Sole traders are under pressure, but the tide is turning to digital tax tools

sole traders tax

Nicole Kelly. Source: SmartCompany

The Australian Taxation Office has given taxpayers, the green light to lodge their tax returns, but this year, taxpayers need to be more wary than usual. 

The ATO has heightened its scrutiny of taxpayers, particularly sole traders, who have been warned the ATO will quickly move to court action if tax debts are ignored. The ATO is also watching people with a side hustle or juggling two jobs for incorrect tax declarations

Meanwhile, with the ongoing cost of living crisis, many sole traders are crossing all fingers and toes that they don’t receive a hefty tax bill. 

So it’s time Australians took matters into their own hands, and the technology is there for the taking. 

While many industries have embraced digital solutions, sole traders have been slower to adopt them, primarily due to the prohibitive costs of traditional cloud-based accounting software. 

These platforms often offer more features than necessary, such as complex financial reporting and payroll services, without addressing the core need of sole traders, which is to understand how business income affects their personal income tax. 

This reluctance to adopt modern technology continues to affect taxpayers who associate tax returns with the manual tracking of receipts in shoeboxes or using complex Excel spreadsheets, which...

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