EOFY Business Checklist

End of financial year has a way of arriving all at once. One week it is mid-June and business as usual; the next, your accountant is asking for a stocktake you have not done, super has been paid but not received, and a bad debt you meant to write off is still sitting in the debtors list. None of the individual EOFY tasks is hard. What catches people is that several of them only count if they are done on the right side of 30th June — and by the time that becomes obvious, the date has passed.

Before 30th June

• Superannuation. To claim a deduction this year, a contribution generally needs to be received by the employees' funds on or before 30th June — not merely paid by you. Clearing houses can take days to process, so a payment made in the last week of June is a gamble. Pay early in June if you want certainty, and confirm the current guidance with your accountant.
• Stocktake. If you carry stock, count it at 30th June or have perpetual records you can verify. Note damaged and obsolete lines separately — valuation options exist, and the count is the evidence.
• Bad debts. A debt generally has to be genuinely unrecoverable and actually written off in your books before 30th June to be claimed this year. A July write-off belongs to next year.
• Trustee resolutions. If a trust is involved, distribution resolutions generally need to be made by 30th June — this is one to have drafted with your accountant well before the last week.
• Invoicing and expenses. Issue the invoices that belong to this year, and action any timing decisions already agreed in your planning meeting — after the 30th, they are off the table.

Shortly after 30th June

• STP finalisation. The declaration that tells the ATO your payroll year-to-date figures are complete has been due by 14th July for most employers — reconcile wages, withholding and super against the ledger before you press the button, and check the current deadline.
• The June quarter BAS falls due in the weeks after year end; the exact date depends on how you lodge, and agent lodgement generally attracts later due dates.
• TPAR. If you pay contractors in industries such as building and construction, cleaning, courier or road freight, IT or security, the Taxable Payments Annual Report has been due by 28th August.

The package for your accountant

A complete file at the start beats six follow-up emails. Include: bank and loan statements showing balances at 30th June, any new finance or lease agreements signed during the year, the stocktake sheets, payroll and super reports, dividend and interest statements, details of assets bought or sold, insurance schedules, and honest estimates of private use for vehicles and home offices — with logbooks where you have them.

What we commonly see go wrong

• Super processed on the afternoon of 30th June, received by the funds in July, and deductible a year later than intended.
• No stocktake, leaving cost of sales to be estimated — weak for tax and useless for management.
• Bad debts and obsolete stock dealt with in July, one year too late for the return being prepared.
• New loans and financed equipment never mentioned, surfacing months later and reopening finished work.

A worked example

As an illustration: a retailer runs the EOFY list in the second week of June. Super goes to the clearing house on the 15th and shows as received before month end; the stocktake is done on the evening of 30th June with obsolete lines flagged; two dead debtors are written off and documented; the accountant gets one complete folder in mid-July. The return is finished in a single pass. The previous year — super paid on the 30th, no count, no write-offs — the same business spent three months answering questions and still landed a worse result.

When to get help

If you are unsure which EOFY deadlines apply to your structure, whether your super will land in time, or what your accountant actually needs from you, ask in early June rather than early July. A short conversation before year end routinely saves both tax and fees — the checklist only works while the dates on it are still in the future.

When does super have to be paid to be deductible this year?

A contribution generally counts for the year the fund receives it, not the year you pay it, so it needs to reach the fund on or before 30th June. Clearing house processing can take days — paying early in June is the safe habit, and it is worth confirming the current guidance with your accountant.

Do I really need a stocktake at 30th June?

If you carry stock, you generally need either a count at 30th June or reliable perpetual records. The count is also your chance to identify damaged and obsolete stock, which can affect the value used — and without it, cost of sales becomes guesswork.

When is STP finalisation due?

It has been due by 14th July for most employers, with different timing for some payees such as closely held ones — check the current deadline. Reconcile payroll totals against your ledger and activity statements before finalising, because employees lodge their returns from those figures.