Curtin University’s tax clinic helps out those who need assistance

Curtin University’s tax clinic organises students to assist people who need help with their tax affairs but can’t afford to pay.

Curtin University student Anthony Ferraro (centre) with two clients of the university’s tax clinic in the goldfields town of Laverton, WA

Community Champion Award Winner (People’s Choice) Curtin University

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The tax clinic initiative – free tax services for vulnerable communities

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Curtin Tax Clinic volunteers can spend hours driving on unsealed outback roads travelling to remote Indigenous communities in Western Australia to help with difficult tax problems.

In conjunction with the Western Australian Department of Justice’s Aboriginal open day program and often working in makeshift offices, the student volunteers try to assist as many taxpayers as possible.

Launched in 2018 and now partly funded by a commonwealth grant, the Curtin Tax Clinic is a free initiative which aids the disadvantaged and provides volunteer university students with experience dealing with real life problems.

“There are now as many as 15 clinics around Australia based on our concept,” says Curtin Tax Clinic director Annette Morgan, noting the program is expanding, with five more clinics slated for 2025.

In 2023, Curtin Clinic staff and volunteers assisted more than 1000 taxpayers and completed more than 3000 tax returns and 320 business activity statements.

More than 30 community organisations referred clients to the clinic, including the Salvation Army, National Debt Line, St Vincent de Paul Society, the Red Cross, Street Law, Indigenous corporations, and government agencies such as the Australian Taxation Office and Centrelink.

“We deal with a lot of people with major issues, such as mental health, financial distress or abuse,” Morgan says.

“These people are often unrepresented people and have some form of vulnerability or financial hardship. We get nearly 10 referrals from financial counselling services a week, not counting the homeless, domestic violence and Indigenous communities that we assist.”

Curtin students from other disciplines can also take advantage of the free tax advice.

Since 2020, Curtin Tax Clinic volunteers have also regularly connected with inmates in prisons to help them cope with their tax return problems – difficulties that are often exacerbated by their isolation and limited resources.

If a prisoner has worked for part of a year, or receives income from elsewhere, a tax return must be filed, and late filings can be penalised. Taxation forms can be complex and the terminology difficult. Getting through to the Australian Taxation Office on a help line can be almost impossible from a time-limited prison telephone line. Without expert assistance, prisoners’ tax liabilities can grow and tip them deeper into debt.

Curtin commerce or law students who volunteer to help in the clinic can enrol for a final credit unit before they graduate. They might stay with the clinic for six months, Morgan says, or they might stay three years. About 60 students, both domestic and international, volunteer each year, and the clinic keeps growing.

Clinic volunteers help represent clients who have disputes with the ATO, matters which can end up in court. The students are not only learning the technical side of tax accounting, Morgan adds, but the soft skills of people management and how to speak to different taxpayers with different problems.

“It’s great for the students,” Morgan says. “The types of taxpayers they deal with are not the types of taxpayers they’re going to see in jobs when they leave university. We’re hoping it provides them with empathy.”