ATO Form 15-15 - Withholding TAX
The form 15-15 is a section that specifies how much tax can be withheld by an employer. This in turn affects your salary whether it is received weekly, fortnightly or monthly. The form is required to be lodged to the Australia Taxation Office.
Once the application has been lodged and processed, the person in charge of payroll will be notified of the altered amount of tax that is required to be withheld.
Taxpayers who are entitled to receive a tax refund can lodge the form for their specific purposes. If it is believed that circumstances warrant this form to be applied, it must be determined whether there should be an increase or decrease in the amount withheld.
This can potentially lead to a savings of hundreds if such benefits are taken advantage of.
This form is a handy tool often used by property investors, which allows tax refunds to be received during the year. This in effect, created an increase in cash flow and a reduction of cash outlay on their investment costs.
If you negatively gear a property it may be found that a large credit is due at the end of the financial year. After lodging the 15-15 form, an assessment can be made, by the Australian Tax Office. Instead of waiting for the lump tax refund, the amount of tax withheld can be lessened. The extra amount can be put into savings, mortgages, further investments etc.
Please note that under tax law, it is essential to retain income and relevant spending records for a minimum of five years.
