The weeks before 30 June are the few in the year where deliberate action genuinely changes a client's tax position. Once the year ticks over, most of the levers are gone, and the difference between a firm that runs EOFY as a structured process and one that scrambles in the last week of June is measured in missed deductions and avoidable penalties. This year carries more moving parts than usual, with several major changes landing on 1 July, so the pre-30-June window is also a readiness deadline, not just a tax-planning one. The checklist below is organised the way a firm actually works a client file: what has to be paid or done by 30 June, what has to be documented, and what has to be ready for the new year.
The actions that must happen before 30 June
Some EOFY moves only work if the money moves in time, and superannuation is the one that catches people every year. A super contribution is deductible in the year the fund receives it, not the year it is paid, so a payment made on 29 June that lands in the fund in July is a next-year deduction. Because clearing houses add processing time, the practical rule is to have any Q4 super guarantee and any personal deductible contributions paid well before 30 June rather than on it, and to check each client's concessional cap for the year before topping up, since exceeding it creates its own tax problem. Personal deductible contributions also need a valid notice of intent lodged with the fund and acknowledged before the client claims, which is a step that gets forgotten in the rush.
The instant asset write-off is the other timing-critical item. Eligible small businesses can immediately deduct the cost of qualifying assets, but the asset has to be first used or installed ready for use by 30 June, not merely ordered or paid for, so anything that needs delivery or installation should be locked in early. The threshold and eligibility rules apply by income year, so confirm the current figure and conditions on the ATO site rather than assuming last year's number carries over. The standard caution applies for clients too: the write-off reduces the after-tax cost of something the business genuinely needs, it does not make a bad purchase worthwhile. Prepaying eligible expenses is the quieter companion strategy, letting a business bring deductions forward under the prepayment rules where the service period runs twelve months or less, which is worth reviewing for clients with predictable costs like insurance, rent, or subscriptions.
The things that must be documented, not just done
A second group of EOFY items are worthless without the paperwork behind them, and this is where firms save clients from the ATO's data-matching. Trust distribution resolutions are the hardest deadline of the lot: for a discretionary trust, the resolution must be prepared and signed before 30 June, and a late or backdated resolution can leave the trustee taxable on the trust's income at the top marginal rate. There are no extensions, so the trust deed should be checked for who can benefit and the resolutions signed with time to spare, not on the night. Stocktake is the equivalent for any client holding inventory: closing stock value feeds directly into taxable income, so a count as close to 30 June as practical, with obsolete or damaged stock written down to what it can actually realise, is both a compliance step and a legitimate deduction. Smaller businesses whose stock has barely moved over the year may qualify for the simplified trading stock rules, but the reasoning for using them should still be documented.
Two more documentation points routinely surface at audit. Director and shareholder loan accounts need to be resolved or formally documented before year-end, because an unaddressed balance can be recharacterised as an unfranked dividend and taxed in full, so any Division 7A exposure is far cheaper to handle now than after lodgement. And any client claiming motor vehicle or working-from-home deductions needs the records to support them, a logbook or a genuine hours diary, because both are standing ATO focus areas and the claim is only as strong as the evidence behind it. The pattern across all of these is the same: the deduction or the position is fine, but only if someone can show how it was arrived at six months later.
Getting ready for the new financial year
EOFY is no longer only about closing the year, because the start of the next one now brings its own obligations that need to be set up before they arrive. The single biggest is the shift in how super is paid from 1 July, which moves employers off the quarterly cycle and onto paying super with each payday, received by the fund within a tight window after wages. Any employing client needs their payroll software configured, their employees' fund details connected and verified, and their cash flow adjusted for more frequent payments, and the clients still relying on the ATO's clearing house need to have moved to an alternative before it closes at the end of June. This is a readiness task, not a tax task, and it is the one most likely to cause a compliance failure on day one of the new year if left unchecked. It is worth confirming for every payroll client now rather than discovering the gap after their first July pay run.
The rest of the new-year setup is lighter but still worth a pass. Award and minimum wage rates change from the first full pay period on or after 1 July, so pay rates should be checked against the applicable awards. Payroll software should be confirmed to have updated its tax tables and super rate for the new year rather than assumed to have done so. And STP finalisation for the year just ended is due in mid-July, which is what generates employees' income statements and lets them lodge, so it belongs on the EOFY list even though it happens after 30 June. Handled as a process rather than a last-minute scramble, EOFY becomes what it should be: a clean close on one year and a confident, compliant start to the next, with nothing left sitting in a client file waiting to become a problem in October.
