Tax Return:: Non-Lodgment Advice (NLA) / NIL Tax Return

Hello, this is your tax and super specialist, P&C Tax Professionals.

For those of you who have no income to declare for this financial year, you may be asking yourself, “do I still need to lodge a tax return even if I had no income at all?”. Frankly speaking, the answer is yes, you still need to lodge your tax return for each financial year (irrespective of how much income you have earned for the year).

<Non-Lodgment Advice (NLA)>

If you have been working during the given financial year and as a result you have earned income from your work and had tax withheld from your gross income, obviously you would need to lodge a tax return and report your employment details. On the other hand, if you were holding a TFN and/or an ABN during the financial year but you have earned zero income, you would still need to either lodge a non-lodgment advice form or a NIL tax return (where you are still lodging your tax return but reporting zero income and no tax withheld for the financial year).

A non-lodgment advice (commonly referred to as an NLA) is basically a form that is sent to the ATO for people who do not need to lodge a tax return. The form advises the ATO that you would not be lodging a tax return for the given financial year, thereby making sure that the ATO does not flag you as having an outstanding tax return. This is extremely important since ATO can charge a penalty of up to $1,110 on any outstanding tax returns that are not lodged in a timely manner.

<How to lodge an NLA?>

At P&C Tax Professionals, we can guide you on whether you would need to lodge a tax return for the year and if it turns out that you do not need to, we will ensure that the required ATO non-lodgment document is submitted on your behalf.

For further enquiries on lodging your tax return for this year, please contact us through our official Facebook Page (P&C Tax Professionals – Australia) or by sending us an email to pnctax@naver.com with your enquiry.

Thank you and bye for now!