If you were relying on a sizeable tax refund to help with the cost-of-living pressures, you're out of luck.
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Bluerock's tax advisory director Ani Tuna said the Australian Taxation Office wanted more record-keeping this year.
"The idea that the smallest tax payers won't be caught in the system because they're not the big fish is no longer true.
"Now it is not uncommon to see a client audited over a $1000 deduction."
The low and middle income tax offset has been scrapped, meaning those earning under $126,000 will have up to $1500 slashed from their tax return.
Working from home deductions have also changed this year.
From July 1, you can claim a 67 cent/hour fixed rate. The old 80 cent/hour rate and the 52 cent/hour fixed rate have been abolished).
What you are allowed to deduct includes energy, internet and phone expenses and stationary/computer items.
But importantly, if you claim the fixed rate you cannot claim separately for any of the above expenses.
"You're going to see a reduction in the amount you deduct from working from home this year which means less on your tax return," Ms Tuna said.
"Also, previously it was just a matter of keeping a 12 week diary, but you now have to put down every single hour you have worked from home for the entirety of the year.
"So that will be a burden for people and many are just not going to have the records to support their claims."
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The ATO is also set to unleash its arsenal of data-matching tools to better catch landlords and side-hustlers who report the wrong income.
From July 1, companies like Airbnb and Uber will be required to report payments to the ATO.
"The amount of information the ATO now has in terms of data matching is incredibly significant," Ms Tuna said.
"So when an individual lodges their tax return, it's likely that the ATO already has a lot of that information themselves and are able to data match it directly back to the systems.
"So it's really about making sure that for everything you claim, those records are actually kept.
"I think that's going to be very critical this year, but also going forward as well."
Layton Holley
Layton is a journalist at The Border Mail. He is interested in profiles, features, and hard news. If you have a story please reach out to him at layton.holley@austcommunitymedia.com.au
Layton is a journalist at The Border Mail. He is interested in profiles, features, and hard news. If you have a story please reach out to him at layton.holley@austcommunitymedia.com.au
