At the end of the financial year (June 30 each year), your employer will give you a Payment Summary. This is an official document which shows the gross (pre-tax) amount of earnings and tax instalment deductions made on your behalf during the year. If you have more than one employer, each one must give you a Payment Summary. They must be given to you by July 14 each year.
It is very important that you keep this certificate because you will need it to make a claim for a refund. You keep the summary with your tax records.
If you change your address, make sure you give your employer a new postal address they can send your Payment Summary to.
You will often hear older employees refer to this as a “Group Certificate”, the name it used to be called.
The Tax Office has good online advice about whether or not you need to lodge a tax return. There are some circumstances when you may not need to, for example:
- your only income was salary and wages, you earned less than your tax-free threshold ($6,000 for most people) and your employer did not take any tax out of your pay
The Tax office has a web page for young people, which may help you understand exactly what you have to do:
http://www.ato.gov.au/youth/