When you’re running a business and a household at the same time, ATO deadlines have a way of sneaking up on you. Miss one and it’s not just the stress — late lodgement can bring penalties and interest that build up day by day. The fix is simple: know what’s coming, and give yourself time to get your records sorted before each date lands.

Here’s what the 2026–27 year looks like.

These are the standard ATO dates, current as at the new financial year. If a due date falls on a weekend or public holiday it moves to the next business day, and the date shown on your own activity statement always wins — so check that too.

Super now moves with every pay run

The biggest payroll change this year is Payday Super. Since 1 July 2026, super must be paid with wages and reach employees’ funds within seven business days of each payday. Quarterly super has ended. The rate stays at 12%. What’s changed is the timing, so it’s worth making sure your payroll is set up to send super with every run rather than letting it build up.

If you have employees: monthly BAS and IAS

How often you report the tax you withhold from wages (PAYG withholding) depends on how much you withhold across the year:

• Under $25,000 a year — you report and pay quarterly, on your BAS
• $25,000 to $1 million a year — you report and pay monthly

If you’re in that monthly group but still report GST quarterly, you lodge a monthly Instalment Activity Statement (IAS) for the two months in each quarter that your BAS doesn’t cover, and the quarter-end month rolls into the quarterly BAS. Monthly BAS and IAS are both due on the 21st of the following month — so July’s is due 21 August, and on it goes.

For a growing business this one’s easy to miss: taking on your third or fourth staff member can be what tips you from quarterly over into monthly reporting.

The quarterly BAS dates most businesses work to

If you report GST quarterly on the standard cycle:

• Quarter 1 (Jul–Sep 2026): due 28 October 2026
• Quarter 2 (Oct–Dec 2026): due 28 February 2027 (the ATO builds in extra time here for the summer break)
• Quarter 3 (Jan–Mar 2027): due 28 April 2027
• Quarter 4 (Apr–Jun 2027): due 28 July 2027

Say you run a landscaping business and a big equipment or materials bill is landing mid-quarter. Looking at your numbers early — well before the October BAS — is what lets you keep enough aside for the GST, instead of finding the deadline and the supplier invoice hitting in the same week.

The extra time a BAS agent quietly buys you

Here’s something a lot of owners don’t realise. When your quarterly BAS is prepared and lodged electronically through a registered BAS agent, you generally qualify for the ATO’s concession dates — which push three of your four quarters back by around four weeks:

• Quarter 1: 25 November 2026, instead of 28 October
• Quarter 3: 26 May 2027, instead of 28 April
• Quarter 4: 25 August 2027, instead of 28 July

(Quarter 2 already has the summer extension, so it stays at 28 February.)

That’s not about lodging late — it’s about breathing room. Picture a retail shop whose Q1 BAS falls due on 28 October, right when the money’s tied up buying stock for the Christmas trade. That extra four weeks to 25 November can mean lodging with the GST already set aside, rather than dipping into cash you need on the shop floor. It also means your books get a proper once-over before anything goes to the ATO.

A few other dates that catch people out

• 14 July 2027 — Single Touch Payroll finalisation, so your team can lodge their own tax returns
• 28 August 2027 — Taxable Payments Annual Report (TPAR), if you’re in building and construction, cleaning, couriers, IT or security. No agent extension on this one — 28 August applies to everyone.
• 31 October 2026 — individual tax returns, if you lodge your own
• 31 March 2027 — the Fringe Benefits Tax year ends

Your month-by-month checklist

Standard dates below. Anything on a weekend or public holiday moves to the next business day.

July 2026

• 14 Jul — STP finalisation for 2025–26
• 21 Jul — June monthly BAS/IAS
• 28 Jul — Q4 2025–26 BAS (via a BAS agent: 25 Aug)

August 2026

• 21 Aug — July monthly BAS/IAS
• 28 Aug — TPAR, if it applies to you

September 2026

• 21 Sep — August monthly BAS/IAS

October 2026

• 21 Oct — September monthly BAS/IAS
• 28 Oct — Q1 BAS + first PAYG instalment (via a BAS agent: 25 Nov)
• 31 Oct — self-lodged individual tax return

November 2026

• 21 Nov — October monthly BAS/IAS

December 2026

• 21 Dec — November monthly BAS/IAS

January 2027

• 21 Jan — December monthly BAS/IAS

February 2027

• 21 Feb — January monthly BAS/IAS
• 28 Feb — Q2 BAS (includes the summer extension)

March 2027

• 21 Mar — February monthly BAS/IAS
• 31 Mar — FBT year ends

April 2027

• 21 Apr — March monthly BAS/IAS
• 28 Apr — Q3 BAS (via a BAS agent: 26 May)

May 2027

• 21 May — April monthly BAS/IAS

June 2027

• 21 Jun — May monthly BAS/IAS
• 30 Jun — financial year ends

Set yourself up for a calmer year

• Reconcile as you go, rather than leaving it all for the week before a deadline
• Keep a separate account for GST and PAYG, so the money’s there when it’s due
• Snap and store receipts digitally — the ATO accepts clear digital copies, so the shoebox can go

Knowing your dates is half the battle. Having someone keep the books tidy in the background, so nothing sneaks up on you, is the other half.

If you’d rather spend your weekends with the family than chasing receipts, have a chat with us about your BAS.