Regardless of size, all businesses must deal with tax returns every year. The dates can often vary, depending on your company type, size, and profits made in the last financial year, leaving many companies needing clarification on when their tax return must be lodged and paid.
Today, we are here to help. Our guide outlines the key tax return dates you should know, how to apply for extensions, and the best way to handle late payments.
Company Tax Return Due Dates 2024/2025
Business type: Individuals and partnerships
- Requirements: Lodging with a tax agent for their 2022/2-23 financial year
- Tax return deadline: 15th May 2024
Business type: All entities
- Requirements: Under a previously arranged concession agreement
- Tax return deadline: 5th June 2024
- Business type: Small business owners
- Requirements: Lodging business tax returns
- Tax return deadline: 1st July to 31st October 2024
Business type: Individuals, sole traders, trusts, freelancers
- Tax return deadline: 31st October 2024
Business type: Medium to large trusts
- Requirements: An annual income of $10 million or more applying for the 2024 financial year
- Tax return deadline: 15th January 2025
Business type: Medium to large trusts
- Requirements: Who lodged a yearly income of more than $10 million in the latest year
- Tax return deadline: 28th February 2025
Business type: Individual and trusts
- Requirements: Return resulted in a liability of $20,000 or more
- Tax return deadline: 31st March 2025
Tax returns are lodged once annually and should be done before the deadline. This allows the Australian Taxation Office time to amend your return and issue you the correct tax to pay or refund. You can choose to send your return in for the deadline, providing you with ample time to amend it if needed.
There is an option to arrange staggered payments if you are an individual or trust whose tax returns have a lodgement date of 15 May under a tax agent’s concession. In cases where the tax return is lodged, your dates change to the following:
- Lodged up to and including 12 February 2024 – payment date of 21 March 2024
- Lodged from 13 February to 12 March 2024 – payment date of 21 April 2024
- Lodged from 13 March 2024 – payment date of 5 June 2024
You can extend the deadline for lodging tax returns until the 15th of May the following year, but you must do this with a tax agent. You must lodge your return and book it before October 31st of this year.
What Happens If My Company Tax Return Is Paid Late?
Things happen, and anyone can miss a deadline, including your company tax return deadline. Unfortunately, the Australian Taxation Office takes late lodgements seriously and attaches penalties for late forms.
Penalties are $313 for the first 28 days after each 28 days, with a maximum of $1,565. These penalties must be paid along with your tax return before you can submit another return or request a concession and staggered payment plans.
We recommend that you attach any supporting documentation to your tax return explaining its late return. This can help minimise penalties and ensure that you only pay what you need. To avoid late payments, you may want to enlist the help of an accountant to keep on top of your finances for you.
Record-Keeping Requirements For Company Tax Returns
Four requirements for keeping company tax returns must be followed. These are set by the taxation office and ensure that any business has its records ready to hand should they be needed. These requirements apply to sole traders, partnerships, companies, or trusts.
- Your record must not be changed or stored in a way that causes the record to become damaged and restricts the information from being changed
- Your records must be kept for five years, beginning when you first prepared, obtained, or completed transactions
- Your records might be asked for by the taxation office and must be ready to be accessed
- Your records must be kept in English or converted to English when needed
Whether your records are kept in paper form or electronically is your choice. Electronic record keeping is best where possible, as it protects your records from water damage and allows you to integrate them with software systems to speed up some accounting and taxation processes.
When storing your records electronically, they must be on a device you have access to, backed up, and you must control the information that is entered and sent.
Tips For Company Tax Returns
You must plan ahead to prevent missing deadlines or being left with a lengthy tax return process. Keep a note of all deadlines in your diary or calendar, and aim to complete the return ahead of time.
While you might think it is best to start your tax return super early, it can be worth waiting. In Australia, the last day of the financial year is 30 June 2024, and the taxation office processes tax returns straightaway.
But if you wait, you can save some adjustments, as employers have until July 15 to update employee tax and superannuation payments paperwork. You might need to amend your tax return if you lodge before these items are protected. This generally only applies if you have employers or contractors, but it is worth keeping in mind.
To help you hit your tax return deadline fuss-free, without forgetting it, we have some tips below:
- Write the dates for your relevant tax return down somewhere you won’t forget them
- Enlist the help of a tax agent if you have never completed company tax returns before
- Use one place to keep all documentation needed for tax returns to ensure no receipt is forgotten
- Make staff aware of where business expenses and other documentation need to be placed
- Use electronic software to process and enter data to save time when completing your tax return
Final Thoughts
Your company tax return date varies depending on your business type, meaning you might have already missed your deadline or have a few weeks to get your affairs in order. By using a tax agent, keeping these dates written down, and having your documentation ready, you can quickly complete your return and ensure you don’t pay too much tax.
Book a free strategy meeting with a business accountant
Keeping on top of your business finances can be difficult for new owners, which is why we help many small companies with their tax returns and much more. Working with us takes some of the pressure from you so you can focus more on running your company instead of getting buried underneath mountains of paperwork, as that’s our job! Book a free strategy meeting with Walker Hill today to discuss your options and figure out exactly how we can help you going forward.
