June means the end of the financial year is almost here. It’s obviously time to get your taxes sorted, but it’s also a great chance to reflect on expenses, review how much you’re charging and think about adding to your super too.

Claim your costs

Drag out the receipts because it’s time to prepare your tax return to cover to cover the financial year from 1 July to 30 June. Common expense claims for freelancers include laptops, online courses, phone bills, coworking, or office space. Like many freelancers (especially now) your home is where you deliver most of your work. This means you can likely claim against household expenses like rent, mortgage interest, utility bills and even cleaning! You’ve got until 31 October to lodge your own tax return. If you're not sure what to claim, work with an accountant who can help or go to www.ato.gov.au for details of what you might be able to claim.

Audit subscriptions

While we’re in money-mode and looking at our expenses, take a look at your everyday subscriptions. Review phone apps, memberships, directories and tech subscriptions to see if you are actually using them all anymore. Evaluate the benefits and cut the ones that no longer serve you. These little suckers can add up over the course of the year.

Review your rates

It’s important to regularly review your rates. End of the financial year is a great opportunity to reconsider how much you charge. If you’re fully booked and get a ‘yes’ from clients on the majority of your quotes, it could be a telltale sign you’re undercharging. Time to raise your rate!

Send an email to existing clients to let them know in advance if that will impact any existing relationships or simply start quoting higher on new jobs. You might also use this time to review your income goals for next year and look at ways to achieve them through raising your prices.

Think about super

Being self-employed means you don’t have to make compulsory superannuation payments, but it’s smart to think long term and start contributing. Women currently retire with 47% less superannuation than men, let’s change that. It’s all too easy to push voluntary contributions to the bottom of the financial priority list, but if you have any extra money, or your tax bill comes in lower than anticipated, why not add it to your super fund? And did you know that contributions made to an eligible super fund may be tax-deductible? Check the ATO website or talk to your accountant for more information.