The rush of EOFY is behind us, but we’re still seeing a number of avoidable mistakes that could cost businesses and individuals time, money, and trigger ATO scrutiny.  Now that we’re into August its time to do a sweep to make sure everything is covered. Here are the most common issues we’re noticing — and how you can steer clear of them:

1. Watch Out For All of the Extra Lodgments This Time of Year

Around 30 June there are a variety of extra lodgments that are due depending on your business.  There are easy to remember ones like the Business Activity Statements but there are also ones that only come round once per year potentially and may not even have an amount to pay but still need to be lodged to avoid penalties.  Common ones to consider are Instalment Activity Statements, Single Touch Payroll, Superannuation, WorkCover, Payroll Tax, Taxable Annual Payments Report, LSL Black Coal Levy.  We regularly see cases where the paperwork wasn’t prepared in time — or worse, was forgotten entirely.  So we reach out to our clients with a warning about these and gauging confirmation on what we are sorting and what they are sorting themselves.  

What to do now:
Consider these lodgements and which ones might apply to you.  If you are a business owner find that email from us warning about these lodgements and make sure you have replied with who is doing what – and let us know if you need to change that to get our help for things you were originally planning to sort yourself.  If you are unsure what of the above applies to you reach out we can work through it together to ensure you are covering your bases.

2. Single Touch Payroll (STP) Reports Not Finalised

Businesses are required to finalise STP reports for the previous financial year by 14 July. Missing this deadline can delay your employees’ ability to lodge their tax returns and is a sure fire way to disappoint your staff and can attract ATO penalties.

What to do now:
Double-check that your STP finalisation has been lodged for all employees including terminated staff and yourselves as owners.

3.Superannuation Guarantee (SG) Rate Not Updated

As of 1 July 2025, the Superannuation Guarantee rate has increased to 12%.  We've seen a few employers in the Mackay region still running payroll under old rates such as 11% or 11.5% — a mistake that can result in underpayment issues and the ATO penalties for getting superannuation wrong are extremely harsh.

What to do now:
Review your payroll software settings and confirm that all SG contributions are calculated at the new rate.  Also, ensure super payments for the June quarter have been paid as these were due on28/07/2025.

4. EOFY Accounts Not Reconciled Properly

We are now a month and a half past the end of the financial year so your accounting software should definitely be processed and reconciled to the end of June.  We are seeing cases where this hasn’t happened which delays lodgements risking penalties.  It also means you are not giving yourself the opportunity to have meaningful figures you can review and mark yourself on.

What to do now:
If your accounting file is not processed/allocated/reconciled to 30/06/2025 for the 2025 financial year, then you should get this up to date urgently and let us know when it is ready. If you don’t have an accounting file, then do a record of your income and expenses for the financial year now while it is still fresh in your mind and so it doesn’t holdup lodgements. You should at a minimum be aiming to do the bookwork by the end of the month following each month.  It is nowhere near as useful when done later and will likely result in you getting bills close to the due date rather than being able to get forewarning.

Need Help Tidying Up Post-EOFY?

If you’ve missed a step — or you’re not sure if you’ve covered everything — we’re here to help.  Better to be safe than sorry.

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