Income to Declare 2025
You must report all assessable income you earned between 1 July 2024 and 30 June 2025.
Here’s a breakdown of common income categories and what to include:
Salary and Wages
Include all payments from employment. Most employers now use Single Touch Payroll, so your Income Statement (previously Group Certificate/PAYG summary) is available through myGov. Ensure each employer has marked it “Tax Ready” before you lodge. Income Statements detail your gross earnings, tax withheld, allowances, bonuses, and any reportable fringe benefits or super contributions.
💡 Tip
If you changed jobs or had multiple employers, we need all of those income statements. Also include any paid parental leave or Department of Veterans’ Affairs payments as income.
Allowances and Lump Sum Payments
If you received any allowances (for example, a car allowance, travel allowance, tool allowance) or lump sum payments from your employer (such as an employment termination payment or back payment of wages), these are income. They are usually shown on your income statement or a separate letter. We’ll ensure they’re correctly categorised (some may be taxed at different rates or reported in specific sections of the return).
Government Payments
Unemployment benefits (JobSeeker), Age Pension, Youth Allowance, Austudy, Carer payments, and other taxable Centrelink payments must be declared. Centrelink will issue an Annual Payment Summary (or this info may be pre-filled from ATO records). Note that certain government payments like the Disability Support Pension (if you’re below Age Pension age) or lump sum insurance payouts for injury can be non-taxable – we’ll clarify those if applicable.
Investment Income
This covers interest, dividends, and distributions:
Interest
Any interest from bank accounts, term deposits, or bonds is taxable. Banks and credit unions usually provide an annual interest summary at year-end. If you have multiple accounts, gather info for each (the ATO often pre-fills bank interest, but it’s good to cross-check). Don’t forget less obvious interest, e.g. interest from children’s accounts (which may be attributable to you if you provided the funds) or from peer-to-peer lending platforms.
Dividends
If you own shares in companies or hold investments in equity ETFs/managed funds, you may receive dividends or distributions. For shares, each company issues a dividend statement when they pay a dividend. These statements show the franked amount, unfranked amount, and franking credits (imputation credits). Franking credits represent tax the company already paid (at 30%) – you still include them in your income and then get a tax credit offset for them. For example,a $700 cash dividend with $300 franking credit means you declare $1,000 income, and a $300 credit reduces your tax . Bring all dividend statements or an annual summary from your broker.
Managed Funds & Trusts
Managed funds, ETFs, and REITs often distribute different types of income (Australian and foreign income, capital gains, etc.) to you. They issue an Annual Tax Statement (usually by August/September) detailing each component.
🕵🏽♀️ It’s crucial to bring these AMMA or tax statements – for instance, a typical fund statement will have entries for interest, franked dividends, unfranked dividends, capital gains (discounted or not), foreign income, foreign tax paid, tax-deferred amounts, etc. We must input each component correctly. (Don’t worry, we’ll help decipher it – just ensure you provide the statement.) Missing these can lead to ATO matching issues, so double-check if you’re invested in any funds.
Crypto Investment Returns
If you earned interest or rewards on crypto (e.g. staking rewards, yield farming, airdrops), those can be considered income at the time you received them (in AUD value). We’ll address crypto trading under Capital Gains below.
Rental Income
If you own investment property, all rent and rental-related income must be declared. This includes regular rent from tenants, as well as any lump sum payments like letting fees, lease surrender payments, insurance payouts for lost rent, or Airbnb/short-term rental income. If you rented out a portion of your own home, the income from that (and only that portion’s expenses) must be accounted for (e.g., renting out one room or doing short stays in your home for part of the year).
💡 Tip
Bring your annual rental statement from the property manager, or if self-managed, a summary of rent received by months, plus any other rental receipts. Keep records of periods when the property was vacant to show it was genuinely available for rent (e.g. ads, listings).
Capital Gains & Losses
Capital Gains Tax (CGT) events occur when you sell or dispose of assets such as shares, real estate, managed fund units, or cryptocurrency.
Key features to note:
Shares
If you sold any shares or units in FY2025, you need to report the capital gain or loss. Bring purchase and sale details (dates, prices, brokerage fees). If you’ve held the asset for more than 12 months, you’re eligible for the 50% CGT discount on any gain – meaning only half the gain is taxed. We’ll calculate this for you. If you sold at a loss, that loss can be used to offset other gains this year, and any excess loss is carried forward.
Cryptocurrency
Crypto is treated as an asset for tax purposes, not as foreign currency. Every time you sold, traded, or spent crypto, you likely have a CGT event. For example, converting Bitcoin to Ethereum, or using crypto to buy an item, or trading one coin for another – all are disposals that may result in a gain or loss (measured in AUD). If you made a profit on crypto trades, that’s a capital gain (subject to the 50% discount if held >1 year, similar to shares). If you lost money, that’s a capital loss. The ATO is tracking crypto through exchange data matching and is cracking down on unreported gains – so it’s vital to declare these. Bring: a list of all your crypto transactions for the year (or a report from your exchange or a crypto tax tool) showing dates, what you bought/sold, and values in AUD. We need the cost of each asset and the sale value. Even if you didn’t convert to cash, trades between cryptocurrencies count. (If you only bought crypto and haven’t sold any, there’s no taxable event yet – but if you received crypto for services or mining, that can be business/personal income - let us know.
Real Estate
If you sold a property (that wasn’t your full main residence for the entire ownership period) during the year, it will likely have CGT implications. Provide the settlement statements from purchase and sale, and records of any significant improvements or costs (stamp duty, legal fees, agent commission, etc.). If it was an investment property, any capital works deductions you claimed over the years will adjust the cost base (we can figure that out if we have prior returns or depreciation reports). If it was your home for part of the time and rented out other times, let’s discuss – CGT can be prorated.
Other Assets
Perhaps you sold an expensive collectible, a business, or even something like an NFT. Capital gains rules can apply to those too. Provide details for any asset sales so we can determine tax treatment. Personal use assets (like a car for personal use) are generally exempt, but things like jewelry or art above certain values can be subject to CGT. Best to bring it up if unsure.
Business and Self-Employment Income
If you earned income as a sole trader or from the gig economy (ride-share driver, food delivery, freelancing on platforms, etc.), you need to declare it. This includes any cash jobs or “side hustles” – even if it’s a one-off project or hobby that started producing income (we can help determine if it’s a hobby or a business).
Common sources of income include:
Contract/Freelance Work
Includes IT contracting, consulting, design work, Uber/Ola/DiDi driving, Airbnb hosting, Etsy store sales, YouTube/Twitch earnings, etc. All payments received for these activities are income.
🕵🏽♀️ Third-party reporting: Note that companies like Uber, Airbnb, Upwork, etc., often report income to the ATO or provide summaries – so assume the ATO knows about it. It is always better to declare it upfront.
Business Income
If you have a small business (with an ABN), bring your business financials – ideally a profit & loss statement or at least a summary of your total income and expenses. If you use accounting software (Xero, MYOB, QuickBooks) or even an Excel sheet, we can work from that.
Ensure you include all sales – whether paid in cash, card, online, or through any means. For cash businesses, the ATO uses benchmarks – it’s important to report all cash takings.
Business Deductions
Business deductions will be detailed in in the Deductions section, but at the income stage just remember: don’t reduce your gross income by your expenses yet – we report income and expenses separately on the return. So have gross amounts ready.
Other Income
A few other things to consider:
✍🏽 Private consultations or honoraria: i.e., a one-time consulting gig, director’s fees, or an honorarium for a speaking engagement – these are income.
✍🏽 Prizes/awards: Most non-cash prizes (like a car won on a game show) aren’t directly taxable unless you entered via your work/business. Cash prizes from things like random lotteries are usually not taxable. But business-related prizes (say you won an industry award that came with cash) could be.
🕵🏽♀️ Please declare any unusual payments recieved.✍🏽 Crowdfunding: Money from crowdfunding might be income if people paid you for a service or product (versus a genuine no-strings donation). If you raised funds (e.g., via Kickstarter) to produce something, that could count as business income. Share details if relevant.
✍🏽 Foreign income: If you earned income overseas (salary from an overseas job, foreign investment income, pensions from abroad), Australian residents must generally declare it (with some offsets if tax was paid overseas). Provide details of any foreign earnings or foreign pensions/rentals.
✍🏽 Insurance or compensation payouts: If you received a payout (for example, income protection insurance, or compensation for lost income), that may be taxable. The nature of the payment determines tax – bring paperwork so we can classify it.
🕵🏽♀️ Remember: The ATO does extensive data-matching.
The ATO does extensive data-matching with banks, employers, crypto exchanges, Services Australia, and more. The safest approach is full disclosure of all income. If you’re unsure about something, mention it and we’ll clarify if it’s taxable. It’s much better to include all income now than to have the ATO amend your return later because something was omitted.