When Are Tax Returns Due for Companies in Australia

Transcript

Hi Folks

So when are company tax returns due?

As usual I will primarily focus on due dates for companies where they don’t have prior year tax returns outstanding nor a poor lodgement history with the ATO.

But before I do, I will mention, if you had at least one prior year tax return still outstanding on the 30th of June (being the last day of the financial and tax year here in Australia) then your next company tax return is due 31 October, being the same day as when individual tax returns for self-preparers are due!

So there is plenty of incentive to get all of your outstanding returns done by 30 June, so that in future, you get much more time to prepare, lodge and most importantly pay, your future company tax bills.

Back to companies that have their affairs in order –

As always I will start with the warning that there are a number of exceptions to the primary rules, so what I am about to discuss applies to the majority of companies, but you should always seek personalised, specialists advice for your own unique circumstances.

If your company qualifies as a Large or a Medium tax payer, then its return is due on the 15th of January. Although slightly strangely, the tax payment was due a month and a half earlier, on 1 December.

Most businesses don’t qualify as large or medium taxpayers, but if your business’ annual turnover is above $10 million you are in!

The next due date for lodgement is 31 March, and this applies to companies with annual turnovers above $2 million. If your lodgement is due 31 March, payment is also due that day.

Pretty much all other companies have a due date of 15 May, and payment is also due that same day.

Finally, if your company would normally have a due date of 15 May and it has no tax to pay upon lodgement this year, and it had no tax to pay upon lodgement last year, you can actually lodge as late as 5 June, and the ATO won’t consider it late even though it technically was.

Hope you were able to keep up with all that! Unfortunately, things are never as simple as you might hope when it comes to Australian tax.

Next video, we will discuss due dates for Trusts and Partnerships.

2.2. Part 2 – Trusts & Partnerships

Hi Folks

In this video I will be covering when Trust and Partnership tax returns are due.

As usual I will focus on due dates for Trusts and Partnerships where they don’t have prior year tax returns outstanding nor a poor lodgement history with the ATO.

But as with other tax return types, if you had at least one prior year tax return still outstanding on the 30th of June (being the last day of the financial and tax year here in Australia) then your next return is due 31 October, being the same day as when individual tax returns for self-preparers are due!

So that is just one more incentive to get all of your outstanding returns done by 30 June, so that in future, you get much more time to prepare, lodge and most importantly pay, your future tax bills.

So to Trusts and Partnerships with their affairs in order –

And starting with Trusts …

The first thing to note is that usually, Trusts, and in particular Partnerships, don’t actually pay tax themselves. It is the recipients of income from the Trust or the Partnership who generally pay the tax. So we usually don’t focus too much on payment due dates for these entity types.

Having said that, just in case you have a Trust that does actually pay some tax, there are early due dates starting from 15 January for Trusts with $10 million in income and where the Trust was taxable last year.

Then 28 February where income is over $10 million but the Trust was non-taxable last year.

Then 31 March where the Trust has a tax liability of $20,000 or more last year regardless of its income level.

But for all other Trust returns, which as we say is the vast majority of them, the due date for lodgement is 15 May.

And having said that in relation to the due date of 15 May, similar to other return types, where the Trust is non-taxable and was also non-taxable last year, it qualifies for the concession of being able to lodge as late as 5 June and not be considered lodged late.

And of course as mentioned, most Trusts don’t pay tax, therefore most Trusts almost always automatically qualify for the 5 June concession each year, and yet are never considered to lodge late.

And that brings us to Partnerships …

Basically, Partnership don’t pay tax, so there are none of the early lodgement due dates applicable to them. So pretty well all Partnership tax returns (with a good lodgement history and no prior year returns overdue) are technically due for lodgement on 15 May, but they pretty well all qualify for the concessional treatment of being able to lodge as late as 5 June, but not be considered late!

So there you have it.

Next video, we will discuss due dates for Self-Managed Superannuation Funds.