Assessable Income
All income you must report in your tax return, including salary, interest, dividends, rental income, and capital gains.
Assessable income is the total of all income you must include in your tax return before deductions. It encompasses ordinary income (salary, wages, business income, interest, rent, and royalties) and statutory income (capital gains, some government payments, and amounts specifically included by tax law such as employer super contributions above certain caps).
Common types of assessable income include: employment income (salary, wages, bonuses, commissions, allowances), investment income (interest, dividends including franking credit gross-up, rental income, capital gains), business income (sole trader or partnership distributions), government payments (JobSeeker, Youth Allowance, Austudy), foreign income, and share scheme benefits.
Assessable income does not include exempt income (such as some Defence Force payments, certain scholarships, and the tax-free component of super lump sums received after age 60) or non-assessable non-exempt income (NANE, such as non-concessional super contributions returned). Understanding what is and isn't assessable is important to avoid both under-reporting (which attracts penalties) and over-reporting (which means paying too much tax).