A new tax bonus announced in 2019 means millions of Australians get extra money in their tax refund this year. Will you get a tax bonus? How much money does it add to your tax refund? First of all, here’s some good news about the tax bonus:
You don’t have to do anything special. You’ll get your tax bonus automatically when you lodge your tax return.”
Etax calculates your tax refund – including the new tax bonus – and shows your refund estimate, right on your screen. It re-calculates for each bit of info you add. Etax automatically collects your income statement from the ATO, so you don’t need an income statement or PAYG when you lodge your Etax return. Also, Etax helps you remember items you can claim as deductions, to boost your refund even more. At Etax, degree-qualified accountants check your return and fix ATO problems before they happen.
Let’s cover some details about the new tax bonus, down below.
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“How Much is My Tax Bonus?”
New tax cuts include a short-term bonus or ‘tax rebate’, mostly for people on low to middle incomes. If you earn between about $21,000 to $126,000 then your tax refund could get a nice little boost in 2019.
| Taxable Income | 2019 Tax Bonus |
| $25,000 | $255 |
| $40,000 | $480 |
| $60,000 | $1,080 |
| $90,000 | $1,080 |
| $120,000 | $180 |
| $150,000 | $0 |
| $200,000 | $0 |
Taxpayers whose total taxable income is between $48,000 and $90,000 are eligible for the maximum “low & middle income tax offset” of $1,080.
You can see in the table above how people on high incomes seem to be ignored for 2019. Anyone earning more than $126,000 will not see a change for 2019. However, in future years, people with the biggest salaries will really rake it in – more about that down below.
“How Do I Get My Tax Bonus?”
Good news: You don’t need to do anything special.
Just lodge your tax return like normal. The change applies automatically to your tax refund.
If you are already an Etax user you can log in here to get it done in a few minutes.
If you are new to Etax, you can create an account here, and it’s going to be easy!
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What if I already submitted my tax return?
Here’s more good news: You don’t need to do anything. You’ll automatically get the tax bonus added to your tax refund. Or, if you owe taxes, you’ll probably owe a bit less.
“My Tax Bonus Looks Too Small”
Okay, here’s where it gets a bit more complicated. If you already did your 2019 tax return, or if you already started a return at Etax and checked your tax refund estimate, then you already saw an amount that included a tax bonus that started in 2018. For a lot of people, that already increased their tax refund. 2019 tax cut changes don’t add on top of those 2018 changes – they replace the older tax bonus. So if you already checked your refund, the new difference may look smaller than you expected.
Here’s an example: If you earned around $60,000, then you already had a $530 boost coming your way for 2019 (based on changes introduced in 2018). The new 2019 tax cut does not add on top of that – it just changes how the calculation works, so you’ll get about $550 more than you were expecting (not a full $1080 more like the table shows above).
Another reason for a smaller amount is, you may have owed some tax to the ATO, or to Centrelink or Child Support, and that gets subtracted from any extra you might get from the tax cut.
Some Taxpayers Still Owe Money to the ATO
Most Australians get a tax refund each year. However, some people pay tax instead. The most common reasons are,
- Your employer(s) didn’t deduct enough tax to cover what you should be paying the ATO.
- You had multiple jobs or sources of income and didn’t pay enough tax for your total income. For example, if you topped-up your income with Uber, AirBNB or some consulting work, all the income adds-up to a total taxable income. As your taxable income goes up, so does the percentage you pay in tax. If each employer knows about the other sources of income, they can adjust your tax withheld rate so your taxes are covered. But it doesn’t always work that way.
- You owed money to Centrelink or Child Support. The ATO automatically grabs your tax refund and sends it to pay for any Centrelink, Child Support or other government agency debt.
How Much Tax Bonus Will You Get in the Future?
For people with low-to-mid incomes, the tax bonus remains the same or increases slightly for a few years. That means, next year your refund should be similar to this year (if other things like your tax deductions remain the same). The 2019 tax bonus does not keep doubling-up each year. For example,
- A person who earns $35,000 gets an extra $255 in the 2019 tax bonus and that remains the same all the way to 2024/5 – still $255.
- A person earning $60,000 gets an extra $1,080 for 2019 and that crawls up to $1,455 by 2024/5.
For people on high incomes, things keep getting better. High income earners get nothing in the 2019 tax cut. However, in the coming years, those people get a MUCH bigger tax cut than everyone else.
- A person who earns a hefty $190,000 doesn’t get anything extra with the 2019 changes. But pretty soon it’ll go up, a lot. By 2024/5 that person’s tax cut gives them an extra $10,140!
Future Details About the Tax Bonus
Technically, the new tax cuts are a tax rebate or bonus, not a cut in tax rates. The new tax rebate is only temporary, for four years. That means it is gone in 2022, and at that point, “Stage 2” of the tax plan comes into effect. Stage 2 sees no more tax bonus, but we still get a boost because tax offsets, tax brackets and rates change. Many people will be in a lower tax bracket from 2022 which means they will pay a lower rate of tax – this is an actual tax cut and not a rebate like in 2019. But for low to middle income earners, the effect will be similar to the 2019 changes. Stage 3 of the plan comes in at July 2024. That’s when tax rates come down in a way that mainly gives a big boost to people on high incomes.
Summary About the New Tax Bonus
- Tax cuts = a slightly bigger tax refund for most Australians starting in 2019.
- You don’t need to do anything special. Just lodge your tax returns as normal.
- In your Etax return, after you add the basic details and deductions, you can see a tax refund estimate including the latest tax bonus.
- You do not need an Income Statement or PAYG in order to do your taxes – Etax will collect that (and lots more) to automatically pre-fill your tax return, saving you time and improving accuracy.
How to do your tax return:
Click ‘Get Started’ then enter your basic details – Etax does most of it for you AND helps you find deductions.
Need help? There are videos inside Etax, plus accountants are ready to help on phone or live chat.
Sign Your Return. Next, accountants review your tax return and get in touch if there’s something to change or check.
Accountants at Etax re-check your tax return to make sure it’s right, then lodge it to the ATO and your tax refund will be on the way, fastEtax Rated Number One by Australians
Etax won the Canstar Blue 2018 “Most Satisfied Customers Award” for tax agents. Reviews about Etax often mention friendly service, excellent value, the amazing online tax return, bigger tax refunds, or just the comfort of knowing your tax return was checked and done right. The ratings speak for themselves! Etax is Australia’s best-reviewed tax agent on ProductReview, Google and TrustPilot.
Fantastic – this takes all the stress out of lodging my tax return Your site improves each year – it’s just great! I don’t have to worry about changes to legislation as it is all included in the next version of your software. So easy! -Aws, from ProductReview, July 2019Fast easy and everything is pre-filled to save time plus they double check to make sure you get the most return you should get, for the small amount they charge it’s much easier and cheaper than the big name Tax Agents and I don’t have to leave home to get it done for the same if not more return :) -Gardum, from Google Reviews, July 2019Easy way to get your tax return done …takes 15 minutes at the most and they help you with what you can and can’t claim! -Matthew S. from Google Reviews, July 2019So Easy and fantastic help with questions I was told about Etax by a friend as I used to do my taxes via MyGov. To be honest this made my life so much easier and I was able to obtain all my deductions that I was entitled to. Highly recommend. -Nerissa in Tasmania, from ProductReview, July 2019Easy to manage and put through The process is simple and it was a breeze to get through. The fact my salary was already known made it brilliant. I will recommend it to everyone I know. -Shane S. in Hobart, from ProductReview, July 2019Have used this service for years So simple and it remembers everything you selected from the year prior which makes your next one so easy! Great company. -Amy D. from Google Reviews, July 2019
