Small Business – Get ready for tax time

Are you ready for tax time?

This might be your last chance to make any tax-deductible purchases before this financial year ends on 30 June. See if there are any tax-deductible items your business needs, or any concessions you can access.

Finalise your employees’ Single Touch Payroll (STP)

If you have employees, make sure you finalise their 2023–24 STP information by 14 July. This is an important end-of-year obligation and ensures your employees have the right information they need to lodge their income tax return. Remember to finalise all employees you’ve paid in the financial year, even those you haven’t paid for a while, like terminated employees.

Check your pay as you go (PAYG) withholding and instalments

From 1 July, individual tax rates and thresholds will change. This will impact your PAYG withholding for the 2025 financial year.

Check you’re using the correct PAYG withholding tax table and that your payroll software is using the new withholding rates from 1 July.

When it comes to your PAYG instalments, if you think these could result in you paying too little or too much tax for the year, you can vary your instalments. You can do this when you lodge your activity statement or instalment notice through Online services for business or your registered tax professional.

Remember to lodge your variation on or before the day your PAYG instalment is due, and before you lodge your tax return for the year.

Good record-keeping habits

Heading toward the new financial year, think about your record-keeping habits this past year and whether you’d do anything differently. Good record keeping is one of the foundations of running a successful business.

Ref: ATO website.

Lily Zhang is the founder and principal accountant of Wiselink Accountants, a CPA-qualified accounting and tax agency based in Melbourne (Camberwell) and Brisbane (Eight Mile Plains). With more than 10 years of experience in Australian taxation and business advisory, Lily has helped over 500 small businesses, sole traders and individual taxpayers across both cities. She is a member of CPA Australia and the National Tax & Accountants' Association (NTAA), and Wiselink is a registered tax agent and ASIC-registered agent, as well as a Xero, MYOB and QuickBooks Partner. Lily works in both English and Mandarin, and writes regularly on Australian tax, EOFY planning, payroll, superannuation, SMSF and small-business strategy.

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