If you’re a freelancer, working with international clients can be a good way to expand your portfolio and earn extra money — but it can also come with some unexpected costs.

With all the announcements on tax over the past few days it’s hard to keep track. So here goes. A year ago the then treasurer Scott Morrison unveiled a “seven year personal tax”.

Some of it involved tax cuts way out into the future, in 2022 and 2024, with which we needn’t concern ourselves – there’ll be two, maybe more, elections before then. The bit that was to start in mid 2018 (and did) wasn’t a tax cut at all, strictly speaking. It was an “offset” with an ungainly name: LMITO – the Low and Middle Income Tax Offset.

The tens of thousands of young people who were protesting at the school climate strike two weeks ago know that they are being left a stinking great environmental mess to clean up. But I suspect that many are yet to appreciate that this is not the only mess they’ll be left with.

You’re forgiven for being confused. Newspapers need to economise on words. Television and radio reporters need to economise on seconds. So they use shorthand: words like “dividend imputation”, “franking credits”, and yes, “retiree tax”.

Which is fine if you already know what they mean, and pretty fine if you don’t, because you probably don’t need to. They speed things along. Until now.

While I'm a freelancer by choice (and I absolutely love it), I've also experienced some major hurdles with self-employment. The picture isn't so rosy for everyone. For many people, freelancing is less an opportunity and more a burden.

The freelance economy is complicated, so if you're a part of it, let's break it down.

US President Donald Trump was involved in some shady tax practices involving his father’s real estate empire, according to a blockbuster report published in the New York Times, including “instances of outright fraud” and evasion. This could have significant ramifications for US politics and the rest of the free world. Here's what you need to know.

Every Tax Time, the ATO focuses on certain "hotspots" where taxpayers are prone – either accidentally or deliberately – to make errors. These are the areas it will concentrate its audit firepower on and for those who have made claims in areas which the ATO will be targeting, they can be a wake-up call both to ensure that you get it right this year and that you go back and check that you did it right last year.

So you already filed your taxes and you’re getting a refund. Congrats! (And good on you for doing it early.) Getting a tax refund can feel like a mini-windfall of sorts.

Yesterday, the Senate gave the all-clear to the Turnbull government's long-term plan to reduce income tax rates for the majority of Australians, the first stage of which will begin in less than two weeks on July 1. Now, let's have a look at the changes — and how much you'll potentially save.

The end of the financial year is approaching and that can only mean one thing; it’s nearly time to lodge your tax return. Now is a great time to take stock of all the money you’ve spent on work-related items during the course of the year. The question is, are you claiming everything you’re entitled to?

Whether you're running your own business, working as a book-keeper or accountant for someone else, or the the IT guy making sure the business has access to the tools they need there's one software category you have to keep in your business' application kitbag. That's accounting software. But today's applications go far further than double-entry accounting, raising invoices and producing a monthly or quarterly report for the tax office. They integrate with warehouse and logistics applications, point of sale terminals and other systems making them the heart of your business' backoffice. Two of the biggest players on the market are the veteran MYOB and Xero.

It has been billed the 'burger-and-milkshake' budget, with up to $10.19 coming to Australian workers per week in personal income tax cuts. There's a lot to unpack, so let's get stuck in!

Budget night is fast approaching - which means we're about to find out who'll get squeezed for more taxes. Personal incomes tax cuts are on the agenda, but they aren't expected to amount to much for individual Aussies. As ever, some people will feel the pinch more than others. Here's how the current projection compares to the tax rates of previous governments.

Tax refund season is well underway, and if you’re one of the lucky ones, you will have received a sizeable tax refund that you can put towards whatever takes your fancy. If you’re not so lucky, you may be wondering why you ended up with a much smaller amount than usual. Or worse – owe the ATO money. Here are five possible reasons your tax refund was lower than you were hoping for.

How well do you know Australia's tax rules when it comes to work-related expenses? If you claim a deduction this year, are you sure it's going to be legit? Test your tax knowledge with this multiple-choice quiz from the Australian Tax Office (ATO).

Unless you're dead, unemployed, or a moustache-twirling Monopoly Man, you're probably paying more tax than you'd like. If you're wondering where all that withheld money goes, you need to check out this interactive infographic - it breaks down how the government intends to spend $463.3 billion tax dollars in granular detail.

Many people are required to travel as part of their job. Work-related travel might be something as simple as a short trip to see a client for an hour or two or a prolonged trip lasting several days interstate or even overseas. Some of these travel expenses can be claimed at tax time - but you need to know which rules to follow.

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.

The end of financial year (EOFY) is almost upon us. For many, this means a nice little return on the taxes you paid over the previous year. Unfortunately, it also means a slew of approved Federal taxes will be taking affect from July 1 2017. Here are the tax changes, policy tweaks and new levies that will be affecting your wallet from next month -- for better and worse.