au-lodgment-deadlines-penalties

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# Australia Lodgment Deadlines, Penalties and Interest

## Australia Lodgment Deadlines, Penalties and Interest

## Australia Lodgment Deadlines, Penalties and Interest v0.3

> **General reference only.** This skill is general tax and accounting reference material for
> AI-assisted workflows. It has not been reviewed for any specific person's facts, documents,
> elections, deadlines, residency, filing status or local procedures. Do not rely on it to
> lodge, pay, amend or take a tax position without review by a qualified professional.

## What this file is

**Obligation category:** Administration
**Functional role:** Deadline, penalty and interest reference across every ATO-administered role
**Status:** Source-cited draft, pending accountant review

Due dates in Australia are not a fixed calendar. The same obligation has different dates for a
self-lodger and for a registered agent's client, and an agent's date depends on the client's
category and on whether prior year returns were lodged on time. Treat every date below as the
starting point for a check against the taxpayer's own ATO record, not as the answer.

This file covers federal obligations administered by the ATO. State and territory obligations,
including payroll tax, land tax and duties, have their own deadlines and penalty regimes set by
each revenue office. See `au-land-tax.md` and `au-stamp-duty.md`.

## Section 1 - Scope statement

This skill covers:

- Lodgment and payment due dates for the main ATO obligations of a 30 June balancing entity.
- The difference between a statutory due date, a concession attached to electronic lodgment, and
  a registered agent lodgment program date.
- Deferrals and disaster support.
- Failure to lodge on time penalty, including the penalty unit amount and the entity size
  multipliers.
- Shortfall and false or misleading statement penalties, and the reductions for voluntary
  disclosure.
- General interest charge and shortfall interest charge, including the deductibility change.
- Remission of penalties and interest, penalty relief, and agent safe harbour.
- Which correction pathway applies: later BAS, revised activity statement, amendment or objection.

This skill does NOT cover:

- The substantive computation of any tax. See the domain guide for that tax.
- The BAS preparation workflow. See `au-bas-preparation.md`.
- Superannuation guarantee charge deadlines and the payday super regime. See
  `au-super-guarantee.md`.
- State and territory taxes.
- Director penalty notices, garnishee notices and departure prohibition orders beyond the summary
  in Section 9. These are debt recovery actions requiring specific advice.

## Section 2 - Establish the facts before you quote a date

**Facts that change the date**

| Fact | Why it changes the date |
| --- | --- |
| Is the taxpayer lodging through a registered tax or BAS agent | Agent clients receive lodgment program dates that self-lodgers do not |
| Were prior year returns lodged on time | An overdue prior year return generally pulls the current date forward to 31 October |
| Entity type, and taxable or non-taxable in the last year lodged | Company, trust and not-for-profit dates differ from individual dates |
| Balance date | A substituted accounting period changes every income tax date |
| Which roles are registered | GST, PAYG withholding, PAYG instalments, FBT and others each have their own cycle |
| Withholder size for PAYG withholding | Determines whether withheld amounts are remitted quarterly, monthly or more often |
| Is the taxpayer in a declared disaster area | Concessional deferrals may apply automatically |

## Section 3 - Activity statement deadlines

**Activity statement deadlines**  _([ATO, Due dates for lodging and paying your BAS](https://www.ato.gov.au/businesses-and-organisations/preparing-lodging-and-paying/business-activity-statements-bas/due-dates-for-lodging-and-paying-your-bas); [ATO, When are PAYG instalments due](https://www.ato.gov.au/businesses-and-organisations/income-deductions-and-concessions/payg-instalments/when-are-payg-instalments-due))_

| Obligation | Due date | Notes |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Monthly activity statement | 21st of the following month | No electronic lodgment concession |
| Quarterly BAS, quarter 1 (Jul to Sep) | 28 October | An extra 2 weeks may apply if lodged online |
| Quarterly BAS, quarter 2 (Oct to Dec) | 28 February | No further extension, the date already includes one month |
| Quarterly BAS, quarter 3 (Jan to Mar) | 28 April | An extra 2 weeks may apply if lodged online |
| Quarterly BAS, quarter 4 (Apr to Jun) | 28 July | An extra 2 weeks may apply if lodged online |
| Quarterly PAYG instalment | Same dates as the quarterly BAS | Monthly instalments apply where instalment income exceeds $20 million |

- **Weekend or public holiday due date** — A due date that falls on a weekend or public holiday moves to the next business day.  _([ATO, Due dates for lodging and paying your BAS](https://www.ato.gov.au/businesses-and-organisations/preparing-lodging-and-paying/business-activity-statements-bas/due-dates-for-lodging-and-paying-your-bas))_

## Section 4 - Income tax and annual return deadlines

**Income tax and annual return deadlines**  _([ATO, Due dates by topic: income tax](https://www.ato.gov.au/businesses-and-organisations/preparing-lodging-and-paying/reports-and-returns/due-dates-for-lodging-and-paying/due-dates-by-topic/income-tax))_

| Obligation | Common date | What moves it |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Individual and sole trader income tax return, self-lodged | 31 October | Lodging through an agent usually moves this to a lodgment program date |
| Partnership and trust return, self-lodged | 31 October | Trust category and prior year compliance can move it to 15 January or 28 February |
| Company return | 28 February for a self-preparer not due earlier; 31 October where the prior year return was late or a prior year return was overdue at 30 June | Medium to large taxpayers have earlier dates |
| Taxable not-for-profit return or non-lodgment advice | 15 May | Automatic concession unless a substituted accounting period applies |
| Agent-lodged returns generally | Per the ATO lodgment program, commonly 15 May for many client categories | Depends on client category and prior year compliance |
| FBT return | 21 May self-lodged | Agent lodgment program dates apply to agent clients. See `au-fbt-year.md` |

These apply to a 30 June balancing entity. A substituted accounting period displaces them.

**The agent lodgment program is not a taxpayer entitlement.** It is a concession administered
through the agent's client list, it is conditional on the client being on that list by the
relevant date, and it can be withdrawn where the client's lodgment record is poor. A taxpayer who
engages an agent in April cannot assume the May date.

## Section 5 - Deferrals, extensions and disaster support

- **Deferrals, extensions and disaster support** — 1. **Electronic lodgment concession.** Quarterly BAS lodgers may receive an extra two weeks for quarters 1, 3 and 4 when lodging online. Quarter 2 is excluded because its due date already carries a one month extension. 2. **Agent deferral.** A registered agent can request a deferral for a client, or a bulk deferral where a practice-level event prevents lodgment. 3. **Individual deferral.** A taxpayer can request more time. Apply before the due date; a request made after the due date does not undo a penalty that has already accrued. 4. **Disaster support.** Taxpayers in areas affected by a declared natural disaster may receive automatic deferrals of lodgment and payment, and in some cases faster processing of refunds. 5. **Payment arrangements.** An inability to pay is not a reason to delay lodgment. Lodge on time and negotiate a payment arrangement. General interest charge continues to accrue under a payment arrangement unless the ATO remits it.

## Section 6 - Failure to lodge on time penalty

- **Base penalty** — The FTL penalty is charged per document, not per dollar, and accrues by elapsed time. One penalty unit for every 28 days, or part of 28 days, that the document is overdue, to a maximum of five penalty units.  _([TAA 1953 Schedule 1 s 286-80](https://www.ato.gov.au/law/view/document?docid=PAC/19530001/SCH1-286-80))_

**Penalty unit amount by when infringement occurred**  _([ATO, Penalty units](https://www.ato.gov.au/individuals-and-families/paying-the-ato/interest-and-penalties/penalties/penalty-units))_

| When the infringement occurred | Penalty unit |
| --- | --- |
| On or after 1 July 2026 | $364 |
| 7 November 2024 to 30 June 2026 | $330 |
| 1 July 2023 to 6 November 2024 | $313 |
| 1 January 2023 to 30 June 2023 | $275 |

**Entity size multiplier**  _([TAA 1953 (Cth) sch 1 s 286-80(3)–(4C)](https://www.ato.gov.au/law/view/document?docid=PAC/19530001/SCH1-286-80))_

From openaccountants/openaccountants, AGPL-3.0.

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