21 October 2019
Lodge and pay quarter 1, 2019–20 PAYG instalment activity statement for head companies of consolidated groups.
Lodge and pay September 2019 monthly business activity statement.

28 October 2019
Lodge and pay quarter 1, 2019–20 activity statement if lodging by paper. Pay quarter 1, 2019–20 instalment notice (form R, S, or T). Lodge the notice only if you vary the instalment amount.
Make super guarantee contributions for quarter 1, 2019–20 to funds by this date.

31 October 2019
Lodge tax returns for all entities if one or more prior year returns were outstanding as at 30 June 2019.

21 November 2019
Lodge and pay October 2019 monthly business activity statement.

25 November 2019
Lodge and pay quarter 1, 2019–20 activity statement if you lodge electronically.

The ATO has reminded Australians who receive any foreign income from investments, family members or working overseas to make sure they have reported it this tax time.

New international data-sharing agreements allow the ATO to track money across borders and identify people who aren’t meeting their obligations. Under the new Common Reporting Standard (CRS), the ATO has shared data on financial account information with over 65 tax jurisdictions across the globe. This includes information on account holders, balances, interest and dividend payments, proceeds from the sale of assets, and other income.

From 1 October 2019, if an SMSF is more than two weeks overdue on any annual return lodgement due date and hasn’t requested a lodgement deferral, the ATO will change their status on Super Fund Lookup to ‘Regulation details removed’.

Having a status of ‘Regulation details removed’ means APRA funds won’t roll over any member benefits to the SMSF and employers won’t make any super guarantee (SG) contribution payments for members of the SMSF.

In June 2019, the ATO received 6,444 reports of tax-time scams impersonating the ATO. Emails with links to fake myGov login pages were the most widespread email scam.

The myGov system will never send texts, emails or attachments with links or web addresses that ask for your login or personal details. Never click on links in emails or text messages claiming to be from myGov.

Always log into your official myGov account to lodge your return and check if you owe a debt or are due a refund. You can do this by typing https://my.gov.au/ into your internet browser’s address bar.

Unfortunately, ATO and other scams continue well beyond the 30 October deadline for tax returns, as scammers know many people are waiting for a refund or information about debts. It’s important to watch out for scams throughout the year.

The ATO has said it “recognises the important role businesses play in the Australian economy [but] when an entity avoids paying its tax debts it can have a significant impact on other businesses, employees, contractors and the wider community.

Proposed legislation will allow the ATO to disclose information about business tax debts when certain conditions are met. A business would need to have debts of at least $100,000 overdue by more than 90 days and have not effectively engaged with the ATO to manage that debt.