No. It’s not true that you always get your money back in the first year. You pay tax on what you earn right from the start.

I think that often this misconception comes about because many people start working half-way through the tax year and thus are on low income for that year, so they get a lot of tax back.

It’s impossible without knowing more details to say specifically what you will get, but I can give you a rough idea of what someone in your situation might be likely to get back.

If you got any government/youth allowances (including Centrelink payments) this takes your income up. Likewise, if you earned interest or made money from shares or anything else.

Assuming that you’re not exempt from Medicare, that no other income was received, that you have no dependants, that you are a resident for tax purposes, that you haven’t been doing any schooling, that you have no shares and have no other expenses (including no government debts like Centrelink or child support) then based on straight income of $20,972, tax due on that amount is $2,245.80 plus Medicare of $248.40, less a low income tax offset of $1,350.

Total tax overall is $1,144.20. You have paid $2,473 which means if there are no changes you should get a refund of $1,328.80.

Obviously I have to put a disclaimer here. This is a basic idea. Your circumstances will make a difference, along with claims you make.

My parents are not getting pensions or any other payments from the cenrelink at the moment. They don’t have any investments either but they do have some savings however it is not invested into any term deposits so hardly any interest. So I’m pretty sure I can say they do not have any income at all.

They traveled to oeverseas a lot last year and only lived in Australia for about 3 months. When they were overseas I still supported them with living expenses. So i’m wondering whether I can still claim the tax offset for the period they lived overseas or I’m only allowed to claim for the period they were in Australia.

Please let me know if you still need more information.

Thanks
Jimmy

This is a hard question to answer without knowing more details, sorry.

Are your parents getting any income at all? If they are getting some income, e.g. a pension, then they are not considered as dependants.

But as I say, for the rest, I’d need to know more to be able to say for sure.

I have a question regarding the tax offset for parents. My mum is an Australian citizen and my dad is a permanent resident. They both have stopped working a couple of years ago and I have been supporting them wth my Income. For the last tax year they did not stay in Australia for the whole year. Are they still qualified for “Australian resident” for the full year or just for the period they actually “resided” in Australia?

Thanks
Jimmy

I am working and my wife is not working (but she has brought and sell some shares are last year)

We have the auto filled our medicare details, and that has given us our separate medicare data in our separate tax returns.

Can I claim everything on my tax return? And take the information out of from my wife?