Curtin University travelling tax clinic students help remote communities recoup thousands

A free travelling tax clinic operated by Curtin University students has successfully orchestrated the return of more than $150,000 in accumulated tax to West Kimberley clients.

The clinic, run through Broome Circle, visited Broome and the surrounding remote communities of Bidyadanga and Djarindjin to help almost 100 local residents with more than 250 tax returns.

For some clients, this was an unfamiliar process — language barriers and the limited availability of tax education and support in regional and remote areas meant many were not aware of the process at all.

“People don’t understand that they have to do a tax return, so there’s also that education and literacy side of it,” Broome Circle program officer Paula Manning said.

Ms Manning said previously the only tax assistance in remote communities was through Broome Circle’s volunteer tax agents or external tax agents travelling up from other areas of the State that were expensive.

One of Broome Circle’s volunteer tax agents, Sen Amaratunga, now an associate financial counsellor, was the mastermind behind the student-run tax clinic after seeing first-hand the need for free taxation support in regional and remote communities.

“People didn’t know that they had access to that much money, or they believed that if they were to touch it they would have to pay money for a tax agent,” Mr Amaratunga said.

With a sizeable task ahead, Mr Amartunga contacted Curtin University, which was eager to help.

“They got heaps out of it too, seeing how it works in an outreach community where a lack of financial literary and lack of financial understanding can make someone very financially vulnerable,” Ms Manning said.

Students helped prepare 45 tax returns in Bidyadanga, eight in Djarindjin and 213 in Broome, returning a total of $155,000 to their clients.

Some clients had a backlog of tax returns and were eligible for thousands.

This was the case for one lucky client who had not completed their tax return in six years and, with the help of the clinic, discovered they had access to a total of $21,000 in tax.

“That’s why I started this project — to find all the people who need this system and assist those who have no facility or knowledge to do these things,” Mr Amartunga said.

“You can see the joy in their face. They practically skip out the door.”

Broome Circle hopes to run the clinic again next year alongside the Curtin taxation program.