The financial year ended on 30 June, which means the FY2025–26 tax season is officially open. Before you rush to lodge, though, it pays to know how the next twelve months are structured — because the right date to act is rarely 1 July, and the deadline that applies to you depends on how you lodge.
Why mid-July beats early July
Employers have until 14 July to finalise their Single Touch Payroll reporting, which is when your income statement switches to “tax ready” in myGov. Banks, private health insurers, managed funds and government agencies then feed their data into the ATO’s pre-fill service through July. The ATO itself suggests waiting until late July before lodging, because returns lodged in the first fortnight of July are far more likely to be missing income — and a missed dividend or interest amount means an amended assessment, a possible bill, and sometimes interest charges later.
Key dates for individuals
| Date | What it means |
|---|---|
| 14 July 2026 | Employers must finalise income statements — yours should show as “tax ready” in myGov from around this date. |
| Late July 2026 | Most ATO pre-fill data (interest, dividends, health insurance, managed funds) is in place — the sensible earliest time to lodge. |
| 31 October 2026 | Deadline to lodge your FY2025–26 return if you lodge it yourself. It falls on a Saturday this year, so in practice the next business day applies — but don’t cut it that fine. |
| 31 October 2026 | Also the deadline to be on a registered tax agent’s client list if you want the extended agent lodgement dates. |
| 15 May 2027 | The latest date most tax agent clients can lodge under the agent lodgement program. Some clients have earlier dates — for example, if a prior return was late or a large tax bill is expected — so confirm your own date with your agent. |
That last row is worth reading twice. The same return, with the same refund, can be due on 31 October 2026 or as late as 15 May 2027 — purely depending on whether a registered agent lodges it for you. The key condition is that you engage the agent before 31 October — though your exact due date depends on your lodgement history and circumstances, so confirm it with your agent.
Key dates for business
If you run a business, the calendar is busier. These are the standard due dates for the year ahead — lodging your BAS electronically through a registered agent generally adds extra time to most quarters, so the dates below are the ones to beat if you lodge yourself.
| Date | Obligation |
|---|---|
| 14 July 2026 | STP finalisation declaration for your FY2025–26 payroll. |
| 28 July 2026 | April–June 2026 quarterly BAS, plus the final quarterly super guarantee payment under the old rules (see below). |
| 28 August 2026 | Taxable payments annual report (TPAR) — building and construction, cleaning, courier and road freight, IT and security services. |
| 28 October 2026 | July–September 2026 quarterly BAS. |
| 28 February 2027 | October–December 2026 quarterly BAS — everyone gets the summer extension on this one. |
| 28 April 2027 | January–March 2027 quarterly BAS. |
Payday super changes the rhythm from 1 July 2026
The biggest shift this year is that the familiar quarterly super guarantee dates (28 October, 28 January, 28 April, 28 July) no longer apply to new wages. Under the payday super laws now in force, super on salary and wages paid from 1 July 2026 must reach each employee’s fund within seven business days of payday. The 28 July 2026 quarterly payment for the April–June 2026 quarter is the last one under the old system — after that, super becomes part of every pay run. If your payroll process hasn’t been updated yet, make that job number one; our BAS, GST and payroll service can help you get the settings right.
What happens if you are late
Missing a lodgement date is not free. The ATO’s failure-to-lodge penalty accrues at one penalty unit for each 28 days (or part of one) a document is overdue, capped at five units. The penalty unit is $364 for lateness occurring on or after 1 July 2026 (it is indexed periodically), so an individual or small business return can attract up to $1,820 — and the penalty is multiplied for medium and large entities. In practice the ATO often issues a warning rather than a penalty for a first, one-off late return, but that leniency is discretionary, not guaranteed.
Paying late is a separate problem. Unpaid tax accrues general interest charge, which compounds daily at a rate currently in the vicinity of 11 per cent a year — check the current rate on the ATO website. And since 1 July 2025, GIC is no longer tax deductible, so an ATO debt is now one of the most expensive forms of finance a business can carry. If you already have overdue returns or a debt you can’t clear at once, acting early matters: payment plans and penalty remission requests are far easier to negotiate before the ATO starts chasing.
Put the deadlines on someone else’s desk
As registered tax agents, we track every one of these dates for our clients — extended lodgement for individual returns, extra time on most quarterly BAS, and reminders before super and TPAR deadlines rather than after them. Our fees are fixed and confirmed up front, and getting started before 31 October is what unlocks the extended deadlines. If you would rather spend tax time thinking about anything other than dates, get in touch and we will put your obligations on our calendar instead of yours.