Sunshine Coast Region, Queensland
Tax Accountant in Nambour
The $700 offset, the year you don't need to lodge, and tax held back from contract pay
Individual tax returns and lodgement advice for Nambour workers and contractors, from a CPA practice.
Nambour, once the seat of the Maroochy Shire and a sugar town whose mill ran from 1897 to 2003, had 12,145 residents in 2021. The median weekly household income was $1,224 and median weekly rent $340, and 38.0% of occupied homes were rented. Labourers made up 15.0% of employed residents and Technicians and Trades Workers 16.3%.
Nambour in brief
From Petrie's Creek to the Coast's former shire seat.
The town was known as Petrie's Creek until the North Coast railway opened in 1891, and its name comes from naamba, an Aboriginal word for a red-flowering bottle brush. Nambour General Hospital, opened in 1930 as Maroochy District Hospital, is on Hospital Road. In 2021, 32.8% of households were one person.
Three questions for workers and contractors
The low income tax offset
Why it happens
A worker on lower or part-time wages lodges a return and wonders why the tax payable came out lower than expected.
Why it matters
The low income tax offset is $700 for taxable income of $37,500 or less. It reduces by 5 cents for each dollar between $37,500 and $45,000, where it is $325, then by 1.5 cents for each dollar up to $66,667. It is worked out automatically when you lodge, and it can reduce your tax to nil but not create a refund on its own.
How we help
Maximise your refund, simplify your annual tax obligations.
When you don't need to lodge
Why it happens
A person with little or no income in a year isn't sure whether a return is needed.
Why it matters
If you don't need to lodge, you tell the ATO with a non-lodgment advice by 31 October after the end of the income year, through ATO online services (Tax, then Lodgments, then Non-lodgment advice) or on paper. If you receive certain government payments, you may also need to tell Services Australia.
How we help
Check the ATO's "Do I need to lodge a tax return?" tool for the year before you decide.
Contractors and voluntary agreements
Why it happens
A tradesperson or labourer works under an ABN and wants tax taken out of each payment instead of paying a lump sum at year end.
Why it matters
The contractor and the business paying them can enter a voluntary agreement. The payer then withholds the contractor's instalment rate, or 20% if there isn't one or it is below 20%, from each payment excluding GST, reports it on its activity statements, and sends an annual report of those payments by 14 August. It can't be used where the worker is an employee or a labour hire worker.
How we help
Ask the business you invoice whether it will agree, and keep a copy of the signed agreement.
Frequently asked questions
Who gets the low income tax offset in Nambour?
Taxpayers with taxable income up to $66,667, at up to $700. You don't apply; it is calculated when your return is processed.
Do I need to tell the ATO if I don't lodge a return?
Yes, with a non-lodgment advice by 31 October after the end of the income year.
What rate is withheld under a voluntary agreement?
Your instalment rate if you have one of 20% or more, otherwise 20%, from the payment excluding GST.
Where to next
Have a question?
Not sure if you need to lodge?
The result is a return that is compliant and considered, with practical guidance you can carry into the next financial year.
Lomandra Accounting is a CPA Practice, registered with the Tax Practitioners Board and an SMSF Specialist. Emma, the Director, is a Certified Practicing Accountant (CPA) with extensive experience in commercial business management, and specialises in Self-Managed Super Funds (SMSFs).
- 07 5234 9201
- admin@lomandraa.com.au
- Sunshine Coast, QLD
- Monday to Friday, 9am to 4:30pm