EOFY Checklist for Small Business Owners

An EOFY checklist for your small business comes down to four things – getting your records complete, finalising payroll, reviewing your deductions, and knowing which deadlines apply to you. The businesses that handle end of financial year smoothly are not the ones with the biggest budgets. They are the ones that work through a checklist instead of scrambling at the last minute. This guide covers exactly what to tick off, in order, so nothing gets missed.

What Records Do You Need to Gather for EOFY?

Your accountant can only work with what you give them. Before anything else, pull together your bank statements for every business account, including any loan and credit card accounts. If your bank feeds run through Xero and your books are reconciled, most of this is already done.

Next, gather your sales records and invoices, receipts for business purchases, and statements for any business loans or equipment finance. Remember that you need a tax invoice for any purchase over $82.50 if you want to claim the GST credit on it. Missing receipts are one of the most common reasons small businesses claim less than they are entitled to.

If you carry stock, you need a stocktake as at 30 June. Count what you have, note damaged or obsolete items, and record the value. If you have employees, you also need your payroll records, super payment confirmations and any new employee details finalised.

Finally, list any assets you bought or sold during the year – vehicles, tools, equipment, computers. Your accountant needs purchase dates and amounts to handle depreciation correctly.

What Are the Key EOFY Deadlines You Cannot Miss?

The financial year ends on 30 June, but the deadlines that catch people out mostly fall after that date. Here are the ones that matter for most small businesses.

14 July – STP finalisation is due. This is the declaration through Single Touch Payroll that tells the ATO your employees’ year-to-date figures are final, so they can lodge their own tax returns.

28 July – the April to June quarter BAS is due if you lodge it yourself. If a registered agent like AffordBooksTax in Melbourne lodges on your behalf, you generally get an extended deadline.

31 October – the deadline for sole traders lodging their own tax return. Miss this and you risk late lodgement penalties from the ATO.

Agent lodgement dates – if your return is lodged through a registered tax agent, your due date comes from the ATO’s lodgement program and varies depending on your entity type and lodgement history. Agent deadlines generally fall well after 31 October, which is one of the practical benefits of using an agent, but you need to be registered with the agent before the normal deadline to access them. Confirm your specific date with your agent early.

What Payroll Obligations Do You Need to Finalise?

Payroll is where EOFY mistakes hurt the most, because they affect your employees as well as your business. Start with STP finalisation by 14 July – your payroll software walks you through this, but check every employee’s figures before you submit. Once you finalise, employees see their income statement as “tax ready” in myGov.

Then check your super. The super guarantee rate is 12%, and it applies to employees and most contractors paid mainly for their labour. Super is only deductible in the year your employees’ funds actually receive it, so payments made late lose the deduction for that year.

From 1 July 2026, Payday Super changes the game entirely – super must now be paid on each payday and received by the fund within 7 business days. If your payroll process has not caught up with this yet, fixing it belongs at the top of your list. Our EOFY preparation guide covers the payroll steps in more detail.

What Deductions Should You Review Before 30 June?

The weeks before 30 June are your last chance to influence the year’s tax position. Review any planned equipment purchases first. The instant asset write-off threshold changes from year to year, so check the current rules with your accountant before assuming a purchase is immediately deductible.

Look at your prepayments too. Small businesses can generally claim a deduction for expenses prepaid up to 12 months in advance – things like insurance, rent or software subscriptions. If cash flow allows, prepaying before 30 June brings the deduction forward.

Then go through your debtors. If a customer invoice is genuinely unrecoverable, writing it off as a bad debt before 30 June means you can claim the deduction this year. You cannot claim a bad debt you only wrote off in July.

Finally, check for the deductions that small business owners routinely forget – home office running costs, business use of your personal phone, professional memberships, bank fees on business accounts and accounting fees. Yes, what you pay your bookkeeper and accountant is deductible, and our pricing is published openly so you know the cost before you commit.

What Are the Most Common EOFY Mistakes Small Businesses Make?

The most expensive mistake is leaving everything to the last week of June. Rushed bookkeeping means missed deductions, unreconciled accounts and guesswork instead of accurate figures. Starting your checklist in May, or even earlier, removes almost all of the stress.

Mixing personal and business spending is the next big one. When personal purchases run through the business account, someone has to untangle them before your accounts are accurate. That costs time, and if you pay for bookkeeping by the hour, it costs money.

Paying super late is a mistake that stings twice. Late super is not deductible, and it can trigger the super guarantee charge, which includes interest and an administration fee per employee per quarter. With Payday Super now in force, the margin for error is smaller than ever.

The last one is claiming deductions without records. The ATO’s data matching is sharper every year, and “I’m sure I spent roughly that much” does not survive a review. If you do not have the receipt or a clear bank record, do not claim it.

What Should You Do If Your Books Are Not Up to Date?

Be honest about where you stand. If your last reconciled month was eight months ago, no checklist fixes that by itself – the books need to be brought up to date first, then EOFY becomes straightforward.

The good news is that catch-up work is a defined, one-off job, not an ongoing burden. A bookkeeper reconciles the backlog, sorts the miscoded transactions and hands you a clean file your accountant can actually use. Our catch-up bookkeeping service exists for exactly this situation, and it is priced as a fixed scope so you know the cost upfront.

Once you are caught up, monthly bookkeeping keeps you there. Businesses with reconciled books walk into EOFY with most of this checklist already done – the records exist, the payroll figures are right and the deductions are captured as they happen.

Quick tip: Create a recurring calendar reminder for 1 May every year titled “Start EOFY checklist”. Two months of lead time turns EOFY from a scramble into a routine admin task.

Frequently Asked Questions

When does the Australian financial year end?

The Australian financial year runs from 1 July to 30 June. EOFY tasks like stocktakes and deduction reviews need to happen by 30 June, while lodgement deadlines such as STP finalisation and tax returns fall in the months after.

When is my small business tax return due?

If you are a sole trader lodging your own return, the deadline is 31 October. If you lodge through a registered tax agent, your due date depends on the ATO’s lodgement program and varies by entity type and lodgement history. Agent deadlines generally fall later, but you need to be registered with the agent before 31 October to access them.

What is STP finalisation and when is it due?

STP finalisation is the year-end declaration through Single Touch Payroll confirming your employees’ income figures are final. It is due by 14 July each year. Once submitted, your employees can see their tax-ready income statement in myGov and lodge their own returns.

Can I claim expenses without a receipt?

For most business purchases you need a record, and for anything over $82.50 you need a tax invoice to claim the GST credit. Bank statements can support some claims, but relying on memory is a fast way to fail an ATO review. Keep digital copies of receipts as you go rather than hunting for them in June.

What happens if I pay super late?

Late super loses its tax deductibility and can trigger the super guarantee charge, which adds interest and administration fees. Under Payday Super, from 1 July 2026 super must reach your employees’ funds within 7 business days of each payday, so paying on time now matters every pay run, not just quarterly.

My books are months behind – is it too late to sort them before my return?

No, but start now rather than closer to your lodgement deadline. Catch-up bookkeeping is a fixed, one-off project that brings your file up to date so your accountant can prepare an accurate return. The earlier the backlog is cleared, the more deadline buffer you have.