Warrnambool tax accountant expect more enquires in the next two weeks amid coronavirus changes

Amid the coronavirus pandemic, changes to the system have led many to turn to accountants to sort out their finances.

Sinclair Wilson partner Steve Van Ginneken said as many circumstances had changed people's tax would reflect this.

"The main difference this year is in the travel and home office expenses," he said.

"Each industry will have their own changes as those who worked from home will have their travel in the last quarter reduced and we expect a lot of these claims coming in."

The federal government preempted increases in working from home claims and introduced the shortcut method of claiming home office expenses of 80 cents for every working hour. This can cover phone, internet, electricity and gas costs as well as the decline of value in furniture and equipment.

"There is also the added complexity from working from home and JobSeeker and JobKeeper items," Mr Van Ginneken said.

"A lot of younger people have been affected by JobKeeper and JobSeeker and their tax will vary than in the past.

"These payments are still taxable but in some cases the JobKeeper payments might push into higher tax brackets.

"Amid COVID-19 people have also used the early super release scheme and they need to remember there withdrawals are tax free and don't need to be disclosed from a tax point of view."

Other major differences for taxpayers this year are the introduction of single touch payroll reporting and those with rental properties may have larger negative gearing losses if they've had to reduce rent over the pandemic.

The Australian Tax Office faced severe technical difficulties as people flooded the website seeking to lodge tax returns or apply for an early release of superannuation on Wednesday.

Sinclair Wilson expect to see the bulk of their tax enquires in the next two weeks.

"People always start to try to get ahead of tax time with some starting early," Mr Van Ginneken said.

"We expect more people to want to want to see an accountant this year as industry knowledge can get people the best result."

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