The sad reality is that our tax laws are written in such a way as to help the wealthy people and not the employees or workers.  As such, there is not a lot that most people can do to improve their tax situation.

Having said that, here are a number of simple ideas that you might be able to benefit from:

• Buy a negatively geared investment property (if this fits with your investing strategies and risk comfort zones) as the loss on the property reduces your taxable income and increases your tax refund.
• Have discretionary income (eg. interest & dividends) in the name of the low income spouse so that a lower rate of tax is paid on this income.
• Have discretionary spending on things  like donations in the name of the high income spouse to maximise the tax benefits from such spending.
• Keep records of all medical expenses for the year as there is a tax benefit if the total of all medical bills that you pay for are more than $1,500 after rebates.
• Keep good records and receipts of your spending to see if there is something that you might be able to claim.   Most people are lazy (our tax system virtually relies on it) and because of this they pay more tax that they should.

Examples can be found by working through our checklists/tax kits.