Running a small business means wearing a lot of hats. Tax planning is rarely the most enjoyable one — but it’s often the one with the greatest financial impact, particularly in the weeks surrounding 30 June.
The end of the financial year creates a genuine window for small business owners to review their tax position and take action before the year closes. Some of those actions are time-sensitive and can’t be deferred. Others are habit-forming — things that, done consistently year after year, compound into significantly better financial outcomes over time.
This article covers the key areas worth reviewing before and around EOFY. It’s written as general guidance — your specific circumstances will determine which of these apply to you and how, and the value of working with a good small business accountant is exactly that they can tailor this to your situation.
1. Review and Maximise Your Deductible Business Expenses
The first task is making sure all legitimate business expenses for the financial year have been captured and are ready to be claimed. This sounds obvious, but it’s common for business owners to miss expenses — particularly smaller ones — that are genuinely deductible.
Deductible business expenses can include rent, utilities, subscriptions, professional fees (including accounting fees), advertising and marketing costs, business-related travel, vehicle expenses, equipment, and many others. If you’ve incurred an expense for genuine business purposes, it’s worth checking whether it qualifies.
One timing consideration: expenses that are incurred before 30 June can generally be deducted in the current financial year, even if payment is made slightly later in some cases. Your accountant can help you understand the timing rules — they vary depending on the accounting method your business uses and the type of expense involved. For current ATO guidance on business deductions, visit the ATO’s business deductions page.
2. Consider Prepaying Deductible Expenses
For some business expenses, prepayment before 30 June can bring the deduction forward into the current financial year — effectively reducing this year’s taxable income. Common examples include prepaid insurance, prepaid rent, and prepaid subscriptions or service contracts.
The rules around prepaid expenses are specific — generally, prepayment works for deductible expenses where the service period covered is 12 months or less and the period ends before the next financial year. This is an area where your accountant’s guidance is important; the rules have nuances and getting them wrong can result in a deduction being disallowed.
3. Write Off Bad Debts Before 30 June
If your business has outstanding invoices that you genuinely don’t expect to recover, writing them off as bad debts before 30 June allows you to claim the deduction in the current financial year rather than carrying the amount on your books.
To claim a bad debt deduction, the debt must have been included in your assessable income in a prior year and you must have made a genuine decision to write it off before year end — simply acknowledging that a debt is unlikely to be paid is not sufficient. Your accountant can walk you through the process and the documentation required.
4. Review Your Asset Position and Depreciation
If your business has purchased or is planning to purchase equipment, machinery, vehicles, or other business assets, understanding how depreciation rules apply is important EOFY planning.
The instant asset write-off allows eligible businesses to immediately deduct the cost of eligible depreciating assets rather than spreading the deduction over multiple years. The rules around eligibility — including which businesses qualify and which assets are covered — have evolved over recent years, so it’s worth confirming current thresholds with your accountant or via the ATO’s small business concessions page before making purchasing decisions based on tax outcomes.
5. Make Superannuation Contributions Before 30 June
As a business owner, your superannuation is often the dimension of EOFY planning that’s most easily overlooked — particularly if you’re a sole trader or run a small company where your own super isn’t automatically being paid by an employer in the same way as an employee’s.
Personal concessional (before-tax) contributions to superannuation are deductible for eligible individuals, and making a contribution before 30 June means the deduction falls in the current financial year. This can be particularly valuable in a year where business income has been strong and the taxable income from the business is higher than usual.
For business owners who also employ staff, ensuring that Superannuation Guarantee contributions for the quarter ending 30 June are paid on time — and noting that from 1 July 2026, superannuation must be paid on each payday rather than quarterly — is an important compliance consideration. Our Tax Accounting Services and Retirement Planning services cover both the compliance and strategic dimensions of super for business owners.
6. Review Your Business Structure
EOFY is a natural moment to step back and ask whether your current business structure is still the most appropriate one. The structure that made sense when you started the business may not be optimal as the business grows, becomes more profitable, or diversifies.
Questions worth considering include: Is your entity structure (sole trader, company, trust, partnership) still serving you well from a tax and asset protection perspective? Are there opportunities to distribute income more efficiently? Is your business and personal wealth appropriately separated? Are there structural changes that would make sense to implement before the new financial year begins?
These are not quick conversations, and they often require input from both an accountant and potentially a legal advisor. But EOFY — when the tax position for the year is already top of mind — is an ideal time to at least raise the question. Our Virtual CFO services are designed for exactly this kind of higher-level financial review, providing CFO-level strategic thinking without the cost of a full-time CFO.
7. Get Your Books in Order
If your bookkeeping has fallen behind during the year — as it often does for busy small business owners — EOFY is both a deadline and a motivation to get caught up. Accurate, up-to-date books make your tax return preparation faster and less expensive, reduce the risk of errors or missed deductions, and give you a clear picture of your financial position as you head into the new financial year.
If bookkeeping is something you’ve been managing yourself and it’s becoming a burden, it’s worth considering whether outsourcing it would free up your time for higher-value work. Our Bookkeeping Services provide a complete outsourced bookkeeping solution — including BAS preparation, accounts management, and cloud accounting software support — with the “upload and forget” convenience of our online client portal.
8. Think About the Year Ahead
The end of the financial year is also the beginning of the next one. Once the immediate EOFY tasks are done, it’s worth spending some time thinking about what you want to achieve financially in the year ahead — and whether your current systems, structures, and strategies are set up to support those goals.
This might mean considering whether to bring in more sophisticated financial reporting, whether your current accounting software is serving you well, or whether there are wealth creation strategies you’ve been meaning to explore. Our Wealth Creation services address the bigger picture — how your business, personal income, property, and superannuation work together to build long-term financial security.
How Ruth Watson & Associates Supports Small Business Owners at EOFY
Our team at Ruth Watson & Associates works with small business owners across Malvern East and Melbourne’s south-eastern suburbs through every EOFY — helping them capture what they’re entitled to, avoid common mistakes, and enter the new financial year in the strongest possible position.
We’re a family-owned accounting practice that has been serving this community since 2003, registered with the Tax Practitioners Board (Tax Agent 71071007) and members of the IPA and NTAA. We handle the complexity so you can focus on running your business.
Get in touch on (03) 9530 4944 or email [email protected] to arrange a conversation with our team before the financial year closes — or anytime throughout the year.
Recent Comments