SCENARIO A

Answer the questions in the following scenario. Be sure to show all your working.

The scenario is for the 2017/18 financial year. You will need to refer to the Australian Taxation Offices (ATOs) website for the tax rates and the medicare levy. Include the URL reference or a screen shot to demonstrate the information you obtained.

Stevie Slick is a real estate agent. She earn $583 per week plus a commission of 0.5% on properties she sells. In the 2017/18 financial year she sold $3 085 000 worth of property. In 2017/18 she was paid for 52 weeks.

During the financial year she also made a term deposit of $8000 invested for 6 months at a rate of 2.8% pa compounding monthly. The money was withdrawn at maturity.

Stevie is paid a monthly phone allowance of $90.

She has work related travel expenses of $1235 per year.

Stevie has a dependent spouse so is entitled to a tax offset of $580.

Stevie has a $1595 laptop. She estimates she uses it 50% of the time for work purposes. She is able to depreciate the laptop using the straight line method over a three year period and claim the depreciation as a tax deduction. (Assume a scrap value of $0).

1. Determine Stevies taxable income for the 2017/18 year.

2. Calculate the total tax payable by Stevie in the 2017/18 year. Be sure to include the medicare levy. (She does not have to pay the medicare surcharge.)

3. Stevie has paid $198.50 per week in tax instalments through the PAYG system. Will Stevie get a tax refund or a tax bill from the ATO? How much will it be?

4. Next year, Stevies boss is altering her work conditions and she wont earn a commission. However, her weekly pay will increase to $880. Will Stevie have to pay more tax or less tax than in 2017/18? What is the percentage difference in tax? (Assume all other conditions are the same and use the 2017/18 tax table).