Lodging your 2025–26 tax return: the complete checklist

Lodgement season for 2025–26 opened on 1 July. Here's the order of operations that gets you the best return with the least pain — including the one mistake eager lodgers make every single year.

Don't lodge in the first fortnight

Your employer has until 31 July to finalise your income statement (it'll show as "tax ready" in myGov), and banks, funds and health insurers feed their data to the ATO through late July. Lodge before the pre-fill lands and you're typing numbers the ATO will later cross-check against better data — the most common cause of amended returns and delayed refunds. Late July to August is the sweet spot.

What to gather

• Income: income statement(s) via myGov, plus anything the pre-fill won't know — side-hustle and ABN income, capital gains, foreign income, crypto disposals.
• Deductions: receipts for work-related expenses, your working-from-home hours log (required for the 70c/hour rate), car kilometres, union and professional fees, income protection premiums, donations, last year's tax agent fee.
• Health: your private health statement usually pre-fills; have your policy details handy if you're near the Medicare levy surcharge thresholds.
• HECS: nothing to do — repayments reconcile automatically — but know your balance so the assessment doesn't surprise you.

Sweep your deductions before you submit

Most people under-claim from forgetfulness, not caution. Run through our occupation deductions checklist — teachers forget classroom supplies, nurses forget laundry, tradies forget sun protection, everyone forgets the tax agent fee. The three golden rules decide every item: you paid, it relates to earning income, you can prove it.

The deadlines

• 31 October 2026 — deadline if you lodge yourself.
• Registered tax agents get extended deadlines (often into May 2027) — but you must be on their books before 31 October.
• Expecting a bill rather than a refund? Lodging later (via an agent) legally defers payment; the bill isn't due until after assessment.

Refund or bill: know before you lodge

If tax was withheld correctly all year and you claim reasonable deductions, a refund is typical. Common bill triggers: a second job with the tax-free threshold claimed twice, HECS withholding switched off, bank interest on top of salary, or an ABN side income with nothing set aside. Two minutes in the income tax calculator against your payslip tells you which way your assessment will land — better to know in July than find out in September.