Electronic lodgment requirement

Lodge electronically

You must lodge your clients' tax and annual returns electronically to receive the lodgment program due dates.

The Practitioner lodgment service (PLS) is the only electronic channel available for lodging tax and annual returns.

If you lodge by paper

If you lodge a paper tax return after the document’s statutory due date, we may apply a late lodgment penalty.

Lodgment deferrals can help if you or your clients experience exceptional or unforeseen circumstances which affect your ability to lodge by the due date.

If you experience exceptional circumstances and wish to discuss the electronic lodgment requirement, phone us on 13 72 86 Fast Key Code 1 3 2, between 8:00 am and 6:00 pm AEST, Monday to Friday.

Electronic lodgment exclusions

We recognise there are circumstances where electronic lodgment is not possible. This could be due to timing or the availability of software. We will exclude lodgments from the electronic requirement in circumstances where either:

• we have not made a tax return available in electronic format
• the availability of software is not aligned with a key due date.

Forms excluded from electronic lodgment

For 2024–25, the following types of tax returns are excluded from the electronic lodgment requirement under the lodgment program framework:

• trust tax returns for large managed investment trusts or public unit trusts
• substituted accounting period (SAP) tax returns where the current year software would not be available by the time of lodgment due date, which affect the following taxpayers
  • individuals, partnerships and trusts with SAP codes
    • A – Early December balancer
    • B – January balancer
    • C – February balancer
    • D – March balancer
  • companies and super funds (excluding not full self-assessment taxpayers (NFSA)) with SAP code A – Early December balancer.

More information

Find answers to questions about the lodgment program framework and the electronic lodgment requirement.