Income tax basics

Did you know that just because you have a job and are earning money, doesn't always mean that you have to pay income tax? So it's important that you check to see if you need to pay income tax on your earnings. 

You don't have to pay income tax if:

• you're a primary or secondary school student, and
• your total earnings from all employment are less than $45 a week, and/or
• your annual earnings will be less than $2,340.

Even if you don't need to pay income tax, you might still be interested in finding out the answers to some basic questions on income tax:

• What is income tax?
• Why do you pay income tax?
• When and how do you pay income tax?
• How much income tax do you pay?
• What if you don't pay the right amount of income tax?
• What if you have to pay tax but don't want to have to deal with Inland Revenue? Check out about nominated persons.
• Information overload? What do all these new terms mean? See the glossary.