Weird Tax Return Claims
Have you ever tried to claim something unusual on your tax return only to be stunned that the ATO actually said ‘Yes’? Sex toys, x-box consoles and even breast implants have been some of weird tax return claims approved by the Australian Tax Office (ATO).
Whilst savvy taxpayers are learning more about that they can, and can’t, claim the ATO similarly is getting wise to legitimate, and non-legitimate, weird tax return claims. If you are an exotic dancer then breast implants may be a legitimate claim. Similarly, adult performers have claimed sex toys for which they have received a refund according to findings from H & R Block, one of Australia’s largest accounting firms.
Other rather surprising approved weird tax return claims include ping-pong and pool tables, x-box consoles, and ceremonial swords used by professional sword swallowers. To me, this all makes sense because if someone is doing work for which they pay tax then their ‘tools of trade’ should be a deduction. An Accountant claims a computer and an artist claims paints and canvases.
I recently posted a Facebook article that says women can claim their handbags – which makes sense to business handbag designer, Kate Dillon from She Lion – because Kate’s luxury bags are specifically designed to hold laptops, iPads, phones, cords, pens and other office paraphernalia. See my article on She Lion here on Insanely Clever Marketing.
In Kate’s case (or briefcase) her handbag range is specifically designed to help fashionable corporate women attend presentations and client meetings in style WITH their tools of trade – encased in a luxury, leather, hardwearing, designer bag. Check out shelion.net.au for more information.
H & R Block Director of Tax Communication, Mark Chapman, agrees with me. He says Australians with unusual jobs are likely to have unusual claims. “Providing there is a clear link between the claim and the occupation then, by and large, wacky claims are OK”, he says.
But beware. This is tempered by the ATO’s Assistant Commissioner, Graham Whyte, who warns that sophisticated analytics and data-matching techniques will catch-out cheating taxpayers.
Insanely Clever Marketing 