With Roy Sanderson, director of R & J Sanderson and Associates, Dandenong.
“I use my mobile phone for work almost all the time. Do I need to keep a record of the number of calls and what do I do if I am missing one of the accounts?”
Roy says:
The ATO expect that you have examined one month’s bill of your mobile phone and marked all the business related calls.
The purpose is to use this month as the “sample” to calculate what percentage of the full year is a tax deduction.
As an example, if the one month shows 92 per cent is work related then you will claim 92 per cent of the year’s mobile telephone accounts.
In relation to the one month account you are missing, the month after the one missing will show the amount of the bill which can be used in the year’s calculations.
You may be able to identify the amount from your cheque book or bank statement.
If all this fails, the ATO will accept a reasonable estimate, which may be the average of the bills throughout the year.
“I work in the construction industry and sometimes I work in the city. Sometimes I pay a car park operator up to $25 for the day’s parking and other days I feed the parking metre throughout the day which can cost just as much. Can I claim these on my tax return?
Roy says:
If you park in the city because you are a “transient worker”, which means you work at different sites or places throughout the year, then the ATO will allow you to claim parking costs.
If you use any car park operator then you must ask for a receipt.
If you do not get receipts because you are feeding a parking meter then the ATO have set a limit of $5 per week for non-receipted items.
Yes, only $5 per week, so you should try and get receipts.
