Is it true that in australia, if you are filing your income taxes
yourself, then you have to file taxes every year. But if you are
filing your income taxes through CPA (Chartered Accountants), you can
file your taxes once in three years without any penalty or fine.

Hi Vish,

The answer is: Perhaps, but in essence No.

Individual returns must be lodged annualy. Derivation of income has
some effect. If wages and self lodged, then you must do so by about
mid September, before penalties apply.

The lax time that accountants achieve is due to their seasonal
workload. This allows your accountant to spread his/her own workload
and income. Tax lodgement can be done electronically anyhow.

It's really a matter of getting it done before you are caught out.
Sure, I have friends who have not lodged returns for some years.
Provided they approach the Tax Office first, they are generally not
fined.

If your income is Business Income, that's a different story. BAS
(Business Activity Statements) must be lodged quarterly or annualy,
depending upon your application, size of business and whether you are
registered for GST (Goods and Services Tax) or not.

I would be keen to hear as from where you gained your information.

Regards.

Thank you very much for your reply,

Actually my friend gave me this information. And my question is
regarding filing the personal taxes. What you are saying is that the
accountant can find out some way to avoid penalty if someone is filing
the returns after one year. According to my friend, the accountant can
file his clients taxes once in three years and its legal. So just
wanted to confirm.

Thanks again,
Vishwas

Hi again Vishwas,

I had a look at www.ato.gov.au

I guess you may have also. It looks like the first part of your
statement is correct. That is, if you lodge it personally, then yes it
must be lodged annualy. If income is purely wages, you most likely
won't be hounded unless you owe tax.

The answer about the use of an accountant I guess is best found by
asking the question directly to an accountant. My bet is that there
are too many variables for a straight answer just yet. People on wages
may also forget about those share certificates in the bottom drawer. A
gain can be off-set with a capital loss if you sell both a losing
share and a profitable one consecutively within a given time frame, in
the same financial year. Rental properties are common with wage
earners, especially on high marginal tax rates. If you are doing
either of these things, then "you are in business". Then it get's
tricky, even with lodgement dates.

I wish I could just say: "Yes, you are correct". But, if you think
about it, we all would be doing that to defer our tax obligations, if
what your friend has said is correct. To top it off, the accountant's
fee is tax deductable. My own accountant has discussed interpretations
of tax laws with me, for us to present our own argument of
calculations of certain rulings. I enjoy doing this, as we are simply
throwing the tax rulings back on the Tax Office, who devised them in
the first place.

I made 3 phone calls to the Tax Office with the same question, just
for the exercise. Guess what? .. 3 different answers to the same
question. That's when written tax rulings come into play.

That's enough I guess. I just want to say, that my experience on any
matter with the ATO has always led to grey areas of interpretation. I
never seem to be able to get straight out black and white answers,
hence my own answer here.

All the best, Phil

ps Let me know if you find a way to do as your friend has proposed.