Australians are being warned to steer clear of sophisticated tax time phishing emails that purport to come from the ATO but are really designed to steal people's banking emails and passwords.

The MessageLabs Intelligence unit, part of computer security company Symantec, has observed an increase in the fraudulent emails as the end of the financial year approached. This year, the scams are more sophisticated than ever before.

"Scammers have mastered the art of making these emails look legitimate, often including the ATO logo and links to the ATO website," Symantec said.

For many years, the humble tax agent, who consistently and legitimately has been able to claim
$’000s more in tax deductions than taxpayers doing it on their own, has been a thorn in the side of
the Government and the Tax Office.
This is the background to the new ‘standard deductions’ and the Government’s and Tax Office’s
desire to try and elbow tax agents to the sidelines – tax agents claim too much and they don’t like
it.
So, taxpayers applauding the proposed introduction of ‘standard deductions’ may rue the day they

Beware of Identity Crime

Your Tax File Number (TFN) is a key part of your identity while you are in Australia.

It is an important form of identification when you start a new job, open bank accounts and apply for government benefits. Keep it secure.

Protect your identity by protecting all your personal details, including your TFN. Keep your passwords and TFN safe and never record or store them where they could be stolen, such as in your purse or wallet.

Employees who salary sacrificed into super in the lead up to 30 June 2009 to take advantage of the $100,000 and $50,000 concessional contribution caps which were halved from 1 July 2009 may unwittingly be hit with excess concessional contributions tax in the current financial year. 

UNIVERSITY undergraduates will be able to claim educational expenses as a tax deduction after a former student had a landmark win against the Tax Office in the Federal Court recently.

A former Australian Catholic University student, was successful in her bid to claim $920 as self-education expenses after fighting the Australian Tax Office through a number of jurisdictions over the past three years.

With one in five taxpayers owning a rental property, the Tax Office has issued a timely reminder that, depending on your circumstances, you may be able to claim the following expenses this tax season:

• Capital works;
• Repairs and improvements;
• Interest, legal costs and other expenses incurred when purchasing the property;
• Interest paid on the loan;
• Borrowing expenses such as:

 - mortgage broker and loan establishment fees;

 -stamp duty charged on the mortgage;