Australia · employees and sole traders
Your online tax return, prepared from your bank statements
The slow part of a tax return is remembering what you spent. Fin reads the year for you, flags the work-related lines with the reason, and suggests the myTax line for each. You lodge through myTax, or your registered tax agent does.
Free plan, no card. Your records can stay on your own computer.
Statement
Tap a line
Adds to your refund, about
$151
- D3Clothing
- $64.00
- D4Self-education
- $320.00
- D5Other work costs
- $89.00
Example lines and amounts, 2025-26 resident rates on a taxable income of $90,000. Confirm what you can claim with your registered tax agent or the ATO.
The quick answer
You can do an Australian tax return online three ways: lodge it yourself in myTax for free, pay a registered tax agent to review and lodge it, or prepare it first so either route is quick. 2Fin does the preparing from your bank statements; you or your agent lodge.
From statements to a return that is ready
Step 1
Bring the year in
Upload the bank and card statements for 1 July to 30 June as CSV, Excel or PDF, or connect a feed with your own provider account. Every line is categorised on the free plan.
Step 2
Answer what Fin asks
On Premium, Fin reads each line for tax and holds the ones that look work-related as questions: was this for work, and how much of it? Each answer carries the reason Fin asked, and you can change any of them.
Step 3
Check the estimate
Add your pay and the tax withheld for each employer and the estimate shows a refund or an amount to pay, with the Medicare levy, the low income tax offset and any HELP repayment in it.
Step 4
Lodge it, or hand it over
Export your deductions with a suggested myTax line (D1 to D15) for each work expense and type the totals into myTax, or send your registered tax agent the Accountant Pack with the receipts attached.
Three ways to lodge online, side by side
Each one suits someone. The third is not a replacement for the first two: it is what makes either of them short.
| myTax on its own | An online tax agent | 2Fin, then either | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who lodges | You lodge, through ATO online services | A registered tax agent reviews and lodges | You through myTax, or your agent with the pack |
| Cost | Free | A flat fee per return, set by the agent and generally deductible next year | Free plan for the records; Premium at US$23/month for the tax read and exports |
| Income | Pre-filled by the ATO from employers, banks and funds | Pre-filled once you link the agent | From your pay details and deposits; myTax or your agent still brings the ATO pre-fill |
| Deductions | You remember them and type them in | A question flow, then the agent checks | Found in your own transactions, with the reason shown and the receipt attached |
| Due date | 31 October | The agent's lodgment program date, when you are on their books by 31 October | Whichever route you lodge by |
| Suits | One job, few expenses, and you know what you can claim | You want a person accountable for the return | Expenses spread through the year, a side business, or records you want kept |
Due dates are set by the ATO: 31 October for a return you lodge yourself, moving to the next business day when it falls on a weekend. Agent fees and dates vary; confirm them with the agent.
Every total, with the lines behind it
myTax asks for a total at each deduction label. The export gives every work expense a suggested label, so each total is a sum you can trace back to the transactions behind it.
- D1
Work-related car expenses
Cents per kilometre or a logbook, worked from your trips
- D2
Work-related travel
Flights, accommodation and fares for work
- D3
Clothing and laundry
Uniforms, protective gear and their cleaning
- D4
Self-education
Courses tied to the job you have now
- D5
Other work-related expenses
Working from home at the fixed rate or actual cost, tools, phone, subscriptions
The labels run on to D15. A label is a suggestion for you or your agent to confirm, and 2Fin helps you find and organise potential deductions; always confirm eligibility with your registered tax agent or the ATO. See how Fin decides a tax treatment and how working from home is worked out.
Free tools for tax time, no sign-up
Tax return calculatorRefund or amount to pay from three figures
Deduction finderWhat people in your job usually claim, by myTax lineIncome tax and take-homeTax, Medicare levy and pay on any salary
HECS/HELP repaymentThe compulsory repayment on your income
Capital gains taxThe gain on shares or property, with the discountDeduction guides by jobNurses, teachers, tradies, hospitality and moreBuilt for how you earn: employees, a job plus a side business, sole traders. Handing over to a professional? See the Accountant Pack. Comparing services? 2Fin and Tax Falcon, 2Fin and TaxFox, 2Fin and ATO myDeductions.
Online tax returns
Questions people ask before they lodge
- What are the ways to do a tax return online in Australia?
- There are three. You can lodge it yourself for free with myTax in ATO online services. You can pay a registered tax agent who works online to review and lodge it for you. Or you can prepare the return with software first, so the deductions and totals are ready, and then lodge through myTax or hand the pack to an agent. 2Fin is the third: it prepares, and you or your agent lodge.
- Is 2Fin a registered tax agent?
- 2Fin is software that organises your records and prepares the figures. Lodging stays with you through myTax, or with a registered tax agent you choose. Only an agent registered with the Tax Practitioners Board can charge a fee to prepare and lodge a return for you, and you can check any agent on the TPB public register before you share your tax file number.
- What do I need before I start an online tax return?
- Your tax file number and a myGov account linked to the ATO, your bank details for any refund, the income statement your employer reports to the ATO, and a record for each deduction you plan to claim. Bank and card statements for the full year, 1 July to 30 June, are the quickest way to find the deductions you have forgotten.
- I missed the 31 October deadline. What should I do?
- Lodge as soon as you can. The ATO can apply a failure to lodge on time penalty, which grows the longer a return is outstanding. A registered tax agent can also lodge an overdue return for you and speak to the ATO on your behalf.
- Can I prepare my tax return online for free?
- Yes, in part. The free plan takes your statement uploads and categorises every transaction, and the free calculators estimate your refund and list what people in your job usually claim, with no sign-up. Fin's line-by-line tax read and the tax exports, including the ATO myDeductions layout, are on Premium at US$23/month. Lodging through myTax is free either way.
- Does it still help to use a tax agent if my records are already prepared?
- Often, yes. An agent brings judgement on anything borderline, is accountable for the return, and can give you a later lodgment date. What prepared records change is the work you are paying for: the agent reviews a categorised year with receipts attached instead of sorting a shoebox, and nothing is left out because you forgot it.
- Which income does the 2Fin estimate include?
- Salary and wages, sole-trader profit and net rental income, less work-related deductions and the tax withheld from your pay, with the Medicare levy, the low income tax offset and the HELP repayment. Bank interest, dividends and PAYG instalments are not part of the estimate today, so add those in myTax, where the ATO pre-fills most of them.
Did you know?
A tub of Chobani yoghurt became taxable purely because it came with a separate pouch of cookie and white-chocolate pieces — making it a 'combination food'.
In a 16 June 2023 ruling the Administrative Appeals Tribunal sided with the Tax Commissioner that Chobani's Flip Strawberry Shortcake yoghurt, sold with baked cookie and white-chocolate bits, was a taxable combination food rather than GST-free plain yoghurt.
Source: HWL Ebsworth — Case alert: Tribunal finds yoghurt combination not GST-free ↗Tampons were taxed at 10% as a non-essential item for nearly two decades while condoms, sunscreen and lubricant were GST-free — until the 'tampon tax' was finally scrapped in 2019.
After a campaign of nearly two decades, Commonwealth, state and territory treasurers unanimously agreed on 3 October 2018 to make menstrual products GST-free from 1 January 2019, giving up about $30 million a year in revenue.
Source: TIME — Australia Ditches Controversial 'Tampon Tax' After Outcry ↗Start with one statement
Upload last month and see what Fin makes of it. If the year is worth doing, the rest is the same step eleven more times, and next year it is already done as you go.
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