I saw a tax hack on TikTok that promises a bigger refund — can I actually use it?

Every July it starts. Someone in the group chat drops a screenshot — 'do it this way and you'll get $3,000 back.' A reel explains the deduction '99% of people miss.' A confident voice on TikTok tells you to claim the pet, the weekend drives, the television in the lounge. And if you can't be bothered watching, you ask an AI chatbot, which will happily produce a list of its own. The numbers look good, and the small hesitation you feel gets talked over by 'everyone claims this anyway.' This year the ATO has said something specifically about that moment, and it is worth pausing before you hit lodge.

The ATO has been blunt about this

In its tax time 2026 warning, the ATO's message is direct: think twice before acting on tax information from third-party sources — AI platforms, 'finfluencers' (the ATO's own word), and advice from family or friends. Assistant Commissioner Anita Challen put personal responsibility plainly: individuals remain liable for any information included in their tax return, even where those claims came from a seemingly reliable finfluencer. As she also said, 'your tax return isn't the place for guesswork.'

The three areas the ATO has flagged for close attention this year are work-related deductions, working-from-home expenses, and omitted income. The first two are exactly where the 'hacks' push you to over-claim; the third is the opposite reminder — that side hustles, rent and bank interest don't get to quietly disappear.

Whether a deduction is real comes down to three things

Rather than memorise a stream of half-true tips, keep the ATO's own test. For a work-related expense to be deductible, three conditions must all be met: it has to directly relate to earning your income; you must have spent the money yourself and not been reimbursed; and you must have a record to prove it — a receipt, invoice or logbook. All three, not two out of three.

Hold the popular hacks up to that test and most fall apart on the spot. Claiming the family pet as a 'guard dog', or the household television as a home-office cost, fails the very first limb — it doesn't relate to earning your income. The ATO has pointed to exactly this kind of example: advice to claim a pet by calling it a guard dog is either simply wrong, or carries a grain of truth that applies only to a very narrow group of workers — and to almost no ordinary salary earner.

Two traps worth naming

The first: 'a finfluencer — or my agent — told me to claim it, so it's not on me if it's queried.' It is. Challen was explicit that taxpayers remain accountable for making sure what they, or their agents, give the ATO is accurate, whether the advice came from a friend, from online, or from an AI tool used to prepare it. The influencer won't pay your amended bill or your penalty. With ATO data-matching now reaching banks, platforms and property, a deduction that doesn't reconcile is traced back to you.

The second: 'surely these tips are at least partly true.' Sometimes there is a grain of truth — but it typically applies to a very small group of people whose circumstances aren't yours. 'Has an ounce of truth' and 'applies to you' are not the same sentence.

There is a legitimate way to do less work without stepping over the line. From 1 July 2026 — that is, the 2026–27 return — work-related expenses gain a $1,000 standard deduction: within that cap you don't need to keep every receipt, and you take either it or your itemised claims, whichever is higher. For working from home, the proper fixed rate is 70 cents an hour — but only if you've kept a genuine record of your hours across the whole year; the ATO no longer accepts an estimate or a four-week sample. Note that for the 2025–26 return most people are lodging right now, the rule is still 'no record, no claim.'

So: keep the three-part test in your head, pause when something sounds too good, and check it against the ATO website or with a registered tax professional before it goes on your return. This is general information current as at July 2026, not advice for your circumstances — what you can claim, and what you get back, depends on your income, your occupation and what you actually spent. Having every deduction checked against the rules, and signed off by someone who answers for it, is exactly what our individual tax return service is for.