Earlier in the month, the ATO issued a warning, telling people to keep appropriate receipts and other documentation, particularly for what they call "other work-related expenses". And that warning is accompanied by ATO staff being directed to undertake random audits to make sure people are following the rules when it comes to work-related expenses. So, what can you do to ensure you aren't hit with any fines of extra payments to the ATO?

The Australian Tax Office (ATO) has confirmed it is conducting random audits of taxpayers in a bid to ferret out spurious work expenses. The random audits began 18 months ago and are ongoing. Here's what you need to know.

If you engaged in a little "creative licence" while lodging your tax return last year, it's time to start worrying: the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) is still sifting through everyone's work-related expenses for 2017 and it reckons a lot of them smell fishy. A whopping $7.9 billion was claimed by Australian taxpayers for "other work-related expenses" last year.

Consequently, Australians are now officially "on notice" to have their receipts ready for inspection.

If you haven't filled out your 2016-2017 tax return yet, you better get on it. But before you lodge anything, it pays to do some research on what you can actually claim. Depending on your line of work, you may be eligible for a refund on everything from pet dogs to Netflix! Here are five unusual deductions that you need to consider.

Missed the deadline to lodge your tax return? You’re not alone: heaps of Australians forget every year to file by the October 31 deadline.

Whether you’re behind by just one year or several, don’t panic. There are things you can do to stay on the ATO’s good side: but don’t dawdle. The longer you wait, the higher penalty you can pay – and those can reach in the hundreds of dollars.

If you plan to lodge your tax return yourself, you need to be aware that the deadline for lodging your return is only two weeks away. The latest date for self-lodgers to get their tax returns in to the ATO is 31 October 2017.

If you lodge after that date, you run the risk of incurring a late lodgment penalty of up to $1050. Here's what you need to know.

On Wednesday, US President Trump revealed his plan to give his country's tax code a major overhaul. This has potential ramifications beyond the US, both in terms of the global economy and other nation's future budgets. Nothing is set in stone yet, and there weren't many details, but here's what the administration is proposing.

Dear Lifehacker, I recently was lucky enough to land a contractor job as a remote QA tester for a company in Canada. My questions are to do with tax. I will be paid for the hours I put into this job on top of my normal income. What forms will I need to fill out? And will I be able claim the costs of my consoles, home internet connection and other expenses associated with it?

The say nothing is more certain that death and taxes. And, if you're the ATO, public outages that garner lots of attention can be added to that list. At the Technology in Government conference taking place over the next couple of days in Canberra, the ATO's Chief Digital Officer, John Dardo, told the audience that a number of changes are coming.

The 2016-2017 financial year is coming to a close, which means you need to get your taxes in order. If you own a small business, this checklist will help you to cross those t's and dot those i's.

If you use your mobile phone for work, it's easy to claim the calls off your personal phone bill as a tax deduction. However, you also need to ensure it passes the tax man's sniff test. Here's how to claim your calls and data in three quick steps.

This year, the biggest tax news for small businesses was the extension of the $20,000 write-off, up from $1000 in previous years. In addition, the company tax rate for small businesses has decreased and more businesses are now eligible for most small business tax concessions. We take a look at all of these changes and more.

If you run a small business, there are a lot of dates to keep in your head when it comes to keeping up with your obligations to the Australian Tax Office. To make your life a little easier, we've prepared a calendar of key dates for the 2016-17 financial year when it comes to Aussie small business tax time.

The $20,000 instant asset write-off was extended into the 2017-18 financial year in the latest Australian federal budget. It's truly a real boon for small businesses. It allows small businesses that turnover less than $10 million to instantly write-off 100% of any business related purchase under $20k.

This applies to things like vehicles, tools, equipment -- pretty much anything that isn't a horticultural plant or in-house software.

Newsflash: not many things cost over $20,000, which leaves you with genuine carte blanche. What does your business need? Might as well pick it up now while the going is good.

Each year, the ATO lets us look inside the collective pay-packets of the nation. Their annual look at what jobs make the most money (well, it takes a couple of years for the data to filter through so the most recent data is for the 2014-5 financial year) and who's making it is a lot of fun for the statisticians among us. There's oodles of data to pour over. But are salaries the best tool for assessing a job or career?

A few years ago, after much whining and hand-wringing by olde worlde retailers, the federal government began looking into changing the law around GST collection from overseas retailers on purchases of under $1000. Even though it would cost more to collect the GST than the tax would raise the government wants to kick start this exciting new initiative (not) on 1 July 2017. But the impact could suck big time as eBay suggests they might block overseas retailers from their marketplace.

There is a strong chance that the ridesharing service Uber will be forced to charge higher fares in Australia following a Federal Court ruling that it must pay GST. Moving forward, Uber drivers will be charged GST like other taxi services, a cost that is almost certain to be passed on to the customer.

Uber drivers collecting GST isn't anything new, ever since the Australian Taxation Office weighed in on the situation back in 2015. However, you may not have known that Uber took the ATO to court over the decision. The case came to a conclusion on Friday, with the Federal Court ruling in favour of the ATO.

Former Federal Treasurer Joe Hockey introduced a tax initiative where small business could write-off $20,000 worth of depreciating assets, such as vehicles, computers and other office equipment, back in 2015. The scheme was set to run from July 2015 to June 2017 but that deadline may be extended. Here's what you need to know.