Editorial standards
Money and tax content has to be right, because people act on it. This page explains how we research our guides, where our figures come from, how we keep them current, and the line we hold between general information and advice. If you ever find something that looks wrong, we want to hear about it.
How we research a guide
Every occupation guide starts with the ATO's own occupation guide for that job, read in full from ato.gov.au, then cross-checked against the ATO's underlying pages and rulings so a single agent's summary is never taken as fact on its own. On top of that, we look at how the work is actually done, so the guide surfaces the specific, easily-missed deductions a generic article skips, the ones people are genuinely entitled to and routinely forget. Our concept guides, on subjects like capital gains tax and franking credits, are built the same way, from the ATO and ASIC's MoneySmart.
Where our figures come from
Every factual claim in a guide traces back to a government source: the ATO, ASIC MoneySmart, or a state or territory revenue office. Those sources are listed on each guide so you can check them yourself, and our calculators are built on the same official figures. We do not invent numbers, and we do not pass on rules of thumb we cannot point to a source for.
Keeping guides current
Tax figures change, usually each year. Where a figure moves from one year to the next, we describe the method rather than pin a number that will quietly go stale, and we point you to the current figure on the ATO's page. For the numbers we do state, we monitor the official sources for changes and re-review the guides when the rules move, and each guide shows when it was last reviewed. The date on a guide is the date we last checked it against the source, not just the day it was written.
General information, not advice
Our guides and calculators are general information to help you understand your own money. They are not personal tax or financial advice, and PFO is not a registered tax agent or a licensed financial adviser. General information cannot account for your full situation, so for a decision that matters, check the ATO or speak to a registered tax agent or licensed adviser about your own circumstances. We say this plainly throughout, because being clear about what we are not is part of being trustworthy about what we are.
Corrections and feedback
If a guide has an error, or a rule has changed and we have not caught it yet, tell us at support@personalfinancialofficer.com and we will check it against the source and fix it. We would rather hear it from you than leave it wrong.
Who stands behind this
PFO is operated by Personal Financial Officer Pty Ltd (ABN 26 700 292 235), an independent Australian company. We earn from subscriptions, not from ads, product commissions or selling your data, so the guides answer to you and not to a third party. See our about page for more on who we are, and our methodology for how the calculators are built.
This page describes our current practice and we keep it up to date as it changes.