Do you need your Group Certificate 2023 to complete your online tax return? Read on to find out all about group certificates and lodging your tax return in Australia.
A Group Certificate, also known as a Payment Summary, is a summary of a years earnings provided by employers to their employees at the end of the financial year. It outlines your income, taxes withheld, and other relevant details required for completing your tax return.
This is an important document, however, do you need your group certificate? Read on and let’s work through whether you need a group certificate to complete your tax return.
Will my employer provide my group certificate?
Your employer is obligated to provide you a group certificate by July 14 each year. However, your employer no longer has to physically provide it to you, they can just send it off to the ATO digitally in place of giving it to you. You can then access your group certificate a number of ways.
What is on a group certificate?
Your Group Certificate contains information that you need to complete your tax return and other information the ATO needs to link the group certificate to you.
Information contained on a group certificate or payment summary includes:
- Your name and address,
- Your Tax File Number (TFN),
- The gross income you earned in the financial year,
- The tax withheld by the employer, and
- Any other reportable amounts (such as superannuation contributions, fringe benefits, allowances etc made by your employer).
You could call your group certificate a comprehensive summary of your income from your employer for the financial year.
Can I ask my employer for my group certificate?
If you would like a copy of your 2023 Group Certificate you can ask your employer, however they do not necessarily have the ability to provide it to you. In recent years group certificates have transitioned to an online system called Single Touch Payroll (STP). Under STP, employers report payroll information directly to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) from their payroll software. This can often mean once they are sent to the ATO, they cannot be recovered easily. Your employer can provide you a summary of your earnings for the financial year however.
Can I get more than one group certificate?
If you have more than one employer, each employer will provide the ATO with a copy of your group certificate for the financial year. Even if you only worked a week in a job, that employer is still required to send the ATO a copy of your group certificate.
How do I get my group certificate?
You can get a copy of your group certificate a number of ways. The easiest way to get your group certificate is to ask your employer. You can also log into the ATOs myGov site and download it. However given you don’t need a copy of your group certificate to complete your tax return, it is easier to just log in to an online tax agent and commence your online tax return. Your group certificate will already appear there.
Group Certificate myGov
You can look up your group certificate at the ATO on myGov. You can log in and see your group certificates for the year and download them if you’d like to. You don’t however need a group certificate anymore as these will already appear in your online tax return. Even if you go and sit down in front of a tax agent, your tax agent will already have a copy of your group certificate.
Online tax return
A group certificate is used to complete your online tax return. As your group certificate has been sent to the ATO, and an online tax agent will grab this and it will automatically appear on your online tax return. This saves you a lot of time completing your tax return and ensures accuracy of information.
Is my payslip a group certificate?
Your final payslip of the year will have year to date amounts that align with your group certificate. However, your payslip is not your group certificate. If you don’t have a copy of your group certificate or any means to find it, then you can provide your last payslip to your tax agent for use in completion of your tax return.
Tax Calculators
Tax calculators are a great way to stay on top of your tax situation. Tax calculators are great for planning out your tax position for the year. A tax calculator allows you to enter in your anticipated income and tax withheld.
Most people grab this information from their payslip, not group certificate as a tax calculator is mostly used prior to the end of the financial year.
Once you have the initial tax calculation you can add in deductions to work out what your tax refund might look like once you lodge your online tax return.
What is the tax-free threshold in Australia?
The tax-free threshold in Australia is the amount you can earn without being taxed. As an Australian resident you can earn up to 18,200 without being tax. This is the tax-free threshold.
As an example, let’s say your group certificate showed that you earned $17,600 and your employer withheld $1,200 of tax. When you lodge your online tax return you would be due a tax refund of the full $1,200.
After the tax-free threshold you will commence paying tax at 19 cents in the dollar, or 19% up to $45,000. See more below on tax tables.
2023 Tax tables
Australian tax tables can change each year and are set by the government of the time. 2023 Tax tables are set out below and show how much tax you will pay at each level of income in Australia. Your employer will then calculate your tax payable on each pay slip and withhold the appropriate amount of tax, then present this in a group certificate at the end of the financial year that is set into the ATO.
2023 Tax tables for Australian residents are set out below:
Up to $18,200 Nil
$18,201 – $45,000 19 cents for each $1 over $18,200
$45,001 – $120,000 $5,092 plus 32.5 cents for each $1 over $45,000
$120,001 – $180,000 $29,467 plus 37 cents for each $1 over $120,000
$180,001 and over $51,667 plus 45 cents for each $1 over $180,000
Note that the above rates do not include the Medicare Levy, which is an additional 2% levy on your income. This is imposed to fund the Medicare system in Australia. Some individuals may also be subject to the Medicare Levy Surcharge depending on their earning and whether they have private health insurance.
To see all tax tables, follow this link to a comprehensive guide to all 2023 tax tables. When it comes to accessing your 2023 Group Certificate, this blog should give you all the information you need to access and then what you need to do with the group certificate to lodge your online tax return.
One Click Life can help with your tax return!
One Click Life makes it simple to see your Group Certificate 2023 in your online tax return and track and organise all your life’s admin in one place. Operated by finance and tax professionals, One Click Life allows you to complete your online tax return fast from your mobile phone.
Dealing with an online tax agent is the easiest way to complete your online tax return. You just log in and click on the year, then you can see your group certificate already sitting in the right place in your tax return. You can also claim your online tax agent fees as a tax deduction – increasing your refund and getting the help you need for an easy tax return.
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