Understanding tax

Income you must declare

You must declare all your assessable income in your tax return. This includes:

salary or wages
cash payments for work you do
pensions
investment income from rent, bank interest or dividends
capital gains from selling assets like shares, property or goodwill
income from overseas
income from running a business.

For more information, refer to Guide to income you must declare.

Government payments

If you receive a government payment, you need to check if it's assessable for income tax purposes. Most government payments are assessable income and you need to include them on your tax return. However, if you receive government payments you may be able to claim a tax offset called the beneficiary tax offset on your tax return.

For more information about income tax on government payments, refer to Are you getting government assistance?

Capital gains from selling assets

If you sell an asset such as an investment property, you will probably make a capital gain or capital loss. (This gain or loss is the difference between what it cost you to get the asset and what you received when you disposed of it.)

Any capital gains you have made must be included in your assessable income for income tax.

There are a few exceptions to this rule. For example, you generally don't have to declare any profit from selling your main residence (the house or apartment you live in), unless you have used it for some other purpose such as renting it out or running a home-based business.

For more information, refer to Introduction to capital gains tax.

Fringe benefits

If your employer gives you benefits because of your employment - for example, they provide you with a car - they may have to pay tax on the value of these benefits. This is called fringe benefits tax (FBT). You may need to include the value of any fringe benefits in your income tax return, and for many income tests, such as super co-contributions and some income-tested government benefits.

For more information, refer to Fringe benefits tax.

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Last Modified: Tuesday, 21 August 2012