Free Australian tax refund estimator for FY 2025-26. Enter your total income, tax already withheld by your employer, and deductions to calculate whether you'll receive a tax refund or owe money to the ATO. Includes Medicare levy, LITO, HELP repayments, and work-related deductions.
Gross income before tax (from payment summary)
Total PAYG tax withheld during the year
Interest, dividends, rental income, etc.
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Enter your income and tax withheld
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Your tax refund (or tax bill) is the difference between the tax your employer withheld from your pay during the year and your actual tax liability. When you lodge your tax return, the ATO calculates your total tax based on your taxable income, then compares it to the tax already paid. If your employer withheld too much, you get a refund.
The key to a bigger refund is claiming all legitimate deductions. Keep receipts and records throughout the year for work-related expenses. Common deductions that people miss include: home office expenses, work phone/internet usage, professional subscriptions, union fees, income protection insurance, and the cost of managing tax affairs.
If you lodge your own return via myTax (myGov), the ATO typically processes refunds within 2 weeks. If you use a tax agent, your lodgement deadline is later (usually March of the following year), but processing times can be 2-12 weeks depending on complexity. The ATO pre-fills much of your return from employer, bank, and health fund data.
You may owe the ATO if you had multiple jobs and claimed the tax-free threshold on more than one, earned untaxed income (rental, shares, crypto), your employer under-withheld tax, or you received a redundancy or back-payment that was taxed at a lower rate than your marginal rate.
You'll get a refund if the tax your employer withheld during the year (shown on your payment summary / income statement) is MORE than your actual tax liability calculated when you lodge your return. Common reasons for refunds include: over-withholding, work-related deductions, and the Low Income Tax Offset.
The ATO typically processes electronically lodged returns within 2 weeks. If you lodge via a tax agent, processing may take longer (up to 12 weeks during peak times). Simple returns with pre-filled data from myGov tend to be processed fastest.
Common deductions include: work from home expenses (67c per hour fixed rate), car expenses for work travel, work uniforms and laundry, tools and equipment, phone and internet (work percentage), self-education related to current employment, union fees, income protection insurance, and donations to deductible gift recipients (DGRs).
You may owe tax if: you had multiple employers and each applied the tax-free threshold, you earned investment income (dividends, interest, rental) without enough tax withheld, your employer didn't withhold enough tax, or you made a capital gain during the year.
From FY 2022-23 onwards, the ATO offers a fixed rate of 67 cents per hour for all work from home running expenses. You need to keep a record of hours worked from home (e.g. a timesheet or diary). This covers electricity, phone, internet, stationery, and depreciation of furniture.
You must lodge a tax return if you earned above the tax-free threshold ($18,200) during the financial year, had tax withheld from any payments, are entitled to a refund, had a reportable fringe benefits amount, made a loss, or received certain government payments.
OneBookPlus handles invoicing, GST tracking, BAS prep, and ATO lodgement automatically.
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