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myTax 2021 Australian Government special payments

How to complete your return when you received certain other payments from the Australian Government.

Last updated 10 August 2021

Complete this section if you received other taxable allowances or payments you received from the Australian Government that you do not show at:

  • Australian Government payments such as JobSeeker, Youth Allowance and Austudy, or
  • Australian Government payments such as pensions and carer payments.

Things to know

Australian Government special payments include the following:

  • the pandemic leave disaster payment
  • activity supplement, the farm financial assessment supplement and the farm household allowance supplement or the farm household allowance relief payment that are paid under the farm household allowance program.

Don't show any:

For more information, see Amounts that you do not pay tax on.

COVID-19 Disaster Payment

You may have received a COVID-19 Disaster Payment during 2020–21. Only individuals in Greater Melbourne would have received a COVID-19 Disaster Payment during this time.

This is a non-taxable payment due to a law change.

You don't need to include this payment as income in your tax return.

If you have already lodged your 2020–21 tax return and included this payment as income, you should amend your return. Once your amendment processes, we will notify your new income amount to Services Australia for family assistance and Child Support purposes.

Recent applications for the COVID-19 Disaster Payment with Services Australia also won’t be taxable income in the next income year.

Completing this section

You will need your PAYG payment summary – individual non-business, or a letter from the agency that paid your allowance or payment stating the amount you received. If you don't have this information, contact the agency that paid you.

You may have received a Pandemic leave disaster paymentExternal Link. This payment is taxable. You need to manually enter this payment.

We pre-fill your tax return with certain Australian Government special payment information provided to us. Check them and add any Australian Government special payments you received that are not pre-filled.

To personalise your return to show Australian Government special payments, at Personalise return select:

  • You received salary, wages or other income on an income statement/payment summary, Australian Government payments, or First home super saver (FHSS) scheme payment.
  • Australian Government payments such as JobSeeker, Youth Allowance, Austudy, pensions etc.

To show your Australian Government special payments, at Prepare return select 'Add/Edit' at the Income statements and payment summaries banner.

At the Australian Government special payments banner:

  1. If you received any of the following, select Add and enter information into the corresponding fields:  
    1. Pandemic leave disaster payment
    2. each Australian Government special payment that has not been pre-filled in your tax return (excluding any COVID-19 Disaster Payment).
     
  2. Select Save.
  3. Select Save and continue when you have completed the Income statements and payment summaries section.

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