Some money is not counted as ‘income’ by the ATO
It is possible to receive amounts that are not expected by the ATO to be included as income in your tax return. Although some of these amounts may be used in other calculations, and may therefore need to be included elsewhere in your tax return.
The ATO classifies the amounts that it doesn’t count as assessable into three different categories: Exempt income; non-assessable non-exempt income; and other amounts that are not taxable.
Exempt income
As the name may suggest, exempt income doesn’t have tax levied on it. The thing to remember here however is that certain exempt income may be taken into account for other adjustments or calculations — for example, when calculating the tax losses of earlier income years that you can deduct, and perhaps “adjusted taxable income” of your dependants.
Exempt income includes:
certain government pensions, including the disability support pension paid by Centrelink to a person who is younger than age-pension age
certain government allowances and payments, including the carer allowance and the child care subsidy
certain overseas pay and allowances for Australian Defence Force and Federal Police personnel
government education payments, such as allowances for students under 16 years old
some scholarships, bursaries, grants and awards
• a lump sum payment you received on surrender of an insurance policy where you are the original beneficial owner of the policy – generally these payments are not earned, expected, relied upon or occur regularly (examples include payments for mortgage protection, terminal illness, and permanent injury occurring at work.
Non-assessable, non-exempt income
Non-assessable, non-exempt income is income you don't pay tax on and that also does not count towards other tax adjustments or calculations such as tax losses.
Non-assessable, non-exempt income includes:
the tax-free component of an employment termination payment (ETP)
genuine redundancy payments and early retirement scheme payments (shown as “Lump sum D” amounts on your income statement)
super co-contributions
a payment made on or after 1 January 2020 by a state or territory for loss of income as a result of you performing volunteer work with a fire service in the 2019-20 income year
Disaster Recovery Allowance paid directly as a result of the bushfires in Australia in the 2019-20 income year
Ex-gratia disaster income support allowance for special category visa (subclass 444) holders paid directly as a result of the bushfires in Australia in the 2019-20 income year
payments by a state or territory relating to the 2019-20 bushfires under the disaster recovery measures that were introduced.
Other amounts that are not taxable
Generally, you don't have to declare:
rewards or gifts received on special occasions, such as cash birthday presents and gifts from relatives given out of love (however, gifts may be taxable if you receive them as part of a business-like activity or in relation to your income-earning activities as an employee or contractor)
prizes you won in ordinary lotteries, such as lotto draws and raffles
prizes you won in game shows, unless you regularly receive appearance fees or game-show winnings
child support and spouse maintenance payments you receive.
Harper Group Pty Ltd – Chartered Accountants Frankston - Ph 9770 1547
Disclaimer: All information provided in this article is of a general nature only and is not personal financial or investment advice. Also, changes in legislation may occur frequently. We recommend that our formal advice be obtained before acting on the basis of this information.
Please note we at Harper Group Pty Ltd are not licensed to provide financial product advice under the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) and taxation is only one of the matters that must be considered when making a decision on a financial product, including on whether to make superannuation contributions. You should consider taking advice from the holder of an Australian financial services licence before making a decision on a financial product.