For each child that you have in Primary or Secondary school (up to the age of 25) you can claim your expenses on the following items:

• computers and laptops and the expense in repairing them and updating them;
• software to run on the computers – this includes word, excel, power point, adobe and virus protection;
• devices used for the computer – USB keys, DVDs, CDs, external hard drives – to save information on and do backups;
• internet connection, including the setup costs (modem) – this is usually on a pro-rata basis.  For example it may be 50 for home and 50 for school.  To can work out the amount by hours on the computer for each person or perhaps by the bytes used to download the different information.
• school textbooks (hire or purchase), stationery (pencils, pens, folders, ruler, stapler, nikko pens, scissors, glue, rubber bands, display books, art books, etc), writing books and any other book you have purchased for your child to use at school.
• Tools of trade – this could be tools purchased by your child if they are doing a school based apprenticeship and needed a hammer or likewise.

It is important to note that if you are claiming the expense on your tax return or you have been reimbursed for it by other means (government grant) you cannot claim it on this Educational Tax Refund (ETR).  So you should decide which is the better means of claiming it – through your tax (usually 20-30% refunded) or through the ETR (50% refunded).

Unfortunately you cannot claim the following:

• school fees – including subject levies (for example the $10 you may have to pay for home economics);
• school uniforms;
• school excursions;
• sporting equipment;
• music instruments;
• tutoring;
• library book fees (including late/lost fees and the fee to bring them into the library);
• bus fares;
• donations and building levies (but these can be tax deductible on your income tax return);
• school photos;
• any membership fees (these may also be a tax deduction on your income tax return).

Make sure when you are collecting your receipts that they are dated from 01 July 2008 to 30 June 2009, and if possible don’t forget any as the tax office won’t allow you to claim forgotten receipts later (even though you can rollover money you spent above the limit – $750 for primary & $1,500 for high school)

You can claim the Education Tax Refund if the following applies to you:

• the Family Tax Benefit Part A was received by you for your children that are attending school (primary and secondary only, not tertiary). Basically if you and your partner are receiving under $100,000 combined income you are entitled to Family Tax Benefit Part A;
• you are caring for the child/ren for more than 35% of the time (that’s 4.2 months or 128 days a year);
• you stopped receiving FTB Part A because your child left school and earned too much money; or
• you were an independent student under 25 years old (which means you were probably on Austudy and had no other jobs).

Just remember that if your child only attended for one day of the year you are entitled to a full 6 months of rebate.

For example:

Lisa finished Grade 12 at the end of 2008 and started Uni in 2009.  She is entitled to receive 184 days of the rebate as she was at secondary school for the period (01 July 2008 to 31 December 2008).

Charlotte started Prep in 2009.  Her mother is entitled to 181 days of the rebate (01 January 2009 to 30 June 2009).

It would be good to point out that if you have a student that is going into Uni next year that they purchase any laptops, etc they will need for uni in the period July to December 2009.  That way they can claim the ETR for their secondary studies!!  Providing they do not earn over $12,287 for the year.

Do you love or hate Christmas?  I personally love it!!  My tree is up in November, hey you spent the money you may as well enjoy the tree for longer than one month!!  My husband loves it too (amazing hey!) he actually went out and bought like 10 trees so we have a forest – only one tree is special and is decorated and visited by Santa but all the rest add that great Christmassy feel!!

My tips for Christmas shopping is start early.

Last year I purchased water guns for all my nieces, nephews and brothers-in-law for only $4 during winter!  These guns were worth $30-40 new and by the time Christmas came around (and it was summer) they were back in the shops again at full price!!!  Didn’t I look like a great Aunty buying these expensive presents!!

Keep on the lookout for items that may be discontinued but still look like fun!  Search through the toy items at the stores like Target and Kmart.  Sometimes items might be lost in the stuffed toy section and be reduced in the computer.  I purchased a Barbie fairies outfit for only 0.04 cents once that I found hidden behind other toys!!

Have a list and write the names of all the people you need to buy presents for at Christmas and when you do get that bargain write the present next to their name – that way you’ll know you have something for them already!

Purchase goods at the Christmas sale for the next year.  We all know to buy our decorations, cards and wrapping paper in the after Christmas sales but what about other items?  In January I purchased chocolates for half price that don’t expire until June next year!!  I have put them away in my Christmas containers so when I break them out in December I will already have choccy’s waiting to eat or gift (the kids can even use them to hand out with their Christmas cards)!

Look through Crazy Clark’s & Sam’s Warehouse!  We all like to give and receive nice gifts and unfortunately these stores don’t conjure up those images  of quality gifts, but dont’ write them off.   One year I got Spiderman web throwers for only $14.95 each and the exact same toys were in Kmart for twice that much!!  So every now and then they get some good stuff so check it out, and if you are able to get it in the middle of the year most people won’t even know where you got it from!!

But if shopping early is a real turn off and you don’t want to think about Christmas early let alone shop early wait until the week before Christmas, the shops tend to reduce items the few days before Christmas – there isn’t always alot of decroations items left but hampers and the like are always handy to have around (especially if you have an unexpected relative pop in for a visit!!).  I remember one year Kamrt had 50% all Barbie items the week before Christmas – a bargain if you have little girls to buy for!!

If you see a decoration you really want you are best to buy it in those few days before Christmas as it usually is already 50% off, but if it isn’t I hope you are one  of the lucky few that can get to the after Christmas sale and buy soemthing that at 50-60% off, that isn’t broken!

Summer clothes are aways on special around January so that is also a good time to put some away for the kids for next summer and Christmas presents – especially babies who don’t care what they look like!!

I store all my pressys in a container in my wardrobe up high in the hopes the kids will not look there – I always warn them that I can return them if they look but this isn’t so easy now that Kmart and Target have changed there return policy to 28 days, but Big W hasn’t done that yet so…

Load up with Xmas Gifts early

You know I was always bad at collecting stuff, and I guess I still am!!  I have all my kids school books – from PREP!!! but they are put away in archive boxes!!  I used to buy stuff for my kids that they really didn’t want but I told myself that they would want it – I would’ve when I was a kid.  Colouring-in books, paint-with-water books, small nic-nak plush toys from Disney movies – you know all `stuff’ that isn’t necessary and that the kids play with on the day and then never play with them again!!

I saw a program once that said that just before Christmas this lady got her kids to empty out their rooms and toy boxes to dontate to charity and to make room for the new toys they would be getting.  I tried this and it did give the kids more room but it didn’t help me with buying those little things that weren’t necessary (even if they were on special!!).

My friend finally got me set up to sell things on ebay and although I didn’t make a fortune (I think you get more bargains on ebay then actually making big money – but every little bit helps right?!)  I found that by putting all those barbies, jigsaws, books and what not together to photo, descripe and sell actually helped me to stop buying unnecessary goods from the shop.

When seeing a Christmas teddy in Target for only $2.01 since it was now June I didn’t feel tempted to `get it for the kids!!’.  They really wouldn’t want it, I would just be upset that they didn’t think it was as great as I did and inthe end I would have to donate it or try and sell it!  Not to mention that $2.01 could stay in my pocket and buy me a lettuce that would be used!!

So use something like ebay to de-clutter your house, collect it all together and what ever you don’t sell donate.  The experience will give you more room in your house and hopefully, like me, it will help with reducing future spending!!

Good luck!!

Do you have an electric hot water system?  Do you already have insulation in your home?  If you answered yes to both these questions then you are entitled to the Government Solar Hot Water Grant!!

Like the Insulation Rebate you can get up to $1,600 to have one installed.  My father-in-law had his solar hot water system installed for only $1,400 and he didn’t even know about the rebate!!  My gas bottles cost me $105 and I have to buy one every quarter – so that is $420 a year, providing the price doesn’t go up again.  So even if I didn’t get the rebate I would have paid for the system in just over 3 years!

Below is the link for the solar hot water grant.

Form to complete

Quoted from the Government website:

“When can I apply for a rebate?

The rebate is offered from 3 February 2009 until 30 June 2012, subject to the availability of funds, for solar or heat pump hot water systems installed from 3 February 2009. No applications will be accepted after 30 June 2012. Applicants must apply for the rebate within six months of their new solar or heat pump hot water system being installed.

What is the deadline for applications?

Applicants must apply for the rebate within six months (184 days) of installing an eligible system.

Who can apply for the rebate?

Applicants for the rebate must be the owner or tenant of the dwelling where the system was installed. The application process is simple and straightforward and is completed at the time the new hot water system is being installed. Suppliers and installers of solar or heat pump hot water systems cannot apply for the Australian Government’s Solar Hot Water Rebate on behalf of their customers.

Government agencies or occupants of public housing are not eligible for this rebate.

Can I apply for the rebate if I am renting?

Yes. The system for which a rebate is being claimed must be installed at a principal place of residence. An applicant can be the owner or the tenant of the dwelling.

A tenant should not install a system without approval from the owner of the dwelling. The sharing of any costs is a matter for the landlord and the tenant to negotiate.

Regardless of whether you are an owner or a tenant, all other eligibility requirements must be met.

Can I get the rebate for a system I install on my investment property?

Yes. The system for which a rebate is being claimed must be installed at a principal place of residence. This can be an investment property which must be the tenant’s principal place of residence. It cannot be a holiday home. An owner may apply for a rebate on more than one property. A separate application must be submitted for each property.

The sharing of any costs is a matter for the landlord and the tenant to negotiate.

Regardless of whether you are an owner or a tenant, all other eligibility requirements must be met.

The Solar Hot Water Rebate provides rebates for solar and heat pump hot water systems that replace an existing electric storage hot water system. In order to be eligible for the rebate the solar or heat pump system must be a new and complete hot water system that is eligible for at least 20 RECs.

RECs are assigned by the Office of the Renewable Energy Regulator as part of the Renewable Energy Target (RET) scheme and reflect the deemed value of equivalent renewable energy generation over a ten year period.”

Register

E-tax is an online `tax pack’ program.  If you have ever filled out a paper income tax return then you will be fine to do it online.  Follow this link to download the program directly from the ATO.  E-tax form This is the 2009 e-tax (for the year July 2008 to June 2009). Make sure you use the link provide as there are other e-tax programs on this website that you will have to pay for.

There are also previous years available if you have not completed them.  It is important that you use the correct e-tax for the correct year as different rules apply.  For example if you used 2008 e-tax for 2009 it won’t have the Education Tax Rebate section to fill out – and we don’t want to miss out on any money!!

I have used e-tax for the last few years and my return has always arrived within 1 week!! E-tax will always tell you at least 2 weeks though.

E-tax has an online help window that will pop up and give you extra information on the subject.  This is very handy as it tells you what you can claim but it can also be confusing at the same time. When you go to a section, the help window might tell you to go to another section, and then another. Just stay focused and remember what question you are trying to finish.

I found it useful to copy a section that relates to something I’m unsure of but want to claim and paste it into a word document, save it as tax 2009 (or whatever year you are working on) and that way if you ever have to explain why you claimed something in your tax return you can look up the information easier (and it will jog your memory).  Remember that the Taxation Commissioner gives his guarantee that if you honestly make a mistake he won’t penalise you for it (you will still however have to pay the money back!).

E-tax is free and if you are a wage or salary earner and can only claim the $300 (no receipts necessary) this is the best way to go as, around my area this sort of return is $95 if you get an accountant to do it!! Why pay $95 when you are only claiming $300. If you do this e-tax online yourself you can have all your money to keep. Why waste it on accountancy fees!!

We all like to treat ourselves and watch a movie on the `Big Screen’ but it costs so much more than waiting until it is on DVD.  Cinemas have lots of different deals to get us to watch the movie at their cinema and one I want to share with you is Cinebuzz from Birch, Carroll & Coyle (now Event Cinemas).  Being a Cinebuzz member you get 100 points and then you get a free movie, and for August you only needed 50 points to get a free movie.  So for every movie you see you get 10 points, but there is a catch!!!

If you take your family to watch a movie `flash’ your Cinebuzz card you will only get 10 points, even if you are buying 4 tickets so give each of your kids money and get them to buy their own ticket – this will be tricky since you now have to book a seat (you could do it online separately but it does cost an extra $1 per ticket) but once you have your first ticket picked you can tell the kids where to ask for a seat!

The next catch is they have every week (Thursday to Wednesday) a movie that is only $9 on special but you can only buy 2 tickets per card you have – so if there is 3 of you you can’t get 3 for $9.  So then again you need to pass your card to another in line when you are finished!

The next thing is they are offering a code (different for each cinema – the one I have is for Morayfield-  MSMOR1179).  If this code is entered into your details account you can get your movies at a discounted rate (at the moment $11 for adults, $9 for kids until 31/12/2009).  But I found that since I live out of the area my postcode wouldn’t work to get the discount and I had to pay full price!!  To fix this I had to change my postcode to that of Morayfield’s and guess what??  It worked!! I didn’t change my suburb, just my postcode!!

Best of luck and I hope you too will be able to see a free movie soon (it is about time that they introduced something like this!!)