DescomplicaAU 🇧🇷 Versão em português

This guide is part of Descomplica AU — a Portuguese-first financial tool for Brazilian & Portuguese-speaking self-employed workers in Australia. This educational page is available in English so it can be easily shared.

myTax step-by-step guide

Every myTax screen explained in plain English for sole traders. Open myTax in one window and follow along here in another.

How to use this guide

1. Open my.gov.au in one window. 2. Open this guide in another. 3. As you progress through myTax, open the matching step below to see what each field is asking for and how to fill it in.

1 Sign in to myGov and open the ATO

On my.gov.au, sign in with your email and password. You need to have the ATO linked to your account. If you haven't done this yet, click Link a service and choose Australian Taxation Office.

Tip: The ATO will ask for a linking code (sent by mail or SMS) or identity questions (driver licence, passport, Medicare). If you've never linked before, get these documents ready before you start.

2 Start a new tax return

Inside the ATO, click Tax → Lodgments → Income tax → Not lodged. You'll see the current financial year. Click Prepare.

Good news: myTax already pre-fills a lot automatically — salary, bank interest, health insurance. You just need to REVIEW this data and ADD what's missing (mainly your business income).

3 Personalisation (answer Yes/No)

myTax asks a series of Yes/No questions to show only the relevant fields. The most important ones for freelancers:

Were you an Australian resident for tax purposes?	Yes, if you've lived here for more than half the year (not the same thing as your visa).
Did you receive any salary, wages, allowances?	Yes only if, IN ADDITION to freelancing, you had PAYG (payroll) employment.
Did you have any business or professional income?	YES ⭐ — this is the key question. Tick YES and myTax will open Item 15.
Did you receive interest from Australian financial institutions?	Yes if your savings earned interest (usually pre-filled already).
Did you have private health insurance?	Tick whichever applies to you. The ATO already receives data from insurers.

4 ⭐ Item 15 — Your business income (the most important part)

Here you declare EVERYTHING you earned through your ABN. It's the densest part of myTax for freelancers, but it's also where your deductions (expenses) are.

📥 BUSINESS INCOME

Business name	Your own name (if sole trader) or trading name if you have one.
ABN	Your ABN (already in your Descomplica details, Invoices tab).
Status of business	Multiple business operations only if you have more than one. Ceased if you've closed it. Usually: leave blank.
Industry code	The code for your activity. Cleaning = 73110, Uber/taxi = 53201, Construction = 32419, Hairdresser = 95110, Tutor = 82200, Tech/Dev = 70000. If you're not sure, search 'ATO industry code'.
Accounting method	Cash basis (most common — declare what you RECEIVED) or Accruals (declare what you INVOICED). Use the same method as last year.
Other business income ⭐	Most of your income goes here. The sum of ALL your paid invoices, EXCLUDING GST. If you charged GST, this figure is the subtotal (without the 10%).
Gross payments where ABN not quoted	Usually $0. Only fill this in if a client paid you without you providing your ABN (rare).
Assessable government industry payments	$0, unless you received a government subsidy (rare).

💡 Where to find this number: Descomplica's Summary tab → "Revenue" line. This figure already excludes GST.

📤 BUSINESS EXPENSES (your deduction!)

Cost of sales	Only if you resell physical products. Cleaning/Uber/Tech: $0.
Contractor, sub-contractor, commission expenses	Payments to subcontractors. E.g. you're a cleaner and hired someone else to help — goes here.
Superannuation expenses	Super you paid for YOUR employees (not for yourself — that goes in a different item).
Bad debts	Invoices that were NOT paid and you gave up chasing (needs a documented attempt to collect).
Lease expenses	Equipment rental/leasing.
Rent expenses	Commercial rent. Do NOT put home office here — that goes under All other expenses.
Interest expenses (Australia)	Interest on business loans.
Depreciation expenses	Equipment that cost MORE than $300 (expensive laptop, camera, sewing machine). Get an accountant to help — it's a calculation.
Motor vehicle expenses	Cents-per-km: 88c × work km (max 5,000 km). Logbook: % of use × actual expenses (fuel, maintenance, insurance, depreciation).
Repairs and maintenance	Repairs to work equipment.
All other expenses ⭐	The CATCH-ALL. This includes: phone, internet, home office, consumables, marketing, professional insurance, software, courses, uniforms, laundry, cleaning products, etc.

💡 Where to find these numbers: Descomplica's Expenses tab. Your expenses are organised by category — just add up each category and map it to the fields above.

⚠️ Careful: Don't double-count. If you've already included a value under Motor vehicle, don't count it again under All other. The ATO cross-checks data.

5 Item 1 — Salary (only if you had PAYG employment)

If, IN ADDITION to freelancing, you had salaried employment (with PAYG withheld), myTax is already pre-filled based on what your employer reported. Check it's correct. Compare it with your Income Statement in myGov.

If you ONLY work as a sole trader (with an ABN), skip this part — leave it blank.

6 Item 10 — Bank interest

If your savings account earned interest, the bank has already sent the figure to the ATO. It's usually pre-filled. You just need to confirm it.

Important: If you have an account in Brazil/Portugal that earned interest and you're a tax resident — you must declare it here too. myTax does NOT know this figure on its own, you need to add it.

7 Deductions — Donations, accountant, super

Most of your freelance deductions already went into Item 15. But three are kept separate:

D9 — Gifts or donations	Donations to a registered charity (DGR). You need the receipt.
D10 — Cost of managing tax affairs	What you paid your accountant, BAS Agent, or software (including Descomplica and Xero!).
D12 — Personal super contributions	If you paid Super for yourself voluntarily. Reduces your tax. Cap: $30k/year in 2025–26.

8 Medicare and Health Insurance

myTax asks whether you had private hospital cover during the year. If YES, it's usually already pre-filled by your insurer. If NO and your income is over $101,000/year, you pay the Medicare Levy Surcharge (an extra 1–1.5%).

Medicare Levy (2% — everyone pays): applied automatically. Surcharge (extra): only if high income AND no private health insurance.

9 Spouse details

If you're married or in a de facto relationship, myTax asks for your spouse's name, date of birth and income. It doesn't change your tax much, but it's mandatory to report.

10 Review and Submit

Before clicking Lodge, REVIEW everything. myTax shows the estimated tax at the top (Estimated tax payable / refund). If it's a refund, the ATO pays it into your registered account in 2–4 weeks. If tax is owed, the ATO sends a notice with the payment due date (usually 21 November).

You can save and come back later. myTax saves automatically. If you spot something wrong, leave and come back — you don't have to do it all in one go.

⚠️ This guide covers the most common case (a Brazilian/Portuguese sole trader in Australia). If you have rental property, shares, significant crypto, foreign income, or a spouse without tax residency, seek a Registered Tax Agent.

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