commission, tax and centerlink?? what do you do

[jadejadelee]

 
Ok so this is where I get a bit anxious, I have signed on to be a demonstrator and I can get my head around the presentation and am not worried about the paperwork.  I have not had training yet.

What I need to find out about is how commission, tax and centrelink all work.

So I am not sure if this is even aloud to be talked about on forum and I don't even know where to start with asking specific questions.  If anyone can point me in the right direction that would be great.

A little about me and our finances we are in QLD, Married with a 2yr old and 4yr old.   Hubby earns around the $550/wk mark and we get Family Tax Benefit A, Family Tax Benefit B and Parenting Payment Partnered.

Some random questions I can think of are:
How do you report to centerlink how much you get paid when you don't know till the end of the month?
What is the taxable income?  Is it commision - expenses?
Do you pay tax as you go?  How do you do that? 

Thank you for any help, if we cant talk about it here could you PM me?

Jade

[cookie1]

Sorry I can't help you Jade  but perhaps a phone call to Centrelink may help you as I'm sure you're not the only person it would apply to.

[earth mumma]

Hi JJL

Don't panic - when you have your training you will be able to ask your group leader some of these questions and s/he should be able to help and if not point you in the right direction.  All the best with consulting

[Zan]

I'd call centrelink with an estimate but what I imagine would be the case is you would be classed as self employed and you will have to estimate your income and claim/repay at the end of the year when you do your tax return.

ftb part a - decreases with any family earnings over a certain amount (around 45K? - with no payment over around 100k)
ftb part b - payable under 150k from main earner, secondary person can earn some - 3 or 4k??? without affecting it.
Sorry figures totally off the top of my head so may be completely wrong/out of date.

Same with tax, imagine you are self employed so need to put money aside for taxes if you earn over the base threshold.

And yes that would be my guess re taxable income. I'm sure your gl can help you loads on what are expenses and what aren't and what you can claim.

[Zan]

FTB Part A:

http://www.centrelink.gov.au/internet/internet.nsf/payments/ftb_a_iat.htm
So with two children it starts going down with a family income of $73,548 and ends when the family income hits $107, 108.

FTB Part B:
Secondary earners can earn up to $4,745 each year before it affects the rate of Family Tax Benefit Part B.

Payments are reduced by 20 cents for each dollar of income earned over $4,745.

If you are the secondary earner and your partner earns $150,000 or less, you can still get some Family Tax Benefit Part B if your income is below:

    * $24,291 a year if your youngest child is under 5 years of age, or
    * $18,907 a year if your youngest child is between 5–18 years of age.

And Parenting Payment:
http://www.centrelink.gov.au/internet/internet.nsf/payments/parenting_iat.htm#partnered

For maximum payment, your income must be no more than $62 per fortnight, and your partner's income no more than $800 per fortnight.
Your income reduces your payment by 50 cents for each dollar between $62 and $250, and by 60 cents for each dollar above $250 per fortnight.
Your partner's income up to $800 per fortnight has no effect. Income over this limit reduces your payment by 60 cents for each extra dollar.
A part payment* may be payable if you meet all the following conditions:
your income is less than $800 per fortnight, and
your partner's income is less than $1,506.67 per fortnight, and
your combined income is less than $1,600 per fortnight.

So yes could be lowered if you earn over $62 per fortnight.

So you would need to think of how many units you think you will sell and what your income will be.
But the best way would be to come up with a few different scenario's of your earning potential (say 1 unit a month, 3 units a month, 5 units a month) and call centrelink to get proper figures.

[jadejadelee]

Thanks everyone, especially Zan, do you work for center link you are amazing!

Earthmamma thanks for the heads up with training.

Ok so I'll hang tight till training and then go forth with Zan's advice/info and get onto centerlink.

[Thermo Jo (aka Jodi)]

I'm in a similar boat. I'm seriously thinking about calling Centrelink and stopping my fortnightly payments so I don't end up having to pay money back.

It's very hard to predict your income with TMX. It's all well and good to have goals but they aren't a true indication of your income earnings. I've sold more machines than I ever anticipated which is wonderful but scary when it comes to Centrelink and Tax!

Good luck with your training!

[faffa_70]

Ladies remember to take out all your expenses BEFORE you report your income to centrelink. Income is only your profit  I actually run as a business (ie use software etc to put in my income and expenses - it is amazing what you can claim that is legit!!!)

[Thermo Jo (aka Jodi)]

Any tips on things we can claim besides our ingredients and travelling expenses? I probably should get in contact with an accountant but they're going to sting the hip pocket immensely.

[cathy79]

Ladies, a hint with centrelink and reporting your earnings - commission is handled completely differently to wages/salaries due to its variability.  Please make sure you check it out for yourself, but from what I understand you can contact them monthly after you've received your payment and tell them what you earned, then they'll base your payments from that. 

So when you talk to them explain you're earning commision.

Thermo Jo - you should be able to claim telephone, stationery, training, cooking magazines, a portion of your internet for research use (eg this forum).  The ATO website should give you some good ideas.

[Thermo Jo (aka Jodi)]

Thanks so much Cathy.

I've just enrolled to do a Nutrition & Diet course via correspondence so I should be able to claim that then?

I'll have a good seach on the ATO site.

Appreciate your help.

[faffa_70]

Yes Jo claim your course. Any cooking classes you do (eg the sourdough one here in Perth) you can claim. I claim mileage on my car as well. Make sure any books etc you give as extra host rewards or the like that you claim. I claim all my consultant recipe books that you need to have to show the customers. I claim 50% of my internet as you not only need it for research, HO correspond that way and send all their invoices etc that way. I claim 100% of my mobile - my accountant lets me get away with that one and not claim any of the house phone lol.

With centrelink if they are in a nice mood you may even get it that you report quarterly on a profit and loss. This is what you want to aim for - less work!

[cathy79]

As a general rule (and please get your own advice) you can claim any expense that you can prove has a direct relationship to the income you are currently earning.  So you need to be able to argue that your Nutrition and Diet course has a direct correlation to the income you are earning as a thermomix consultant.  For example it can't be related to future income that you want to earn as a nutrtionist once you qualify.

So you might be able to argue that doing your course increases your credibility as a sales person for a machine that helps with nutrition and diet and will therefore increase your sales and have a direct impact on your income.  The cost has be related, it can't just be for personal interest.

Obviously any course run by thermomix will be easy to claim, this course could be a slightly bigger stretch.  Hope that helps, and please get your own advice as well!