This Saturday, 31 October, is the last day for two things that are easy to underestimate. Normally an ATO due date that lands on a weekend rolls to the next business day. The ATO has said this one does not. There is no Monday 2 November grace. The date is the date.
If you have an older return outstanding
Any prior-year tax return still outstanding has to be lodged by 31 October.
The cost of missing it is bigger than the overdue return itself. If a prior-year return is still outstanding after 31 October, you lose the extended tax agent lodgment date for your 2026 return as well — and that return becomes due on 31 October too. One old return quietly drags the current year forward by six and a half months, and puts both of them late at once.
If this is you, contact us today or tomorrow, not on Friday. Three days is enough to do this properly if we start now. It is not enough if we start on the last afternoon.
If you are joining us as a new client
The same date applies. To get our lodgment program dates for your 2026 return, you need to be on our client list by 31 October — not just in conversation with us, and not with your records still on the way.
If you have been meaning to move your tax affairs to us, this week is the week. Get in touch and we will set you up before Saturday.
Quarter 1 BAS was due today
Your July to September BAS was due to be lodged and paid on Wednesday 28 October.
If you lodge through us as your registered agent and we do not yet have your September quarter records, you may still have additional time — but that concession is not automatic for every client, and lodging and paying are separate things. Send your records now and we will confirm where you stand.
If the problem is the payment rather than the paperwork, tell us before a default rather than after one. A payment plan arranged in advance is a very different conversation with the ATO from one arranged after the debt is overdue.
28 October is no longer a super deadline
Until this financial year, 28 October was also the day quarterly super had to reach your employees' funds.
That deadline no longer exists. Since 1 July 2026, Payday Super requires contributions to reach the fund within 7 business days of each payday. There is no quarterly catch-up date, and there is no longer a point in the quarter where being behind is still safe.
If you have been treating today as a super date, check every payday since 1 July. Each late payday is now its own superannuation guarantee charge event, calculated on a wider base than the contribution you missed, and the charge is not deductible. It is far better to find a slipped payment now than at the end of the year.
If you are a USQ client and you know of a return from before you came to us that we may not know about, now is the moment to mention it — before Saturday, not after.
This is general information, not personal tax advice. Your circumstances change the answer — please talk to us before acting on it.