Brett Evans

There's a simple way, which is you just put in your salary and your occupation.

So you get standardized deductions like you would back in Australia.

And then they'll say, based on your income and the threshold, therefore, this is the case.

Then there's the complex version as well.

There's three different versions.

Most folks, if you're sort of in your 20s and don't have a very complex situation, most folks do a simple one.

But I think the biggest thing that we find out of all these sort of situations right now is the Australian dollar being low,

because it's based on the Australian dollar thresholds.

So if you're earning pounds, US dollars or euros,

everyone sort of got triggered by the threshold.

You didn't have to earn a lot of money overseas to be triggered by that.

It's going to be interesting this year because obviously the Australian dollar is very strong against most currencies.

Essentially, the ATO on their website has got a currency calculator.

So you put into your salary what it was in pounds or US dollars or euros and it'll convert based on the average price of that currency through the year and say the Australian dollar equivalent is X. I think where people get caught out is...

If you're earning US dollars and the US dollar goes up as a US dollar earner, you don't really see that benefit because you're still getting a dollar.

Whereas when you convert it, that's when people feel the pain or enjoy the benefits.

So when the US dollar is strong...

Yes, you're right, that will give you that benefit of being able to convert more US dollars or more Euros into Australian dollars, but it also means your salary is higher, so you have to spend more.

Whereas with right now, the current situation with the US dollar being lower against the Australian dollar this time last year,

or versus this time last year, what you're going to find is people's thresholds may not be as reached as quickly as possible.