Apologies for not posting for awhile, over the Christmas break I really did have a proper break and didn't so much as go near my laptop. New year's resolution: post more regularly. I'm starting now, even though the bed is really inviting after a long day at work staring at a computer screen for hours on end.
Anyway, I'm here to post briefly on that matter close to my heart (more like being a constant pain in the butt) - TAX. The reason why I've got my hackles raised again is because, first day back at work after the 1 week break, I was greeted by a lovely email on my payslip for the last week of the year 2009. Lovely because... I was taxed at 46%. That's almost half my pay!
I was quite upset, because I couldn't understand the logic of charging me one tax rate for almost a month then hiking it up to 46% next. I checked ato.gov.au, and discovered that one would only be taxed that much if you made an insane amount of money a year (which obviously I don't) or if you didn't submit a tax file number. I'm pretty sure I didn't fit the bill in either category, so I took it up with my employer immediately. Since I was doing that, must as well take the opportunity to kick up a fuss about the previous tax rate which was higher than it should really be.
Since the last post, I did some snooping around the Australian Taxation Office site, and discovered that there really wasn't much good reason to tax me extra. Initially, I thought that maybe this was a penalty for not filing my tax return last year, but found out that penalties are administered as a lump sum, not a higher tax rate for the following year. Also, penalties are only enforced if someone from the Tax Office had been in contact with me regarding my tardiness in submitting a tax return. This did not happen. Lastly, penalties almost exclusively apply to tax returns that would have resulted in debt to the government, and not to returns resulting in a nil result or refund. In my case, I was entitled for a refund. Clearly, the higher tax rate should not have stemmed from this issue!
I put the tax calculator on the website to use and calculated my estimated tax based on my weekly pay. I believe that there was an issue with my TFN form which I filled out on the first day of work. Probably I mistakenly ticked: NOT Austraian resident for tax purposes, because if i was not, then I would be taxed higher. I am really, having studied here for 3 years.
In any case, the 'happy' ending is that I filled out another form again, and sent it to my employer today. According to her, she sent in the form and managed to get the problem fixed. They can return me the extra tax charged for the last 3 weeks, but prior to that, I can only recover at the end of the financial year by lodging a tax return.This is great, and the money should come in tomorrow, so I'll be eagerly waiting for good news in my payslip tomorrow.
Moral of the story: Do your homework, and never give up. People will help if you ask nicely (and pester them incessantly).
See ya soon.
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