A young Aussie is urging others not to make the same tax mistake she did. The 24-year-old lodged her tax return on July 1 and said it meant she got a smaller tax refund than expected.

Nat Zelez said she was “so excited” to receive her estimated refund of $5,300. The Melbourne resident worked multiple jobs during the year and told Yahoo Finance she had paid extra tax as a result.

Zelez said her refund finally came through this week. But instead of the juicy $5,300 she anticipated, she was “not happy” to find she only got $3,000 back.

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“I’ve always lodged it on the 1st because I’ve always been really keen to get [my refund] back ASAP,” Zelez told Yahoo Finance.

“I’ve always gotten my exact estimate back so that’s why this year I was a bit confused why I got only [about] half of what was estimated.”

The Melbourne resident, who works in hospitality and marketing, said she felt like she had “lost $2,300” even though she knows this isn’t the case.

“The whole year I’ve been paying a huge amount of tax, which I didn’t really mind because I knew I was going to get a tax refund,” she said.

“I was a bit disappointed because I was expecting double what I got. It was still a great amount.”

Do you have a tax story to share? Contact tamika.seeto@yahooinc.com

Zelez said she contacted the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) to find out why her refund was lower than expected.

They were unable to give her a clear answer but she believes her estimate was incorrect because she lodged too early and her income information wasn’t yet finalised.

She told other Aussies that lodging too early was “not worth it” and would only get their “feelings hurt”.

“It wouldn’t have changed my tax return, obviously. But it got my hopes up and I thought it was going to be a huge amount but the companies I worked for hadn’t done their tax yet so that’s why the estimate was so off,” she said.

Zelez said she had been planning to use the extra cash towards an upcoming trip to Southeast Asia.

ATO warns tax is ‘not a race’

The ATO has warned taxpayers against rushing to lodge their tax returns before their income statement is marked as ‘tax ready’.

ATO assistant commissioner Rob Thomson said those who lodge in early July were twice as likely to make a mistake in their tax return.

“Tax time is not a race, and there is a much higher chance that your return will be missing important information if you lodge in early July,” Thomson said.