Latest news with #myGov
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
$1,537 tax warning as Aussies get ready to submit returns: 'Never been more important'
Millions of Australians are getting ready for tax time, and some could soon get a nice little refund in their accounts. However, experts have warned this is one of the most popular times of the year for scammers to prey on unsuspecting people. Cybersecurity juggernaut Norton has discovered nearly one in three Aussies have already been targeted by a scam this year, and 22 per cent of them fell victim to the swindle. The average amount for those who incurred a financial loss was $1,537, with some individuals losing up to $15,000. 'Scammers know Australians are already on edge during tax time and are often expecting official communications, whether it's from the ATO, a tax agent, or a service provider," Dean Williams, Norton senior systems engineer, said. ATO warning over 'deluge' coming for taxpayers in coming weeks Aussies reject tipping as restaurants and bars warned over cashless trend Gen Z worker reveals $4,732 cost-of-living problem facing millions "That's what makes it so easy to get caught off guard. 'Phishing and invoice scams thrive during tax season as scammers know Australians are juggling financial admin and more likely to click quickly. "With AI making scam messages increasingly convincing and these tactics surging, it's never been more important to pause and verify before you click.'The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has previously warned of a 300 per cent increase in impersonation scams since this time last year. You might have received a text message or email from someone claiming to be from the ATO or even an accountant chasing up an invoice. It will usually contain a link that will ask you to input your personal information or pay for something. The message might also have a sense of urgency around it, insisting that you need to pay off a debt or download a file before you file your return. Norton said you should never click on a message or link that you don't recognise. Norton provided one example that showed a website that looked identical to myGov, however when you look at the URL, you can clearly see it's fake. While the ATO is on social media sites like Facebook and X, they also won't use these to personally reach out to taxpayers about important updates. If you're worried about outstanding debts, you can call or message the ATO to double-check. One of the most valuable parts of your personal information is your Tax File Number (TFN), and Aussies will likely have this at the ready for tax time. If scammers get this number from you, they can access your account, impersonate you, and fraudulently lodge tax returns or claim refunds on your behalf. "This can lead to significant financial and identity risks, as the criminals may continue to misuse your stolen data beyond the initial scam," Norton said. The cybersecurity company said it's worth shredding any documents that have your personal information attached to it. You should also have strong, unique passwords and have two-factor authentication turned on for your myGov account. If you think your TFN has fallen into the wrong hands, report it immediately to the ATO. Williams said Aussies usually get caught up in these scams because they react too quickly. While it can be panic-inducing to get a text message that says you need to cough up some cash immediately, it can only take a few minutes to work out if it's legitimate. 'Tax time is already a stressful period for many Australians, and scammers exploit that urgency to catch people off guard," he said. "Our advice is simple: slow down, verify every message, and never rush into sharing personal or financial information. "Staying vigilant and using trusted tools can make all the difference in keeping your data and money safe this tax season.'Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Centrelink issues urgent deadline warning for lump sum payment: 'You may miss out'
Centrelink has reminded recipients of the Family Tax Benefit (FTB) that "time's running out" to make an important submission. People on the payment are able to claim it in fortnightly instalments or as a lump sum. If they do the latter option, they need to make a submission to Services Australia by June 30. This time limit applies to people who were on the payment for the 2023-24 financial year. "If you didn't claim FTB during the financial year, you need to do it now. If you don't, you may miss out on payments," Services Australia said. Centrelink cash boost coming from July 1 for millions of Aussie ATO superannuation warning as deadline for $30,000 deduction fast approaches Aussie mum's $1,200 electricity bill shock sparks warning for millions When you send in your claim, you'll have to confirm how much income your household had for that financial year. That includes your income as well as your partner's, even if they aren't on can submit your income by telling the government body or lodging a tax return with the Australian Taxation Office. The easiest way to tell Services Australia is online through the account linked to myGov. If you're using the app, select More from your home screen, then select Advise tax non-lodgement. If you can't confirm your income for a certain reason, you should call the Services Australia Families line to discuss your options. Services Australia general manager Hank Jongen told Yahoo Finance it helps them understand how much you are eligible to receive. "Most families tend to overestimate their income, so they get a handy top-up or supplement payment at the end of the financial year," he said. "You wouldn't leave money sitting on your front porch, would you? Yet, that's effectively what thousands of families are doing by not confirming their income with Centrelink." The annual income limits above which FTB Part A may not be paid for the 2023-24 financial year range from $117,348 to $206,858, depending on how many children you have and how old they are. If you share caring responsibilities for a child, Services Australia use your percentage of care to work out your rate. The government body has warned what can happen if you don't make your claim by the June 30 deadline. "If you don't do this within 12 months, we'll send you an account payable notice," Services Australia said. "This will ask you to pay back the full amount of FTB you got for the related financial year."Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data
West Australian
14-06-2025
- Health
- West Australian
Regulator promises action on medicos abusing patients' compassionate release of super funds
Medical practitioners have been warned the regulator is on the hunt for any doctors and dentists abusing the safety net that allows patients early access to superannuation to pay for vital treatments. The crackdown follows The Sunday Times' expose of rogue dentist David Hurst and the horrendous plight of his former patients. The Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency and the Dental and Medical Boards of Australia issued a joint statement expressing concern some practitioners were putting profits ahead of patient care. 'Compassionate release of superannuation (CRS), administered by the Australian Taxation Office, is an important safety net for access to urgent health care for people who cannot otherwise afford it, however, it can also have significant long-term financial impacts on individuals' superannuation outcomes. 'It is important that it is used appropriately and that patients are clearly informed of potential risks. 'The significant increase in approvals for the use of CRS for dental treatments in recent years, raises concerns that some practitioners may be placing profits over patient care. 'AHPRA and the Dental and Medical Boards of Australia are working with other regulators, including the ATO, to understand the recent growth in applications to use CRS to fund treatment and identify any concerns about inappropriate conduct. 'Under close examination is the practice of practitioners with high rates of report writing that indicate inappropriate patient assessment may be occurring.' AHPRA chief executive Justin Untersteiner added: 'We are deeply concerned by reports that some practitioners may be putting their own financial gain ahead their patients' best interests. 'We're working with the ATO to identify any potential predatory practice. 'Practitioners are on notice that we will take action to protect the public.' AHPRA said red flags for consumers included requests or demands for payment upfront; asking to use patients' myGov login details; Telehealth consults instead of in-person examinations; and missing financial consent information. All of these were experienced by patients of Dr Hurst, who withdrew up to $70,000 each from their super funds for dental implants. As reported, more than 130 patients were left in limbo following the sudden death of the 43-year-old Perth dentist last December, with $2.3 million of their pre-payments discovered missing in the wake of the tragedy. The Sunday Times has interviewed scores of patients who complain shoddy work and cheap materials left them in agony and, in some cases, looking disfigured. Dr Hurst had been allowed to practice in Australia despite a criminal conviction in his native Wales. He stole £15,584 (more than $32,000) from the UK's National Health Service by forging patient declarations while working as a dentist in Bridgend, near Cardiff, in 2006 and 2007. In 2012, he pleaded guilty to 69 counts of theft at Cardiff Crown Court, where he was sentenced to 10 months' imprisonment, suspended for two years, and given a 200-hour community work order. In 2021, Dr Hurst had been ordered to undertake education by AHPRA following patient complaints about his work. Impacted patients were this week informed a bankruptcy trustee was being appointed over the deceased estate of Dr Hurst, indicating their prepayments were gone. The number of Australians raiding their super accounts early to get dental implants and other expensive treatments has exploded by 528 per cent in five years. Money-wise, the amount withdrawn has jumped from $66.4 million in 2018-19 to $526.4m in 2023-24 — an increase of 693 per cent. Tanja Dixon, 53, is among Dr Hurst's implant patients. As happened with many others, the provisional teeth she was fitted with all snapped and broke. She said she had experienced 'rough handling' while in the dentist's chair. 'Every time I went to him he seemed agitated and frustrated,' she said. 'I even stopped him once with and said, 'You all right there, mate?'' Each setback with her new teeth meant another trip from her home in Newman to Perth. 'I was getting really annoyed because my company paid for me to fly to Perth from Newman five times at an average cost of $900 each trip not to mention accommodation costs and car hire,' Ms Dixon said. On one occasion, she flew into the city only to get a text message saying her appointment had been cancelled. Ms Dixon has lost the $50,000 she paid from her super, plus a $20,000 loan for her final instalment that she transferred in late December, unaware that Dr Hurst had died two weeks earlier. 'If I knew he had died I would not have paid the money,' she said. Ms Dixon was assured another practice, Aria Dental, would complete her treatment. But that didn't occur because Dr Hurst's practice couldn't afford to pay its bills, including to Aria Dental. Ms Dixon has had to get another $20,000 loan to finish the work with Aria Dental, which she said had been great. She needed implants because her teeth were falling out due to a rare heart condition. 'I thought I was too young to have no teeth,' she said. 'And I deal with customers every day (in my job) running fuel sites for Dunning's Fuel. 'I've been battling things for the last three years, and (finally) I thought I was winning (in life),' she said. 'My heart was getting a bit better and I was getting my teeth done, and then, bang, it all turned to s..t.' WA Health Consumers' Council executive director Clare Mullen welcomed the strong statement from AHPRA and the Dental and Medical Boards on this issue. 'We'd encourage anyone considering a significant financial investment in any health treatment to take note of the red flags they've highlighted,' she said.
Sydney Morning Herald
13-06-2025
- Business
- Sydney Morning Herald
Seven steps to boost your super this tax time
A $10,000 contribution from someone earning $90,000 could save around $1,500 in tax - and grow in a low-tax environment for decades to come. Use carry-forward rules If you've had years where you didn't put much into super, because of part-time work, caring duties, self-employment, or just life getting in the way, the tax office actually gives you a second chance. Done right, super is still the most powerful, tax-friendly wealth builder we've got. It's called the carry-forward concessional contribution rule. If your super balance was under $500,000 at the end of last financial year, you can contribute more than the usual $30,000 cap this year by using up your unused limits from the past five years. This is ideal if you've had a good income year, sold a property or business, or finally have a bit of breathing room to focus on your future. It's one of the most generous rules in the system - and it's there for people who didn't have the chance to build up their super earlier in life. Your fund won't track this for you, so check your carry-forward amounts through myGov, or ask your accountant or adviser to help you work it out. Set up salary sacrifice From July 1, the Super Guarantee – that's the compulsory amount your employer puts into your super – is going up, to 12 per cent of your salary. That's a win. But if you really want to take control of your retirement income, consider adding a bit extra through salary sacrifice. Salary sacrifice means asking your employer to send a portion of your pre-tax pay straight to your super. It reduces your taxable income, so you pay less tax, and the money goes into super where it's taxed at just 15 per cent – usually much lower than what you're paying personally. Even small amounts make a big difference. Let's say you're earning $85,000 and salary sacrifice $5,000. That $5,000 would've been taxed at 30 per cent if you took it as salary – but in super, you save around $750 in tax. And that money keeps working for you, year after year. Loading It's easy to set up. Just ask your HR or payroll team, nominate the amount, and they'll sort it. Start with 2 per cent or 3 per cent if that feels manageable. You probably won't notice it missing from your take-home pay, but your super balance will definitely notice it in 10 years time. Balance your super with your partner It's common for one partner in a couple to have much more super than the other - especially if one took time out of the workforce or earned less over the years. Sometimes that's fine, but in other cases, it makes sense to even things out. If one of you is getting close to the transfer balance cap (currently $2 million), or you want to maximise your combined tax-free income in retirement, rebalancing now can help. You can split up to 85 per cent of last year's concessional (pre-tax) contributions with your spouse using a process called Contribution Splitting. It doesn't reduce your current year's cap, and it's just a simple form. But it does need to be done before June 30 if you want it counted for this year. Your fund will have the form on their website, so don't leave it to the last minute. Check how your super is invested Most people stay in their fund's default investment option, but that might not match your strategy any more. If you're getting closer to retirement, now's the time to make sure your investments are working for the phase you're entering. That doesn't mean going ultra-conservative. In fact, staying exposed to growth is usually smart. Retirement can last 20 to 30 years, and you need your money to keep growing. But you might want to pair that with a short-term cash or conservative bucket to cover the first few years of income needs. That way, your longer-term investments can ride the ups and downs of the market, while your cash flow stays steady. It's not about de-risking everything. It's about being strategic and setting yourself up to sleep at night, no matter what the market's doing. Check your beneficiary nomination It's one of the easiest things to forget – but one of the most important. Your super doesn't automatically follow your will when you die, which means if you haven't lodged a valid beneficiary nomination with your fund, the money could get tied up in delays or disputes. In most funds, nominations expire every three years, and many people don't realise theirs has lapsed. It's one of the biggest reasons life insurance payouts get stuck in the system, held up in admin limbo just when families need them most, something we've been hearing a lot about in the media. So take five minutes. Log in to your fund, check who you've nominated, and make sure it still reflects your wishes. If it's not valid, update it now - future you (and your loved ones) will be glad you did. Check that your super is in the retirement phase If you've left work, turned 65, or reached your preservation age and permanently stopped working, you're likely eligible to move your super into what's called retirement phase. And while there's no hard deadline to do this before June 30, tax time is the perfect moment to check that your money is set up the right way. When your super is still in accumulation phase, the investment earnings inside your account are taxed at 15 per cent. But once your money moves into retirement phase, those earnings become completely tax-free. So if you've already retired but haven't made the switch, you could be leaking money quietly to the tax office without realising it. The switch doesn't happen automatically. You need to ask your fund or set up an account-based pension to start drawing down your balance. Once you do that, you'll also be required to take at least a minimum annual income from your account, starting at 4 per cent and increasing as you get older. You can take more. Loading This isn't something you have to rush before June 30, but it's absolutely worth reviewing as part of your tax time tidy-up. Every extra month you spend in accumulation phase after retiring is another month your super earnings are being taxed unnecessarily, and that's easy money to save. EOFY can be a good time to take your super and tax savings seriously. To clean things up, maximise your benefits, and make sure your super is working for your version of retirement, not just ticking along in the background.
The Age
13-06-2025
- Business
- The Age
Seven steps to boost your super this tax time
A $10,000 contribution from someone earning $90,000 could save around $1,500 in tax - and grow in a low-tax environment for decades to come. Use carry-forward rules If you've had years where you didn't put much into super, because of part-time work, caring duties, self-employment, or just life getting in the way, the tax office actually gives you a second chance. Done right, super is still the most powerful, tax-friendly wealth builder we've got. It's called the carry-forward concessional contribution rule. If your super balance was under $500,000 at the end of last financial year, you can contribute more than the usual $30,000 cap this year by using up your unused limits from the past five years. This is ideal if you've had a good income year, sold a property or business, or finally have a bit of breathing room to focus on your future. It's one of the most generous rules in the system - and it's there for people who didn't have the chance to build up their super earlier in life. Your fund won't track this for you, so check your carry-forward amounts through myGov, or ask your accountant or adviser to help you work it out. Set up salary sacrifice From July 1, the Super Guarantee – that's the compulsory amount your employer puts into your super – is going up, to 12 per cent of your salary. That's a win. But if you really want to take control of your retirement income, consider adding a bit extra through salary sacrifice. Salary sacrifice means asking your employer to send a portion of your pre-tax pay straight to your super. It reduces your taxable income, so you pay less tax, and the money goes into super where it's taxed at just 15 per cent – usually much lower than what you're paying personally. Even small amounts make a big difference. Let's say you're earning $85,000 and salary sacrifice $5,000. That $5,000 would've been taxed at 30 per cent if you took it as salary – but in super, you save around $750 in tax. And that money keeps working for you, year after year. Loading It's easy to set up. Just ask your HR or payroll team, nominate the amount, and they'll sort it. Start with 2 per cent or 3 per cent if that feels manageable. You probably won't notice it missing from your take-home pay, but your super balance will definitely notice it in 10 years time. Balance your super with your partner It's common for one partner in a couple to have much more super than the other - especially if one took time out of the workforce or earned less over the years. Sometimes that's fine, but in other cases, it makes sense to even things out. If one of you is getting close to the transfer balance cap (currently $2 million), or you want to maximise your combined tax-free income in retirement, rebalancing now can help. You can split up to 85 per cent of last year's concessional (pre-tax) contributions with your spouse using a process called Contribution Splitting. It doesn't reduce your current year's cap, and it's just a simple form. But it does need to be done before June 30 if you want it counted for this year. Your fund will have the form on their website, so don't leave it to the last minute. Check how your super is invested Most people stay in their fund's default investment option, but that might not match your strategy any more. If you're getting closer to retirement, now's the time to make sure your investments are working for the phase you're entering. That doesn't mean going ultra-conservative. In fact, staying exposed to growth is usually smart. Retirement can last 20 to 30 years, and you need your money to keep growing. But you might want to pair that with a short-term cash or conservative bucket to cover the first few years of income needs. That way, your longer-term investments can ride the ups and downs of the market, while your cash flow stays steady. It's not about de-risking everything. It's about being strategic and setting yourself up to sleep at night, no matter what the market's doing. Check your beneficiary nomination It's one of the easiest things to forget – but one of the most important. Your super doesn't automatically follow your will when you die, which means if you haven't lodged a valid beneficiary nomination with your fund, the money could get tied up in delays or disputes. In most funds, nominations expire every three years, and many people don't realise theirs has lapsed. It's one of the biggest reasons life insurance payouts get stuck in the system, held up in admin limbo just when families need them most, something we've been hearing a lot about in the media. So take five minutes. Log in to your fund, check who you've nominated, and make sure it still reflects your wishes. If it's not valid, update it now - future you (and your loved ones) will be glad you did. Check that your super is in the retirement phase If you've left work, turned 65, or reached your preservation age and permanently stopped working, you're likely eligible to move your super into what's called retirement phase. And while there's no hard deadline to do this before June 30, tax time is the perfect moment to check that your money is set up the right way. When your super is still in accumulation phase, the investment earnings inside your account are taxed at 15 per cent. But once your money moves into retirement phase, those earnings become completely tax-free. So if you've already retired but haven't made the switch, you could be leaking money quietly to the tax office without realising it. The switch doesn't happen automatically. You need to ask your fund or set up an account-based pension to start drawing down your balance. Once you do that, you'll also be required to take at least a minimum annual income from your account, starting at 4 per cent and increasing as you get older. You can take more. Loading This isn't something you have to rush before June 30, but it's absolutely worth reviewing as part of your tax time tidy-up. Every extra month you spend in accumulation phase after retiring is another month your super earnings are being taxed unnecessarily, and that's easy money to save. EOFY can be a good time to take your super and tax savings seriously. To clean things up, maximise your benefits, and make sure your super is working for your version of retirement, not just ticking along in the background.
