Australian ABN owner seeks correct place on her tax forms to note her sole trader earnings
October 17, 2008 7:30 PM 
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Where on my Australian tax return do my earnings as a freelance web designer go, and is there any other paperwork I need to fill out because I had an ABN this year?
I'm an Australian resident, have a regular day job, but did some freelance work for a client this year that required me to get an ABN (registered as a sole trader).
I didn't charge her GST (just a single flat total), don't want to claim anything related to my freelance "business", haven't filled out any Business Activity Statements, and don't really know how the whole thing works to be honest. I just want to make the ATO smile on me by the Oct 31 due date and save myself some fines by submitting the right forms with the right information in the right places. Can anyone help?
Do I just include my freelance earnings in my regular tax return somewhere? Do I need to submit something separate to cover my "business"-related stuff? Both?
posted by springbound to work & money (3 comments total)
If you didn't earn more than $75k in ABN invoiced work this past financial year, then you don't charge GST and you don't have to lodge a BAS. Did you register for GST when you got your ABN? If yes, they send you the BAS form to fill out and you can just ring the number on the form to report nil earnings. If you didn't register for GST I don't think you need to do anything.
As for where you put the freelance earnings in your regular tax return, wouldn't have a clue. Good luck! Taxation stuff sucks, that's why I get someone else to do it for me.
posted by mooza at 2:55 PM on October 18, 2008