This insight provides an overview of important business tax lodgement dates for 2023/24

Annual Employee Payment Summaries & Annual PAYG/W Summary Report

These should be prepared and lodged through the STP system by 14 July each year; unless the only employees are related parties in which case you have until 30 September.

Taxable Payments Annual Report (TPAR)

Businesses who make payments to contractors may need to report these payments and lodge a TPAR by 28 August each year.  The industries required to lodge TPARs include:

• Information Technology services
• Building & Construction services
• Security, Investigation or Surveillance Services
• Cleaning services
• Road freight & Courier services

Contractors can include subcontractors, consultants and independent contractors. They can operate as sole traders (individuals), companies, partnerships or trusts.

SGC Superannuation contributions for employees:

Although we strongly recommend payment monthly, the final deadline for payment of SGC is required by 28 days after the end of the relevant Quarter.  For example:

• July – September – by 28 October;
• October – December – by 28 January;
• January – March – by 28 April;
• April to June – by 28 July; although we note that to be tax deductible in the current financial year you should pay before 30 June and preferably by 15 June to ensure payments are processed and receipted by the relevant super funds before 30 June.

Please also note for future cash flow purposes, that from 1 July 2026, the government is proposing that all employers will be required to pay their employees’ super at the same time as their salary and wages.

ACT Payroll Tax

• July – November – by 7th day after end of relevant month;
• December – by 14th of January;
• January – May – by 7th day after end of relevant month;
• June – lodged as part of Annual Reconciliation Return and payable by 28 July.

Business Activity Statements

BASs are the way employers pay their GST and income tax instalments to the ATO.   The PAYG Withholding Tax deducted from employee wages for small employers (< $25,000 PAYG/W pa) can also be paid quarterly on the BASs.

For medium employers (paying between $25,000pa and $1M PAYG/W pa, they need to report & pay the other monthly PAYG/W amounts on Monthly Instalment Activity Statements which are due for payment by the 21st of the following month.

Large employers (paying more than $1M in the previous financial year) need to lodge and pay their PAYG/W electronically to the ATO within a week of the relevant wages payment.

Fringe Benefits Tax (FBT) returns

If an employer provides Fringe Benefits to any employees or their associates, they should prepare an FBT Return.  The FBT year runs from 1 April to 31 March and the Statutory Due Date for lodgement & payment is 21 May. But Tax Agents have an extension to 25 June. The period ATO can review/audit a business’ FBT liability is two years “from date of lodgement of the FBT Return” so even if liability is nil, it is a good idea to lodge a nil tax return to make sure the ATO can’t review further back than two years.

Income Tax Returns

The 2023 tax return lodgement dates are:

31 October 2023 – Tax returns for all individuals and entities where self-preparing or if one or more prior year tax returns were outstanding as at 30 June 2023 (unless ATO has since revised lodgement date).

31 January 2024 – Large and medium taxpayers whose gross revenue is more than $10M pa.

31 March 2024 – Tax returns for individuals and trusts whose latest return resulted in a tax liability of $20,000 or more (excluding large and medium trusts). Tax returns for entities with total income in the 2022 year of more than $2M.

15 May 2024 – Tax returns for all remaining individuals and trusts if not required earlier.  The ATO usually gives an automatic extension to 5 June 2024 but any tax payable must be paid at time of lodgement rather than when they issue the Notice of Assessment.

Late Lodgement & Late Payment Penalties

There are two sorts of ATO penalties that can be applied if you lodge and/or pay your tax late.

Failure to Lodge (FTL) Penalties

There is an automated penalty system that applies a FTL penalty to late-lodged returns, reports and statements, including:

• activity statements
• income tax returns
• FBT returns
• PAYG withholding annual reports
• Single Touch Payroll reports
• annual GST returns and information reports
• taxable payment annual reports.

Generally, a penalty will not be applied to a late-lodged tax return, FBT return, annual GST return or activity statement if the lodgement results in either a refund or a nil result.

The amount of the penalty depends on:

1. The size of the entity (Small, medium or large); and
2. How late the Return is.
3. The current amount of a “Penalty Unit”

For example:

The current penalty unit amount (from 1 July 2023) is $313.00

For a small entity, the FTL penalty is calculated at the rate of one penalty unit for each period of 28 days (or part thereof) that the return or statement is overdue, up to a maximum of 5 penalty units.

For a medium entity the penalty unit is multiplied by 2.  A ‘medium entity’ is a medium withholder for PAYG withholding purposes or has assessable income or current GST turnover of more than $1 million and less than $20 million.

For a large entity the penalty unit is multiplied by 5.  A ‘large entity’ is a large withholder for PAYG withholding purposes or has assessable income or current GST turnover of $20 million or more.

To ensure we can help you get your tax returns lodged on time, please give us the necessary information as soon as possible.

If there are unforeseen or mitigating circumstances, we can try to get you a lodgement extension; or if already late, then we can prepare & lodge a Request for Remission of Penalties to try to get any penalties remitted.

General Interest Charges

These are charged on late payment of tax liabilities (regardless of whether the relevant return was lodged on time or late).  They are also applied regardless of whether you have an extension of time to lodge or not ie if you are running late lodging your tax return, even if you have an extension of time to lodge, you should still look at paying an estimated amount of tax ASAP to minimise any interest charges.

The GIC rate is updated each quarter and is currently 10.9%pa (for the July – September 2023 Quarter).  GIC is charged on a daily basis.  The GIC is tax deductible in your tax return but at 10%+ you should look for any alternative means to pay ASAP.

If you are having trouble paying your tax on time, please let us know so that we can discuss issues and options in more detail; and hopefully work out a Payment Plan that is acceptable to the ATO for you.