End of financial year checklist for Australian tradies

Before the year closes, go through your invoices and see what is still outstanding. A polite reminder now clears most of them, and it is far easier to reconcile a year where the money actually landed than one full of loose ends.

One thing to keep in mind: when income counts for tax can depend on your accounting method, so an invoice sitting unpaid at 30 June is not always simple. If you are unsure how your outstanding invoices affect this year's return, that is a good one to ask your accountant.

Pull together every business expense for the year: materials, tools, fuel, insurance, phone, software, protective gear, licences and registrations. Deductible expenses lower your taxable income, so every one you forget quietly costs you money.

Sort them as you find them and keep the receipts. The ATO generally expects you to be able to back up what you claim, so a shoebox of faded dockets is a risk. Our guide on what a tradie can claim at tax time goes deeper on what counts and what does not.

If you use your vehicle for work, those kilometres can be worth a solid deduction, but usually only if you have a record to back them up. There is more than one method for claiming car costs, and a logbook is one of them, so check with your accountant which one suits you.

If you have been meaning to keep a logbook all year and never quite did, start one now and carry the habit into next year. A running log beats trying to reconstruct twelve months of trips from memory in July.

Match the money that hit your account against the invoices you sent, so your income figure is real and nothing is missing or counted twice. This is the step most people skip, and the one that causes the headaches later.

If you are registered for GST, line up your quarterly BAS lodgements and make sure they add up before you hand anything over. Our GST and BAS basics guide covers how it fits together. Registration is generally required once turnover reaches 75,000 dollars a year, but check the current thresholds and your own position with the ATO or a registered BAS agent.

Book in with your accountant or a registered tax agent early, before the July rush. Bring your income summary, your sorted expenses and your logbook, and ask the questions you have been sitting on all year. This is general information, not advice, and a good accountant usually pays for themselves.

The real fix for next EOFY is recording things as you go, not in one painful catch-up. ONARA Books, the optional add-on to ONARA Ops, keeps your income, expenses, mileage and profit per job in one place and pulls together an EOFY pack you can hand straight to your accountant. It is a tool to help you, not a registered tax or BAS agent, so always have the figures checked.