Many taxpayers with more than one job or income source may be caught in an unintentional tax trap caused by the increased tax free threshold.

And with many residents of the Douglas region falling in to this category, tax time might not be the windfall some may hope for.

“Hundreds of thousands of Australian taxpayers, working two or more jobs concurrently, are likely to receive an unexpected tax bill,” said Frank Brass, Regional Director of H&R Block.

“Changes to the tax free threshold can cause taxpayers to have a tax bill if they have more than one job or source of income. The problem occurs even if the taxpayer and the employers do the right thing – as determined by ATO tax scales.

"The cause is the first job attracts the tax-free threshold while second and subsequent jobs are taxed in line with the progressive tax tables supplied by the ATO,” said Mr Brass.

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Assuming a taxpayer has one job earning $60,000. Their employer would deduct their tax and Medicare Levy to the value of $11,960 dollars. This would leave them with no tax bill. If a taxpayer worked two jobs at $30,000 and complied with all ATO tax prescriptions, they would pay $2,652.00 in the first job and $7,956 in the second. This amounts to $10,608 and would leave them with a tax bill of $1,352.

The problem compounds in the example of a taxpayer earning $60,000 over three jobs, or income sources, paying $20,000 each.

“In each case the taxpayer owes the same amount of tax, however, the taxpayer working two or more jobs may be lumped with a tax bill despite both the taxpayer and the employers all ‘doing the right thing’.” Mr Brass said.

“Taxpayers in the position of having multiple jobs should seek some advice or have more tax withheld to avoid being faced with an unexpected tax bill, making up the difference of the tax withheld, at the end of the year.”