Have you been working with Airtasker? Well listen up, because we have a job for you. Let’s learn how you, as an Airtasker, are supposed to handle your tax.
Airtaskers have to deal with tax a little differently to most, so you need to be careful and be sure you do your Tax Return correctly.
In this article we will guide you through all the things you need to be aware of, as well as some basic requirements you’ll need to fulfil with your tax as an Airtasker.
What is Airtasker?
Airtasker, to keep it short, is the “Uber of odd jobs”. If you need something done, you can post an ad on the Airtasker app and one of the many Airtaskers will elect to complete it.
On the other side, if you want to start Airtasking, you can set up your account and wait for a job to appear that you can competently complete.
Airtasker, just like Uber, is part of the gig economy. This means you’re not an employee of Airtasker and are instead a private contractor. This brings up a few implications when it comes to tax time.
Do I need to pay tax on my Airtasker income?
If you earn more than $18,201 for the year, or more, you’ll have to pay tax on your income, no matter where you earnt it from.
If you earn this with Airtasker, does Airtasker provide a tax invoice? Unfortunately no, it will be up to you to report your own income.
Do I need an ABN for Airtasker?
One of the most common questions we get asked here at OCL from people in the gig economy, such as Airtaskers, is “do I need an ABN?”.
As an Airtasker, you are considered a paid contractor or sole trader, which means you DO need an ABN.
This means you have to do two things:
- Be responsible for paying your own tax
- Be responsible for paying your own superannuation
How to get your own Airtasker ABN
Getting your own ABN is simple enough and can be done for free. All you need to do is apply using the ABR website.
Remember to declare ALL of your income
Now that you have your own ABN and are completely responsible for declaring your own income, it can be easy to forget and accidentally miss something. With our help, let’s try to avoid any accidental omissions on your Tax Return, and declare everything to the ATO (they have a knack of knowing when something is missing).
Your taxable income includes:
- PAYG summaries
- Pensions and government allowances
- Interest earned (banks etc)
- Dividends
- Rental property income
- Business income
- Other income earned (capital gains etc)
When you submit a Tax Return with One Click Life, we get one of our Number’s Geeks to have a look over it before it is sent to the ATO. If we think there’s a mistake or anything the ATO may find suspicious, we’ll let you know and iron out the creases together.
An important tax tip for Airtaskers
If you are an employee, your employer will be deducting your tax from your weekly wage, so you don’t have to worry about tax throughout the year.
If you work with Airtasker, they will not deduct your tax from the income you earn.
So when you eventually lodge your Tax Return, the ATO will be asking you to pay them your slice of the pie that is your income tax. This means you need to make sure you don’t spend all of your Airtasker income, and remember you need to eventually pay the ATO.
We often recommend setting aside 30% of all payments you receive so you have plenty of money saved when it comes to paying the ATO at tax time.
Do you need more time to pay the ATO?
How to extend your tax due date
After you lodge your Tax Return the ATO will send you a Notice of Assessment. This handy document will tell you when you need to pay your tax, which is usually before October 1st.
But did you know that we can extend this date for you? Well if you didn’t, it’s true!
If you lodge your Tax Return with OCL before October 31st, or at least register interest, we may be able to extend your tax payment due date all the way up until May 15th of the following year.
Lodging your return with OCL takes absolutely no time at all because all of your details are pre-saved and auto filled into our system which makes things incredibly easy for you.
Some common tax deductions for Airtasker partners
- Buying any uniforms and clothes for your Airtasker work
- The cost of laundry for clothes/uniforms that are worn for Airtasker
- Protective clothing items that you use for your Airtasker (masks, hair nets, gloves, sunscreen if working in sunny areas etc)
- Purchase of equipment and supplies used for your Airtasker work up to $300
- Mobile phone tax deduction expenses
- Vehicle upkeep (registration, licensing, insurance etc)
- Depreciation expense of equipment and tools over $300
- The repair and/or upkeep of Aurtasker equipment including car expenses ATO
- Interest generated from loans relating to work activities
- Self-education and courses that will improve your Airtasker work
- Licence and certification that you will need for your Airtasker work
- Work union fees/other similar organisations
- Subscriptions and magazines relating to Airtasker
- Travel expenses if work related (conferences, moving between jobs, and going to pick-up clients)
Check out our General Sole Trader Tax Tips HERE
Do you need to register for GST with Airtasker?
If you need to register for GST or not depends if you earn more than $75,000 a year.
If you do not earn more than $75,000 per year, you do not need to register for GST.
If you do earn more than $75,000 per year, you will need to register for GST and lodge a Business Activity Statement quarterly.
Where do most Airtasker partners go for help with tax?
The more you deduct, the less tax you pay and the more money you can spend on yourself. The sure-fire way to do that is with a tax agent or accountant. You can also claim your tax agent/tax return fee back on tax, so why wouldn’t you use one to minimise your tax and maximise your money?
One Click Life offers online tax returns at your fingertips in an easy-to-use platform run by industry professionals.
Taxes, health insurance, and wills can be time-consuming and tedious. Our app allows you to be able to do this fuss-free, giving you a simple way to organise, track and manage all of your life admin in one place.
Let One Click Life take care of your Tax Return and life’s essential tasks, so you can spend more time doing the things you love.