Tax Returns & Notices of Assessment - What is the difference?
When going through a property matter, you will be asked to provide various documents. In all property matters we will ask you to provide a copy of your Income Tax Return, and often we also require your Notices of Assessment.
These are two separate documents which provide different information. Often clients will tell us that they cannot find their old Tax Returns, which is why they have provided a Notice of Assessment.
In this blog, we will look at what is a Tax Return and a Notice of Assessment and how to access these.
What is an Income Tax Return?
Most people in Australia need to lodge an Income Tax Return yearly.
The purpose of a Tax Return is to report the income you have earned for the relevant financial year (being July to June) and any deductions you are claiming against this income. Not only do you report your income from your job, but you are also required to declare income from other sources such as bank account interest, rental income, or the sale of an asset that may have attracted capital gains tax.
Your Tax Return is lodged with the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) and if you have paid too much tax throughout the year, you will receive a refund. If you have not paid enough tax, you will receive a bill for the amount you need to pay.
What is a Notice of Assessment?
A Notice of Assessment is the statement issued by the ATO after you have lodged your Income Tax Return.
If you lodge your Tax Return electronically, either by yourself via myGov or through an Accountant (also known as a Tax Agent), you can expect to receive your Notice Assessment within 2 weeks of lodging your Tax Return.
A Notice of Assessment will show you: -
Your taxable income for the year;
The tax payable on your taxable income;
Any credits that are applied to the tax payable; and
The balance of tax payable or refundable.
While a Notice of Assessment is a good summary of what income you had for the financial year, it does not show the different sources for your income.
Getting a copy of your Income Tax Returns and Notices of Assessment
If you lodge your Income Tax Return through your Accountant, they will be able to provide you a copy of both your Income Tax Return and Notice of Assessment if you request them. For clients, we can have you sign an authority to your Accountant which means we can obtain these documents on your behalf – saving you time.
If you have lodged your Income Tax Return yourself, or you do not wish to contact your Accountant, you can obtain a copy of your Tax Return and Notice of Assessment using your myGov account if it has been linked to the ATO. The ATO has provided instructions to link their page to your MyGov account here.
How to obtain a copy of your Income Tax Return and Notice of Assessment from MyGov
Locating your Income Tax Return and Notice of Assessment can be difficult if you are not familiar with the ATO myGov page. To find these documents, you will need to do the following steps: -
Log in to your myGov account;
Choose the Australian Taxation Office service;
At the top of the page, click on ‘Tax’, then click on ‘Lodgements’ and then ‘Income tax’;
Click on ‘History’
If you require a copy of the Income Tax Return, find the year for the return you need and click on ‘View details’. You will be taken a copy of the Income Tax Return for that year. If you scroll to the bottom of the Return, there is a ‘Printer-friendly version’ button. Click this button and from there you will be able to either print a copy of the Return or save a PDF copy of the Return.
If you require a copy of the Notice of Assessment, you can choose this and it will download a PDF copy for you.
While it can feel like an inconvenience to obtain these documents, not providing a full and frank financial disclosure can have significant consequences for your property matter. We have provided more information on this in our article “I don’t want to tell”.
Please note: the information in this article is general in nature and is not legal advice. For specific advice about your circumstances, contact us to make an appointment with one of our solicitors.
