Tax Return Due Dates in Australia for 2025–26

When is tax time in Australia?

Tax time starts on 1 July, the day after the Australian income year ends on 30 June. Your 2025–26 return covers 1 July 2025 to 30 June 2026. You can lodge from 1 July, but the ATO pre-fills most information from employers, banks, government agencies and health funds "by late July". Lodging before your employer has marked your income statement "Tax ready" can mean you need to amend the return later.

There is no advantage in rushing if you expect a bill: a self-lodger's bill is due on 21 November whenever you lodge between 1 July and 31 October. If you expect a refund, lodging once pre-fill is complete gets the money to you sooner.

Key 2025–26 tax return dates

These dates apply to individuals. Agent dates come from the ATO's registered agent lodgment program for 2026–27, which covers 2025–26 returns.

Tax agent lodgement program deadlines

Registered tax agents have a lodgement program that lets them lodge after 31 October. The ATO says the due date depends on your situation and when you engage the agent, and that new clients, or anyone changing agents, should contact the agent before 31 October to be included.

Payment dates for agent clients due on 15 May are staggered: returns lodged up to 12 February 2027 have tax payable by 21 March 2027; lodged 13 February to 12 March 2027, by 21 April 2027; lodged from 13 March 2027, by 5 June 2027. These are the latest payment dates; if processing takes longer, the due date on your notice of assessment will be later. The ATO lists the factors that can bring an agent client's date forward: lodgement and compliance history, income, and whether the person is a new registrant.

Only registered tax agents, who must be registered with the Tax Practitioners Board, can charge a fee to prepare your return. You can check an agent's registration on the TPB register.

Do I need to lodge a tax return?

You must lodge a 2025–26 return if any of the ATO's reasons apply. The main ones are:

• Tax was withheld from any payment you received while you were an Australian resident, even $1 (you need to lodge to get it back).
• Your taxable income was more than $18,200 for a full-year resident who was not eligible for SAPTO and received no listed government payment; more than $416 if you were under 18 on 30 June 2026 and the income was not salary or wages; or more than $1 for a foreign resident with Australian taxable income that did not have final non-resident withholding tax taken from it.
• You were eligible for the seniors and pensioners tax offset and your rebate income was more than $34,919 (single), $33,732 (illness-separated couple) or $30,994 (living with your spouse).
• You received a listed Australian Government allowance and your taxable income was more than $22,575.
• You had reportable fringe benefits or reportable employer super contributions on an income statement, ran a business, made a loss, or have a capital loss to carry forward.
• You exceeded a super contributions cap, or are a parent under a child support assessment (unless an income exception applies).

If you do not need to lodge

Tell the ATO by lodging a non-lodgment advice, also called "return not necessary", so you stop getting reminders. In myGov select ATO, then Tax, Lodgments, Non-lodgment advice. It can be lodged online for years back to 2000. You cannot use it if you had an active ABN, reported PAYG withholding or had PAYG instalments during the year; those people lodge a return, which may be a nil return.

Centrelink clients receiving Family Tax Benefit or Child Care Subsidy also need to confirm their income with Centrelink, even when no tax return is required.

How to lodge a tax return

Before you start, have your BSB and account number, income statements from every employer, Centrelink payment summaries, receipts for deductions, your spouse's income and your private health insurance details. Then choose one of these ways to lodge:

• myTax: sign in to myGov, select ATO, then Manage tax returns. It works on a phone, tablet or computer, pre-fills most data, and lets you lodge returns back to 2016.
• Registered tax agent: the only option for paid help; must be engaged before 31 October to get the later lodgement program dates.
• Tax Help: a free ATO program in which volunteers help eligible people earning $70,000 or less lodge online.
• Paper: slowest, with a processing target of 50 business days.

How long does a tax return take to process?

The ATO aims to process online and agent-lodged returns within 12 business days and says most myTax refunds issue within 2 weeks. Paper returns take up to 50 business days. Returns can take longer if you lodge twice, amend before the original is processed, lodge several years at once, have a debt, are in an insolvency arrangement, or your bank details are out of date. Manual reviews of online returns generally take up to 30 calendar days.

If your return shows as cancelled for 24 to 48 hours, the ATO says it may simply be on hold for checking. Do not lodge it again, because that causes further delay.

What happens if you lodge late

The ATO can charge a failure to lodge (FTL) penalty of one penalty unit for every 28 days (or part of 28 days) a return is overdue, up to 5 penalty units, for individuals. A penalty unit was $330 for infringements from 7 November 2024 to 30 June 2026 and is $364 from 1 July 2026, so for a 2025–26 return due on 2 November 2026 the maximum is $1,820.

In practice the ATO says it generally does not penalise isolated late lodgement, warns you by phone or letter before applying a penalty, and generally does not issue an FTL penalty for a late return that results in a refund or nil result. Interest can still apply to unpaid tax. If you engaged a registered agent, "safe harbour" protects you from the penalty when you can show you gave the agent all the information needed to lodge on time, and the agent's failure to lodge was not reckless or an intentional disregard of the law.

The ATO says it is likely to remit a penalty for severe illness, natural disaster, family violence, or missing information from an employer that you genuinely tried to get. Being on holiday, busy at work, or not receiving a reminder will usually not be accepted. You must lodge the overdue return before asking for remission.