Bank Interest on Your Tax Return

Do I have to include Bank Interest in my Income Tax Return?

When it comes to Bank Interest, there are two questions we are regularly asked when preparing tax returns at Gotax and they are: 

How do I know how much bank interest I have?

There are a couple of simple ways you can check how much bank interest you have.

The first option would be to contact your bank and request the bank interest for the last financial year, this would be 1 July 20XX – 30 June 20XX. They will be able to give you the figure over the phone. Make sure you have the correct ID to pass the identification process.

The second option is to check via Online Banking, most Online Banking Providers will have a link named something like “Bank interest” this will show you how much bank interest you have built up for the current financial year and last financial year.

The third option is to check your bank statement. It will either be listed on the front summarisation or on the back of your statement (all statements are different).

Doesn’t the ATO already know this?

It would be a lot easier if the ATO knew this, and most of the time this information is prefilled into your tax return. But you’ll need to be patient, it can take up to a month for the bank interest to prefill into your income tax return.

Our goal at Gotax Online is to ensure preparing your e-tax return is as simple and easy as possible, and of course, we want it to be fun!

If your bank interest figures didn’t prefill, and you do have bank interest, use some of our tips above to help you out. Make sure you include your bank interest! The ATO may not know straight away, but they will find out and we would hate for them to initiate an amended tax return for $3 in interest!

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Note that the information provided is general in nature and subject to change, please contact one of our professionals who can evaluate your circumstances and provide more accurate advice to your current situation.