For a sole trader or a micro business owner, the end of the financial year arrives the same way every year. Suddenly, and with a long list of things that probably should have been done earlier. The tax return feels like the main event, but by the time you’re sitting down with your accountant to prepare it, the decisions that could have changed the outcome have already been made, or missed. What happens in the weeks before 30 June matters far more than most people realise, and it doesn’t require a complex strategy to make a meaningful difference.
This guide is written for the simpler end of the market: sole traders, contractors, and owner-operated businesses running through a single entity, with or without a small number of employees. If that’s you, the items below are the ones that will actually move your position before the year closes. Some are straightforward compliance tasks that carry real penalties if they’re not done right. Others are genuine planning opportunities that get left on the table simply because nobody flagged them at the right moment.
If your affairs run across more than one entity – a company and a family trust, a corporate beneficiary, or a group of related businesses – the decisions in front of you are different ones, and our EOFY guide for established and multi-entity businesses covers those instead.
Know What Your Numbers Actually Look Like
Before making any year-end decisions, it’s worth taking stock of your likely taxable income for the year, what expenses have been incurred and whether they’ve been properly recorded, whether your bookkeeping is up to date and reconciled, and whether there are any transactions from earlier in the year that haven’t been properly categorised. Getting your accounts into reasonable order now, rather than in August when your accountant is trying to prepare your return from a box of receipts, makes every other decision in this guide more straightforward.
For a sole trader this is simpler than it sounds, because there is only one set of numbers. Your business profit is included in your personal tax return and taxed at your individual marginal rates, so your business result and your personal tax position are the same conversation rather than two separate ones.
If You Trade Through a Company, Check Which Rate Applies
Plenty of micro businesses are incorporated with a single director and shareholder. Companies that qualify as base rate entities pay tax at 25% rather than the standard 30% corporate rate, and most small businesses operating through a company will qualify. The ATO’s base rate entity guidance sets out the conditions, which broadly require aggregated turnover below $50 million and no more than 80% passive income. For a typical trading business this is unlikely to be an issue.
Understanding which rate applies to your business matters because it affects the value of every dollar of taxable income you either bring into or keep out of this financial year. The timing of expenses and income across the end of the financial year becomes more meaningful once you understand the rate you’re working with.
Super Guarantee: Get This Right Before the Deadline
If you employ anyone, even one part-time person, this is the item with the least forgiveness in it. The super guarantee rate for 2025-26 is 12% of ordinary time earnings. The June quarter deadline falls on 28 July, but the contribution needs to be received by the fund before 30 June if you want it to be deductible this year. The ATO’s super guarantee guidance for employers sets out exactly when payments need to be made and to which funds.
Late super guarantee payments don’t just attract penalties. They lose their tax deductibility entirely and trigger the Superannuation Guarantee Charge, which includes the unpaid amount, an interest component, and an administration fee. The cost of getting this wrong is meaningfully higher than the cost of getting it right.
Your Own Super as a Tax Planning Tool
This is the single largest lever most sole traders have, and the one most often left unused. For a sole trader or partner who isn’t receiving employer contributions at all, the full $30,000 concessional cap may be available for personal contributions, which can make a significant difference to taxable income in a year where the business has performed well. The ATO’s guidance on personal super contributions explains how to claim a deduction and the notice of intent requirement.
Two mechanics matter and both have hard cut-offs. The contribution has to be received by the fund before 30 June, not merely initiated, and a valid notice of intent to claim a deduction has to be lodged with the fund before you submit your return. Miss either and the deduction is not available.
If your total super balance is below $500,000, the carry-forward rules may also give you access to unused cap space from prior years, which is worth exploring if this has been a stronger year than usual.
Timing Expenses: What Can Still Be Brought Forward
One of the most practical things a small business owner can do before 30 June is identify expenses that were planned for early next year and consider whether bringing them forward makes sense. Repairs and maintenance on business assets, renewing subscriptions and memberships, purchasing consumables or materials you’ll need anyway, and prepaying certain business costs can all potentially be deducted in the current year.
The instant asset write-off rules allow eligible businesses to immediately deduct the cost of certain depreciating assets. The ATO’s simpler depreciation guidance sets out the current thresholds and eligibility conditions for small business. These have changed in recent years and the rules for 2025-26 should be confirmed before making a purchase decision based on them. The asset also has to be installed and ready for use by 30 June, not simply ordered or paid for, which is the point that catches people out in the last week of June.
Prepayments
Small business entities can generally claim an immediate deduction for a prepaid expense where the service period does not exceed 12 months and ends in the following income year. Insurance, rent, professional subscriptions and interest are the usual candidates. It is a timing benefit rather than a permanent one, so it is most useful in a year where income has been unusually strong and you expect next year to be quieter. Worth raising with your adviser rather than acting on unilaterally in the last week of June.
Reviewing Your Deductions Properly
The areas worth reviewing before year end include vehicle expenses, home office expenses, travel with a genuine business purpose, equipment and technology, and professional development costs. The ATO’s guidance on working from home deductions is worth checking if you work from home, as the available methods and their substantiation requirements have changed in recent years.
The question to ask for each item is whether you can support the claim with documentation if you were asked to. If you can, make sure you’re claiming it. If you can’t, the more useful exercise is putting better records in place going forward.
Getting Your Bookkeeping Into Shape
Before 30 June, it’s worth making sure your accounts are reconciled to your bank statements, transactions are correctly categorised, and receipts are matched to expenses. If your payroll records don’t reconcile with what’s been reported through Single Touch Payroll, that’s worth finding and fixing now rather than after the ATO raises a discrepancy.
When Your Structure Grows Past One Entity
The items above assume a single entity and reasonably contained affairs. Once a family trust, a corporate beneficiary or a second trading entity comes into the picture, a different set of year-end decisions applies: trustee distribution resolutions with a hard 30 June deadline, Division 7A on money drawn from a private company, franking and dividend planning, and the interaction between all of them.
None of that is covered here, deliberately. If it applies to you, work through our EOFY guide for established and multi-entity businesses instead, and treat it as a conversation to start in May rather than late June.
Related EOFY Tax Planning Guides
Book a Tax Planning Meeting Before the Year Closes
The guide you’ve just read covers the decisions that are still available to you before 30 June. But reading about them and actually acting on them are two different things, and the gap between the two is usually a conversation with your adviser that hasn’t happened yet.
A tax planning meeting before year end is worth far more than the same meeting in July or August, because in June you can still do something with what you find. Super contributions, timing of expenses and income, asset purchases – none of these can be revisited once the year has closed. If you don’t have that meeting in the diary, booking it now is the most straightforward thing you can do to improve your position before 30 June.
Book a tax planning meeting with a Prime Partners adviser.
Your Pre-30 June Checklist for Sole Traders and Micro Businesses
Use this as a starting point for your year-end conversation with your adviser, not as a substitute for it.
Business Position and Records
- Ensure bookkeeping is up to date and reconciled to bank statements
- Categorise and record all transactions for the year correctly
- Reconcile payroll records against Single Touch Payroll reporting if you employ anyone
- Prepare a clear view of likely taxable income for the year
Superannuation
- Confirm the super guarantee has been paid correctly for all eligible employees and received by funds before 30 June
- Review your own concessional contribution position against the $30,000 cap
- Assess whether carry-forward contributions are available given your super balance and prior year contributions
- Lodge a notice of intent to claim a deduction if making personal concessional contributions
Timing of Income and Expenses
- Identify planned expenses that can be legitimately brought forward and deducted this year
- Confirm instant asset write-off eligibility and thresholds with your adviser before making asset purchases
- Check that any asset you are relying on for a deduction is installed and ready for use by 30 June
- Review whether prepaying insurance, rent, subscriptions or interest for the next 12 months makes sense this year
- Consider whether deferring any income to the new financial year is appropriate given your income position
Deductions
- Review vehicle expense records and confirm the correct method is being applied with adequate substantiation
- Check home office expense claims are supported by the appropriate records and method
- Confirm all business-related expenses are correctly recorded and can be substantiated if required
If You Trade Through a Company
- Confirm your company qualifies as a base rate entity for 2025-26 and that the 25% rate applies
- If you have drawn money from the company outside a wage or a declared dividend, read the multi-entity guide on Division 7A before 30 June
Frequently Asked Questions
If you would like a pre-30 June review of your position, our North Sydney accountants and our accountants in Orange work with sole traders and small businesses across Sydney and the Central West.
This article is general in nature and does not constitute financial, tax, or legal advice. Business structures and circumstances vary and you should speak with a qualified adviser before making decisions based on your specific position.