End Of Financial Year Checklist For Australia
The Australian financial year runs from 1 July to 30 June. Unlike the calendar year flip, EOFY lands right in the middle of winter, which somehow makes it feel even more stressful.
That’s exactly where the need for an EOFY checklist arises. So, what exactly is that?
Well, an end of financial year checklist is a structured list of tasks that businesses and individuals need to complete before the financial year closes.
Now, here the misconceptions come in. A lot of people think EOFY is only about lodging tax returns. It is not.
EOFY is also the time to review your business performance, clean up records, fix reporting issues, and prepare for the next financial year properly.
Here is a quick snapshot of the core areas your checklist should cover:
- Financial review and bank reconciliation
- Tax deduction planning and income minimisation strategies
- Payroll verification and Single Touch Payroll (STP) finalisation
- Superannuation compliance and contribution checks
- Asset write-offs and instant asset write-off claims
- Bad debt write-offs and inventory adjustments
- Record keeping and document organisation
- Profit and loss statements & Cash flow position
Missing even one of these can create a domino effect. That is why organisation matters so much during EOFY.
How Should You Prepare For EOFY Before The Deadline Arrives?
One of the smartest things you can do before EOFY is to start early.
A lot of businesses wait until late June before checking payroll, expenses, reconciliations, and deductions. That usually leads to rushed decisions and missed opportunities.
Instead, start reviewing your finances at least 6 to 8 weeks before EOFY. This gives you breathing room to make smart choices rather than desperate ones. Also, this reduces stress across the entire team.
The next thing you can do is proactive financial planning before EOFY. This means timing your purchases in a way to maximise deductions.
For example, if you know you are going to need new office equipment, buying it before 30 June (and using the $20,000 instant asset write-off) could save you thousands in tax this year instead of next.
How Can Bookkeepers, Business Owners And Employers Prepare For EOFY?
EOFY preparation is a team effort, and different people in your business have different responsibilities.
Here is a breakdown of who should be doing what:
Bookkeepers and accountants: These are your frontline defenders. They need to finalise bank reconciliations, verify that all transactions are correctly coded, run a trial balance, and prepare end-of-year financial statements. Accurate bookkeeping is the foundation of every tax deduction and compliance task that follows.
Business owners: Your job is to review the numbers your bookkeeper prepares, make decisions about purchases and expenses before EOFY, ensure your business structure still suits your needs, and communicate any changes in your business operations to your financial team. Do not assume your accountant knows about every change in your business.
Employers: If you have staff, you need to verify that all wages, entitlements, and superannuation payments are up to date. Make sure your Single Touch Payroll data matches your internal records, check that worker classifications are correct, and confirm that leave balances are accurate. Payroll errors at EOFY are expensive and time-consuming to fix.
How Should You Organise Records And Financial Documents Before EOFY?
Start by centralising all your income and expenses. Keep a record of everything…
bank statements, loan statements, receipts for equipment purchases, invoices, contractor agreements, etc. Paper receipts can be hard to store, so you can keep digital records.
Now, you need to segregate the income, sales, assets, liabilities and expenses as per the tax code. For example, group all vehicle expenses together, all home office costs together, all insurance premiums together. This makes it easier for your accountant to verify deductions and reduces the risk of anything being missed.
When you have records of everything, do review and reconcile all transactions with bank statements and look for errors and correct them. If you have to pay any outstanding bills, do it before 30th June.
Finally, back up and store all the documents safely. As per ATO, you have to keep all your written evidence and records for 5 years
How Can You Reduce Your Tax Bill Before EOFY?
As soon as you approach the EOFY, you should start preparing for legal and proactive strategies to reduce your taxable income. Below we have some solid end of financial year tips to reduce tax liability:
Maximise Superannuation Contributions
Super contributions are still one of the most effective ways to reduce taxable income in Australia. For the 2024-25 financial year, the concessional contributions cap is $30,000. If you have not fully used your cap, you may still have room to contribute before 30 June. But there’s a exception. It is only available to individuals whose total superannuation balance was less than $500,000.
Prepay Work-Related Deductions
Take advantage of this rule. Prepay all upcoming expenses of 12 months or less. This can include insurance, rent, or subscriptions before 30 June. When you carry forward these legitimate expenses, you can actually reduce this year’s taxable income instead of waiting until next year’s return.
P.S.Just don’t get carried away and start paying for the next few years in advance. ATO only allows an immediate deduction when the prepayment covers no more than 12 months.
Write Off Bad Debts Properly
If clients clearly cannot or will not pay outstanding invoices, you may be able to write those amounts off as bad debts before EOFY. However, the debt must actually be recorded as written off in your accounts before 30 June.
Review Investment And Capital Gains
If you sold investments this year and made capital gains, it may be worth reviewing whether any capital losses can offset part of the tax liability.
Review Your Work From Home And Vehicle Claims
A lot of Australians now work from home at least part of the week. You can now claim deduction under ATO for:
- Electricity
- Internet
- Work laptop
- Mobile phone use
- Office supplies
- Home office setup
Separate Personal And Business Spending
This sounds basic, but it creates major tax issues every single year. Mixed transactions make reconciliations harder, distort profit numbers, and increase the risk of missed deductions.
So, review all business expenses, drawings, and personal reimbursements carefully.
How Should You Manage Superannuation And Payroll Obligations?
Payroll and superannuation are two areas where getting things wrong is expensive. Miscalculated wages, late super payments, and incorrect worker classifications…all attract penalties.
That is why payroll reviews should not happen only during EOFY panic mode. They should be part of your regular business planning throughout the year. With regular health checks, you can:
- Catch errors like mismatched calculations, wages, taxes, super payments etc
- Avoid late fees and penalties on Superannuation payments.
- Reconcile and match your internal records and Single Touch Payroll (STP) data by 14 July every year.
How Can You Prepare For The New Financial Year After EOFY?
Want some EOFY tips? Then stop thinking of EOFY as just a tax deadline. Smart businesses use this period to clean up operations, fix financial gaps, and prepare for a stronger new financial year.
Here is a list of things to do before end of financial year:
Organise Your Financial Records Properly
The first step is to organise your records and statements. Before the new financial year starts, review your bank reconciliations, invoices, payroll records, profit and loss statement, cash flow statement etc.
This is also the right time to digitise receipts, back up financial files, and clean up old accounting entries.
Review What Actually Worked This Year
A lot of businesses move into the next financial year without reviewing the previous one carefully. Check what the numbers are saying. Did your revenue grow? Did costs creep up quietly? Were there months where cash was tight even though the business looked profitable on paper?
These patterns are easy to miss out on, but they show up clearly when you look at the full year in one place.
Review your business structure
This is one of the most valuable things to do before EOFY. As businesses grow, their original structure may stop being tax-efficient. So, ask whether your current setup – sole trader, company, trust, partnership still suits where your business is now.
Your tax advisor or accountant can run through the options and what a change would actually mean for you.
Fix Operational Bottlenecks
If your team struggled with manual work, delayed approvals, or messy reporting this year, do not carry the same problems into the next one. So, check your accounting software, internal workflows, communication channels, payroll & invoice systems etc.
Small operational improvements can compound over a full year and reduce the stress that builds up by the next EOFY.
Review Compliance Deadlines Early
Another smart step in what to do before end of financial year planning is preparing your compliance calendar early. Check in your GST deadlines, superannuation payments, payroll obligations, ASIC renewals, and tax return due dates.
What Business Owners Often Miss At EOFY?
Whether you are a small business owner or an MNC, you know that the end of the financial year is a crunch time. Deadlines, paperwork, processing, return filing, compliance…all of this can lead to one unfortunate thing: errors. At VJC, we have seen them firsthand. Here are some of the most commonly overlooked mistakes to avoid:
Mistake #1: Trustee distribution resolutions
If your business operates through a trust, the trustee must pass a formal resolution to distribute trust income to beneficiaries before 30 June. If you fail the deadline, the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) may tax the entire trust income. The highest marginal rate plus Medicare Levy is 47% currently.
Mistake #2: Mixing Personal And Business Spending
This happens a lot. Business owners often pay for business items using personal cards or vice versa. Over time, the records become messy and confusing. At EOFY, this creates problems during reconciliations because the expenses are sometimes not deducted, the profit margin is high, and all of this distorts the tax return filings, too.
Mistake #3: Failing to Write Off Bad Debts
If there are clients who are not paying you and you know they won’t pay, then you can write these off as bad debts and claim a deduction. However, a bad debt deduction is only available in the income year in which the debt is formally written off. If you fail to show bad debts, you cannot claim any deductions. To avoid missing out on deductions in future also keep a track of it on myDeductions app by ATO.
Mistake #4: Ignoring Hidden Cash Flow Problems
A business can show strong sales and still struggle financially. Why? Because revenue does not always mean cash in the bank. Many business owners focus only on profits during EOFY and forget to check unpaid invoices, late customer payments, loan repayments, and blocked inventory.
Mistake #5: Forgetting To Review Business Structure
EOFY is actually one of the best times to step back and ask: is the way my business is set up still working for me?
Your business may have grown faster than expected, you may now be able to scale your operations, etc. But many businesses continue operating under the same structure without reviewing. This way, you will end up paying more tax than you need to, or carrying more personal liability.
Mistake 6: Treating EOFY Like A Compliance Deadline Only
This is the biggest missed opportunity of all. EOFY should not only be about “submitting returns.” It should also help you plan the next 12 months. Smart businesses use this time to review the gaps and make an end of financial year checklist for bookkeepers.
Frequently Asked Questions About EOFY Checklist
What Do I Need To Do For EOFY?
Create an end of financial year checklist and follow it.
What Are Common Tax Mistakes In Australia?
Not keeping receipts, mismatching personal & business expenses, failing to review business structure and missing writing of bad debts, these are some of the common mistakes businesses make before EOFY.
