There’s plenty of news around right now, with the federal Budget just behind us and the end of the financial year only weeks away. Here are some stories that caught my eye:

- Budget delivers tax cuts
- ATO's 3 key focus areas
- Mortgage activity up 11.4%

Treasurer Jim Chalmers unveiled a series of measures in this year's federal Budget to address what he said was the government's “number one priority” – cost-of-living relief. The centrepiece was the Stage 3 tax cuts. This included a tax cut for all taxpayers, with an average cut of $1,888 a year or $36 a week, starting from 1 July 2024.

The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has revealed it will be paying close attention to three key things on tax returns for this financial year.
- The first relates to property investors making mistakes when it comes to repairs and maintenance deductions.
- The second area of attention is people incorrectly claiming work-related expenses.
- The third focus area is failing to include all income when lodging, which can happen if you hurry to lodge your tax return.

The strong growth in home loans activity shows no sign of slowing. Borrowers signed up for $27.64 billion of new home loans in March, which was 3.1% higher than the previous month and 17.9% higher than the previous year, according to the latest data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics. Owner-occupied loans rose 11.4% to $17.48 billion, while investment loans surged 31.1% to $10.17 billion.