The five tax return mistakes that could get you audited

July 18, 2026 — 3:01am

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Tax statements are landing and, especially if you think you’re due a refund, you might be clambering to do your return. But the ATO has a warning: get it right, don’t rush it. And whatever you do, don’t fudge it.

Thanks to unprecedented data matching and heightened focus on catching fake claims, these are the five mistakes likely to flag you for an audit this year.

Mistake 1: Claiming 5000km in mileage without receipts. Recently it’s become common for taxpayers to claim the maximum 5000km mileage without fuel receipts.

The ATO is believed to have sent out half a million emails to Aussie drivers as part of a crackdown where this is not valid. Because here’s the thing: you cannot claim your daily commute to and from work, and you must have records to prove you travelled the work-related kilometres.

Your options are keeping a diary or using the even easier myDeductions tool in the ATO app. 

Have these records for last tax year? Then under the cents-per-kilometre method you simply multiply the number of work-related kilometres travelled by the rate per kilometre.

The deadline for do-it-yourself tax returns is October 1. Do yourself a big financial favour and do it right.

That’s $0.88 last tax year. At the maximum 5000km travelled, it works out as a tax deduction of up to $4400 where legitimate. So be sure to start record-keeping for the current tax year.

Mistake 2: Claiming $300 in deductions without receipts. It’s a myth – a way-too-widespread one – that you can deduct this much without proof.

There has never been ‘free’ or ‘automatic’ money back. Instead, you only need records, not receipts, for work-related expense........

© WA Today