but are merely simple calculations.
You can see the tax percentage spikes up around the $40,000 – $100,000 bracket and plateau’s a bit after that.
The tax rates for the financial year of 2008/2009 are,
- $0 – $6000 => 0%
- $6001 – $30,000 => 15%
- $30,001 – $80,000 => 30%
- $80,001 – $180,000 => 40%
- $180,001 and over => 45%
You can visit the Australian Tax Office website for more information on income tax rates.
Tax Return 2007/2008
New financial year means getting your tax money back.
If you’re planning on doing your tax return online, download the e-tax software from the ATO website. Remember to check for updates once you’ve run the software.
If you want to find out your individual taxable income, visit the ATO’s individual income tax rates.
Here’s some basic things that you will need while doing your tax return online.
- Tax File Number (TFN)
- Group Certificate showing the total gross income you’ve earnt and the total tax amount you’ve paid
- Bank account details
- Documents of your previous tax returns (notice of assessments)
- Medicare card and documents
- Private health insurance documents
- Deductions documents (i.e receipts)
- Investment documents
Remember, the earlier you do your tax return, the sooner you will get your money back if eligible.
Unfortunately, if you are like me and you’re not very good at doing your deductions and tax offsets, perhaps its best to see a tax accountant to do your tax return for you.