Supporting your small business

Tax time essentials

We offer a range of tools and services to make it easier for you to get your tax and superannuation right.

We want to help you manage and grow your business and get back on track if you need to. You can also speak with a registered tax or BAS agent for help.

Small business tax time toolkit

Our Tax time toolkit for small business has fact sheets to help you with:

• home-based business expenses
• motor vehicle expenses
• travel expenses
• claiming deductions for the cost of digital expenses
• using business money and assets
• pausing or permanently closing your business.

You can also download the Small Business Tax Time Toolkit (PDF, 1.4MB)This link will download a file.

For more information, see what's new for individuals.

We also have fact sheets for primary producers.

Superannuation guarantee rate

As of 1 July 2024, the superannuation guarantee (SG) rate increased from 11% to 11.5%.

Make sure you’ve updated your payroll and accounting systems, so that you continue to pay the right amount of super for your employees and avoid penalties.

Single Touch Payroll

With Single Touch Payroll (STP), you report employees' payroll information to us each time you pay them through STP-enabled software.

Reporting through STP means you no longer need to give your employees payment summaries or lodge an STP payment summary annual report with us. Make a STP finalisation declaration by 14 July to ensure your employees know they can lodge their income tax returns. 

Your employees can find the information they need in their income statement in ATO online services through myGov, or by contacting their registered tax agent.

Government grants, payments and stimulus during COVID-19

If you’ve received an Australian, state or territory government grant or payment in response to COVID-19 or recent natural disasters, you may need to include it in your assessable income.

For example, you need to report JobKeeper payments when completing your tax return.

You may also need to include other government payments.

Essentials to strengthen your small business

Essentials to strengthen your small businessExternal Link is a flexible and free online learning resource for small businesses, educators and tax professionals to share and use with their staff, students and clients. 

More information and resources

We also have information and resources to help you run your business, such as:

• Starting your own business - the key things you need to know and do when starting your own business.
• Assessable income – what to include and exclude from your business's assessable income.
• atoTVExternal Link – watch our videos about tax and super.
• Business.gov.auExternal Link – access government transactions and services, as well as information on how to plan, start and run your business.
• Business activity statement (BAS) – If you are registered for GST, you need to lodge a BAS to report and pay your GST, pay as you go (PAYG) instalments, PAYG withholding tax and other taxes by the due date. You need to lodge on time even if you're lodging a 'nil' BAS.
• Business tax deductions – you can claim a tax deduction for most expenses you incur in carrying on your business, as long as they directly relate to earning your assessable income.
• Business losses – if you've made a business loss in a current year, you can generally carry forward that loss and claim a deduction for your business in a future year. You may be eligible for the loss carry back tax offset.
• Deductions for payments you make to workers (employees or contractors) – remember, you can only claim these if you've complied with the pay as you go withholding and reporting obligations for that payment.
• Fringe benefits tax (FBT) – find out if you need to pay FBT on certain employee benefits.
• How to protect your business – it’s important to keep all your business, staff and client information secure Knowing what to protect and how to protect it is your best way to stay safe.
• Income tax return – information on when you need to lodge and how to lodge. There's no threshold for business income so you need to lodge a tax return if you carried on a business, even if your business hasn't earnt any income. 
• Making an amendment – if you need to correct a mistake or include something you have forgotten on your tax return that has already been lodged. You can revise your activity statement, if you need to correct GST or fuel tax credit mistakes.
• Manage your business cash flow – having enough cash at the right time will make it easier for your business to pay bills and other expenses and meet your tax, superannuation and employer obligations.
• PAYG instalments – many small businesses automatically enter the PAYG instalment system after they lodge their tax return but entering earlier might help reduce the tax you may need to pay at the end of the year.
• PAYG withholding – find out if you need to register for PAYG withholding, how much tax to withhold, payment summaries and income statements.
• Record keeping for business – find out what you need to do to meet your business's record-keeping requirements.
• Small business showcaseExternal Link (fairwork.gov.au) – access information on workplace laws and other topics relevant to small business owners at every stage.
• Super for employers – everything you need to know about paying super for your workers.
• Taxable payments annual report (TPAR) – if you make payments to contractors, you may need to report these payments and lodge a TPAR by 28 August each year.
• Using your business money and assets for private purposes – there may be tax consequences if you take or use money or assets from your company or trust for private purposes. It is important to keep accurate records of these transactions and ensure they are reported correctly for tax purposes.
• Using trading stock for private purposes – if you take an item of your business's trading stock for your private use, you need to account for it as if you had sold it and include the value of the item in your business's assessable income.
• Verify or report a scam – scammers will often pretend to be from trusted organisations, like the ATO. Find out more about warning signs.

Tools to help you

Use our Calculators and tools to help you run your business. These include:

• Record-keeping evaluation tool – see how well your business keeps records.
• Super guarantee eligibility decision tool – works out if you need to pay super for a worker.
• Super guarantee contributions calculator – works out the super guarantee amount to pay to your employee’s super fund.
• Super guarantee charge statement and calculator tool – works out how much super you need to pay if you have not paid your super contributions on time.

Find out what to consider when you take on an employee, such as pay rates, workplace health and safety and workers compensation– see the Hiring employees checklistExternal Link.

Check that businesses you deal with have an active ABNExternal Link and whether they're registered for GST.

Financial assistance for eligible small businesses is available to help them meet their reasonable litigation costs.

Online services

Online services that help make it quick and easy to manage your tax and super:

• ABR online servicesExternal Link – use Australian Business Register (ABR) online services to apply for, update and cancel an ABN.
• You can also register for other registrations, such as GST as part of the ABN application.
• ABRS onlineExternal Link – company directors can use ABRS online to apply, maintain and manage their director ID information. Log in using your Digital ID (such as myID).
• Access Manager allows you to manage your staff's access and permissions to online services for business and the Australian Business Register.
• ATO app an easy way for sole traders and individuals to access and manage tax and super on the go.
• Online services for individuals and sole traders – sole traders can access this on any device to lodge their tax return, manage activity statements, PAYG instalments and accounts, make payment arrangements and more.
• myID is the Australian Government's Digital ID app, which lets you prove who you are when logging in to a range of government online services.
• Online services for business – this service allows you to prepare and lodge activity statements and annual reports, organise payment plans and manage accounts.
• Relationship Authorisation Manager (RAM)External Link is an authorisation service that allows you to act on behalf of a business or entity online. You’ll need to use your Digital ID (such as myID) to log into RAM.

Help to lodge and pay

It's important to lodge and pay in full and on time. It gives you certainty of your tax and super position, which means you'll have a greater understanding of what you need to do and when to ask for help.

If you're experiencing financial difficulties, you should contact us before the due date to discuss the support options available.

Support is also available for anyone who needs help with their tax and super during difficult times. For a list of organisations, and information about the support we can provide see personal crisis support.

Dealing with disasters

If you're affected by a natural disaster such as a bushfire, cyclone, flood, storm or drought, we can help you with your tax affairs so you can focus on your family and community. For information about assistance from other government agencies in Australia, see Disaster AssistExternal Link.

In tough times, it's also important to look after yourself and the people around you. There are many organisations that can provide information and support to help you with your mental health and wellbeing. For a list of organisations, and information about the support we can provide you, visit personal crisis support.

More support and services

Additional resources that can help you with your small business include:

• Small business newsroom – subscribe and get the latest tax and super news delivered to your inbox.
• Join the discussion online – follow us on social media for tips and updates or check out our ATO Community forum to ask questions about tax and super.
• Contact us – if you need more help.
• National Relay ServiceExternal Link – if you have difficulty hearing or speaking to people on the phone, you can contact us through the National Relay Service.
• National tax clinic program – if you're experiencing difficulties and can't access or afford professional advice or representation with your tax affairs, the tax clinic program may be able to help.
• Registered tax or BAS agentsExternal Link – contact a registered agent to help manage your tax and super.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and other languages

In addition to our range of tools and services, we have information:

• on Tax for businesses – for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples
• in languages other than English (including Arabic, Chinese, Hindi, Korean, Punjabi and Vietnamese) to help people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds understand tax and super in Australia.

If you would like to speak to us, you can also:

• phone our Indigenous Helpline on 13 10 30

phone the Translating and Interpreting Service (TIS) on 13 14 50 if you would like to talk to us in your language.