People from Australia, tax question

Hi Peter,

best to ask your accountant.

If you are paying tax overseas on earnings as you may be with Amazon you may not need to double up by paying in Oz but that would be something I would run past an accountant and at the same time I'd ask them what records I need to keep to meet my legal obligations in Australia.

Registering and having an ABN is not a bad thing for either situation.

Get some professional advice for your specific situation so you can move forward with confidence.

Best regards,

Ozi

Thanks, i haven't earned anything yet and probably won't for a while, so im trying to avoid the accountant for awhile, so im looking for some people from Australia that has being running an online business and see if i can gather some information and do the tax part myself since it will most likely a small amount

You should seek out guidance from a qualified accountant, and not on a forum.

Generally they'll get you to set up an ABN, and walk you through more specific information about filing taxes.

Jason

Hi All,
I agree - best to go to an accountant and ascertain all the tax requirements. ATO is coming down heavy at present and have online businesses in their sights, so to me it is rather silly not to go to an accountant and get all the relevant facts and steps.

Just because you may not be earning $$$ for a wee while is really a very poor excuse for not seeking the advice from an accountant to ensure you are setting things up correctly.

You are or will be running a business and any business requires an accountant. If only to ensure that any expenditure is properly accounted for as well as income.

To try and do this yourself leaves you wide open (and the ATO does not accept ignorance as an excuse) as well as potentially leaving money on the table by reducing your taxable income.

So please, please if you're going to ask for advice and you don't happen to like the advice that others have given you, why ask in the first place????

And yes, I live in Aussie land and yes I have an accountant undertake my tax return. You can obtain an ABN in your personal name if you so choose and have this incorporated into your personal tax return.

For approximately less than $500 you can have your tax return done and whalla you know you're okay with the ATO. This is probably less than you would spend on advertising for your business, and by the way it's tax deductible. So exactly why do you think you can run a business and be a qualified accountant at the same time (if you haven't studied accountancy and taxation law that is)????