How fresh $1,500 tax shock is coming for Australians – on top of ANOTHER $1,500 blow that already hurt 10 million taxpayers

Australians face a $1,500 fine for failing to file their tax returns on time – after the federal government stopped refunding $1,500 in tax credits for low and middle income earners.

The deadline for self-filing a tax return is less than two weeks away, on October 31.

The Australian Taxation Office will fine individuals $313 for every 28 days after that deadline unless someone registers with a tax agent.

Failure to do so could result in a person being fined up to $1,565.

This will be the first tax return since Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s government scrapped his Liberal predecessor Scott Morrison’s tax credit of up to $1,500 for low and middle income earners, with Labor arguing it did not want to fuel inflation.

But with Australia in the grip of a cost-of-living crisis, the lack of low- and middle-income tax compensation will deprive millions of people of a decent refund to help pay their bills.

H&R Block’s director of tax communications Mark Chapman said this would come as a rude shock to many.

“Many taxpayers will not realize this fact until they come to file this year’s tax return and find that the size of their refund has shrunk dramatically,” he told Daily Mail Australia on Wednesday.

Australians now had two weeks to file one online, or register with a tax agent, so it could be filed by May 15 next year.

“If you don’t file by October 31, 2023 or you don’t register with an agent before that date, you can expect to be hit with a hefty fine if you don’t stay,” Mr Chapman said.

“If you file after that date, you risk a late filing penalty.”

But Mr Chapman said the tax authorities were more likely to fine someone who owed them money.

“The good news is that while the penalty is normally applied automatically, it is not normally applied to returns that either return zero results or a refund,” he said.

In addition, the tax authorities would also consider whether someone had lost their belongings in a flood or forest fire, or was very ill.

“In addition, if a fine is imposed, the ATO will sometimes waive it where it is ‘fair and reasonable to do so’, for example in the event of a natural disaster or serious illness,” Mr Chapman said.

Australians filing their tax returns for the 2022-2023 financial year will not get back up to $1,500 in tax credits.

That’s because low and middle income tax compensation expired on June 30 last year, affecting 10 million Australians earning up to $126,000.

The 4.6 million Australians earning $48,000 to $90,000 will therefore not get $1,500 back as before, which Iincluding the $1,080 compensation and the one-off $420 cost-of-living bonus from the Coalition’s last budget in 2021.

Another 1.8 million people with incomes of $37,000 to $48,000 will not get $675 back.

Labor returned to power in May 2022 and incoming Treasurer Jim Chalmers opted in last year’s October Budget to end the tax offset first introduced by the former coalition government in 2018, arguing that it would inflation would worsen as the quarterly consumer price index is already approaching 32%. year 7.8 percent.

The compensation was due to expire in 2022, but Labor refused to revive it.

Labor has argued that the former coalition government intended to end tax compensation.

Shadow Treasurer Angus Taylor has previously accused the Government of concealing its decision to withdraw the tax relief.

Inflation rose to 5.2 percent in August, compared to 4.9 percent in July, marking the first monthly deterioration since April.