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July 7, 2022
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Tax time tips for nurses and midwives

June 21, 2022 by Rayan Calimlim Leave a Comment

Tax time can be a tricky time for nurses and midwives, especially when figuring out what you can and cannot claim as a tax deduction. Here’s a quick guide specifically for you.

Allowances

Include all allowances shown on your income statement or payment summary as income in your tax return.

You may receive an allowance to:

  • compensate you for an aspect of your work, for example, carrying out unpleasant or dangerous tasks
  • help you to pay for certain expenses such as meals when you travel for work.

If your employer pays you:

  • an amount based on an estimate of what you might spend, such as paying cents per kilometre if you use your car for work, then it’s an allowance
  • for the actual amount of the expense (either before or after you incur the expense), such as paying for the petrol you use if you use your car for work, it’s a reimbursement.

Allowances on your income statement or payment summary

You may receive allowances:

  • for work that may be unpleasant, special or dangerous
  • in recognition of holding special skills, such as a first-aid certificate
  • to compensate for industry peculiarities, such as for weekend or holiday shifts.

These payments don’t cover you for expenses you might incur. Include these allowances as income in your tax return.

If you receive an allowance from your employer, you aren’t always entitled to a deduction – it depends on the situation. See Deductions.

Allowances not on your income statement or payment summary

Your employer may not include some allowances on your income statement or payment summary. This can apply to travel allowances and overtime meal allowances paid under an industrial law, award or agreement. You can see these allowances on your payslips.

If the allowance isn’t on your income statement or payment summary, and you:

  • spent the whole amount on deductible expenses, you
    • don’t include it as income in your tax return
    • can’t claim any deductions for these expenses
  • spent more than your allowance, you
    • include the allowance as income in your tax return
    • can claim a deduction for your expense, if you’re eligible – see Deductions.

Work-related expenses

To claim a deduction for work-related expenses:

  • you must have spent the money yourself and weren’t reimbursed
  • it must be directly related to earning your income
  • you must have a record to prove it.

You can use the ATO app myDeductions tool to keep track of your expenses and receipts throughout the year.

You can only claim the work-related part of expenses. You can’t claim a deduction for any part of the expense that relates to personal use.

Professional Expenses

You can claim a deduction for the work-related portion of the following expenses, as long as they relate to your employment:

  • Union and professional association fees. This includes your membership fees to the NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association; 
  • Annual practicing certificate fees;
  • Calculators;
  • Agency commissions and agency fees;
  • Technical or professional publications, including a subscription to the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Journal.

Car expenses

You can claim a deduction when you:

  • drive between separate jobs on the same day – for example, travelling from your job as a carer to a second job as a musician
  • drive to and from an alternate workplace for the same employer on the same day – for example, driving from your usual clinic to another clinic to work for the same employer.

You generally can’t claim the cost of trips between home and work, even if you live a long way from your usual workplace or have to work outside normal business hours – for example, public holiday shifts.

In limited circumstances you can claim the cost of trips between home and work, where you were required to carry bulky tools or equipment for work and you met all of the following conditions:

  • the tools or equipment were essential for you to perform your employment duties and you didn’t carry them merely as a matter of choice
  • the tools or equipment were bulky – meaning that because of their size and weight they were awkward to transport and could only be transported conveniently by the use of a motor vehicle
  • there was no secure storage for the items at the workplace.

If you claim car expenses, you need to keep a logbook to determine the work-related percentage, or be able to demonstrate to the ATO a reasonable calculation if you use the cents per kilometre method to claim.

Phone and internet expenses

You can claim phone and internet usage if your employer needs you to use your personal devices for work.

You can only claim the work-related portion of the use of your personal device.

Clothing expenses

You can claim a deduction for the cost of buying, hiring, mending or cleaning certain uniforms that are unique and distinctive to your job, or protective clothing, for example, non-slip nursing shoes or support stockings, that your employer requires you to wear.

You can’t claim a deduction for the cost of buying or cleaning plain clothing worn at work, even if your employer tells you to wear it, and even if you only wear it for work, for example, black pants and a white shirt.

Self-education expenses

You can claim a deduction for self-education expenses if your course relates directly to your current job (e.g. a wound care course).

You cannot claim a deduction if your study is only related in a general way or is designed to help you get a new job (e.g. the cost of a Bachelor of Nursing if you are currently an enrolled nurse).

NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association members can find free and affordable education courses here. These are all tax deductible.

Other expenses

As long as the expense relates to your employment, you can claim a deduction for the work-related portion of the cost of:

  • calculators
  • union and professional association fees
  • agency commissions and agency fees, and annual practising certificate fees
  • technical or professional publications.

Working from home

Nurses and midwives who have worked from home can claim a deduction of 80 cents for each hour worked from home for the 2021-2022 income years. This is known as the shortcut method.

If you:

  • were working from home to fulfill your employment duties and not just carrying out minimal tasks such as occasionally checking emails or taking calls
  • incurred additional running expenses as a result of working from home.

The shortcut method doesn’t require you to have a dedicated work area, such as a private study.

The shortcut method covers all additional deductible running expenses, including:

  • electricity for lighting, cooling or heating and running electronic items used for work (for example, your computer), and gas heating expenses
  • the decline in value and repair of capital items, such as home office furniture and furnishings including capital items that cost less than $300
  • cleaning expenses
  • your phone costs, including the decline in value of the handset
  • your internet costs
  • computer consumables, such as printer ink and stationery
  • the decline in value of a computer, laptop or similar device.

You don’t have to incur all these expenses to use the shortcut method, but you must have incurred additional running expenses in some of these categories when working from home.

If you use this method, you can’t claim any other expenses for working from home for that period.

When you are calculating the number of hours you worked from home, you need to exclude any time you took a break from working.

You can calculate your working from home deduction using the shortcut method, with this formula:

  • total number of hours worked from home from 1 July 2021 to 30 June 2022 × 80 cents (for the 2021–22 income year).

If you use the shortcut method to claim a deduction, include the amount at the other work-related expenses question in your tax return and include ‘COVID-hourly rate’ as the description.

Alternatively, you can calculate your working from home deductions using the fixed rate or actual cost methods, which you can find here.

This is a general summary only. For more information, go to ato.gov.au/occupations


Resources:

  1. Nurses and midwives poster – This downloadable poster provides helpful information and a summary on which expenses nurses and midwives can and cannot claim at tax time.
  2. Health workers Toolkit – This toolkit contains practical and tailored information and tips to help anyone in the health care industry including doctors, nurses, carers and cleaners to understand what they can and can’t claim in their tax return.

Temporary workers to access more permanent residency pathways

April 5, 2022 by Rayan Calimlim Leave a Comment

The Australian Government has recently made a number of legislative changes to make it easier for temporary workers to obtain permanent residency in Australia.

These changes mostly affect people who hold or have held Temporary Skill Shortage (sc 482) (TSS) and subclass 457 visas.

Some of these changes include:

  • Removing the age requirement for the permanent Employer Nomination Scheme (sc 186) visa (ENS) for people who held a subclass 457 visa on or after 18 April 2017 and were in Australia for at least 12 months between 1 February 2020 and 14 December 2021 (12-month requirement).
  • From 1 July 2022, allowing certain subclass 457 visa holders and TSS visa holders whose occupation is on the Short-Term Skilled Occupation List (STSOL) (e.g. Enrolled Nurses) be sponsored by their employer for permanent residency where:
    • they meet the 12-month requirement;
    • they are employed by an Australian business; and
    • their employer has sponsored them on a subclass 457 and/or TSS visa for 3 of the last 4 years.
  • Allowing certain temporary workers apply for a third TSS where their occupation appears on the STSOL and they meet the 12-month requirement, which may allow access to a permanent employer sponsored visa.
  • Continuing to allow subclass 457 visa holders who on 18 March 2017 held, or had applied for and were subsequently granted, a subclass 457 visa, access the transitional provisions for employer sponsored permanent residency (e.g. exemption from the Medium to Long Term Strategic Skill List and the lower 2-year qualifying work requirement and 50 year rather than 45 year age requirement).

Nurses and Midwives who consider that they fall into any of the above categories should start talking to their employer about visa sponsorship as soon as possible.

If you would like more information about the above changes, you can contact the NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association for a referral to Visa Assist. Visa Assist provides free and confidential immigration advice to union members.

A surge in people working more than one job

December 2, 2021 by Madeline Lucre Leave a Comment

There are now 867,900 Australians working multiple jobs – the highest number since the Australian Bureau of Statistics began tracking secondary jobs in 1994.

Worse yet, there are now a record number of Australians working three or more jobs – 209,100 – a shocking 10.8 per cent increase from June 2020.

A new ACTU report has revealed that workers who do multiple jobs still earn 17.5 per cent less than the national average.

Women working multiple jobs are significantly worse off than men, earning almost $10,000 less per year than their male counterparts. Women make up 53.7 per cent of multiple job holders.

Millennials and Generation Z are most affected – 55 per cent of workers with two or more jobs are under 35.

Multiple job holding has surged most in administrative and support services. Healthcare and social assistance also saw one of the largest increases in multiple job holding.

Employers offering insecure work is driving this surge in people working multiple jobs, says the ACTU.

“The Morrison Government is overseeing the erosion of the financial security that secure employment has provided for generations of Australian workers,” said ACTU Secretary, Sally McManus.

“It urgently needs to address the insecure jobs crisis plaguing this country. Australian workers have been doing it extremely tough for almost two years.”

 

Important super changes introduced

December 2, 2021 by Madeline Lucre Leave a Comment

Federal government changes to super that “staple” a fund member to a performing fund for their working life were introduced on 1 November.

The new super laws ensure that, unless you actively choose otherwise, your active super account or the first fund you joined when you started working will follow you throughout your working life, even if the fund is poor-performing.

This is what is known as “member stapling” in the legislation.

The goal is to avoid a person having more than one super fund and paying multiple fees, which would erode retirement savings unnecessarily.

If you do not provide your fund of choosing, it will be an employer’s responsibility to search and check with the ATO if their new employee has a “stapled” super fund and ensure that future SG contributions are paid into it.

Stapling does not apply to members working in the NSW Public Health System. Aware Super – a “top-performing” fund – is nominated as the default fund for employees under the First State Superannuation Act 1992 (NSW).

Aware Super recommends that if you change jobs:

  • check with your new employer’s payroll team and request a Superannuation Standard Choice form to provide them with your chosen super account details
  • research and review your superannuation fund’s performance. An underperforming fund can mean less for you in retirement, which could mean you’ll need to work longer.

For more information: Your super, your choice:

 

Eligible visa holders welcomed back to Australia

November 29, 2021 by Rayan Calimlim Leave a Comment

From 1 December 2021, fully vaccinated eligible visa holders can come to Australia without needing to apply for a travel exemption.

Some of the eligible visa types include the:

  • Temporary Skill Shortage (subclass 482)
  • Skilled – Regional (Provisional) (subclass 489)
  • Skilled Work Regional (Provisional) (subclass 491)
  • Skilled Employer Sponsored Regional (Provisional) (subclass 494)
  • Temporary Graduate (subclass 485)
  • Student (subclass 500)
  • Work and Holiday (subclass 462)
  • Working Holiday (subclass 417)

Travel restrictions and quarantine requirements are subject to change given the evolving nature of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Further information about the Australian Government announcement and updates about current travel restrictions can be found here.

UPDATE:The Australian Government has recently announced that the re-opening of Australia’s borders to eligible visa holders will be pushed back to 15 December 2021.  This date may be subject to change. Further information can be found here.

If you would like more information, you can contact the NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association for a referral to Visa Assist. Visa Assist provides free and confidential immigration advice to union members.

Application bar removed for certain skilled visas

November 1, 2021 by Rayan Calimlim 2 Comments

From 13 November 2021, people who have had a visa refused or cancelled while in Australia may be able to apply for certain skilled visas without having to leave Australia to apply offshore.

Previously, people who have had a visa refused or cancelled while in Australia, and who do not hold a substantive visa, could only apply for a limited number of visas while they remained in Australia (including Partner, Child, and Protection visas).  However, the Australian government has recently announced legislative changes to allow these people to also apply for certain skilled visas while in Australia, including:

  • Certain points-based visas (i.e. subclass 491 and 190 visas); and
  • A regional employer sponsored visa (i.e. subclass 494 visa).

The above changes may mean that certain nurses and midwives who have had visas refused or cancelled in Australia can apply for another skilled visa to stay in Australia.

If you believe that the above may apply to you or you would like more information, you can contact the NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association for a referral to Visa Assist. Visa Assist provides free and confidential immigration advice to union members.

 

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