Have your tax and spend it too

It's that time of the year again...tax returns are due.

If it's your first time lodging a tax return or even if you've done it before maybe using an agent, you might consider using the e-tax option this year. E-tax is an electronic lodgement system available through the Australian Taxation Office website.

The e-tax system is easy to download, very user friendly and free to use. There are a number of benefits from using e-tax that will not only free up your time, but also make things a lot less stressful!.

First of all, it is a faster process compared to lodging a paper return. With e-tax it takes, at most, two weeks to receive your money, where as it can take up to a month or even longer using paper returns. Another great advantage is that e-tax does most of the calculations for you. This cuts down the possibility of typos and miscalculations (but it still pays to double check everything).

Finally, the e-tax system lets you download relevant information such as government payments, Medicare information and bank interests directly into your tax return form, which can all help you out during the tax return process. Who knows, they may even get you more money back!

If you have downloaded the e-tax program and still find it a bit confusing, you might want to ask friends or family to help you out. If not, the Australian Taxation Office also offers assistance through their hotline at 13 28 61 and they can be contacted between 8.00am and 6.00pm on weekdays.

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