Omniwealth has noted the ATO’s announcement that it has placed 5 million Australians on a priority list to monitor their share transactions.
“This is quite an escalation in their data matching activities for individuals. Innocent mistakes in reporting share trades may lead to investors ending up in the ATO’s sights,” said Andrew Zbik, Senior Financial Planner, Omniwealth.
Simone Eyeington, Manager, Accounting and Business Advisory at Omniwealth, suggests the following tips to keep your share trading clearly recorded:
1. Register your Tax file number with the Company at the time of purchase. Companies are required to report to the ATO annually and disclose income information. This means that the ATO will automatically have your dividend income at tax time making it quicker and easier to complete your tax return.
2. Be sure to let your accountant know when you sell any investments. You don’t need to wait till tax time, most accountants will be able to save this information and refer back to it at the end of the financial year.
3. Keep records of your share purchases and disposals for 5 years after you dispose of them.
4. Think about setting up an Investment Register. This could just be an excel file that lists:
- The Date of purchase
- Purchase Price
- Brokerage fees paid
- Number of shares or units purchased
- Date of Sale
- Sale Price
- Number of shares or units sold
Or set up a separate file on your computer or in your emails and save all your purchase or sale documents in one place. It can be a good idea to use something like Dropbox or Google Drive as you can share this with your accountant.
5. Ask your accountant about what information they already have. Often they will have kept their own Investment register which they update year to year.
6. Do you have a financial planner who already has access to your Investment portfolio information? Share their details with your accountant so that they can work together at tax time.
Andrew Zbik
Senior Financial Planner
Omniwealth
Tel: (02) 9112 4316
Mob: 0422 038 253
andrew.zbik@omniwealth.com.au
www.omniwealth.com.au