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20/10/2026

Cannot afford to pay your BAS? 💸

With September quarter BAS payments coming up, I thought this was a good time to talk about ATO payment plans, particularly for small business owners who might be struggling to pay their tax bill in full.

I get asked about payment plans quite a bit, and there are a few things I always like to explain before someone commits to one.

If you have a $15,000 BAS bill and only $5,000 available, you may be able to arrange a payment plan with the ATO to pay off the remaining $10,000 over time.

You can generally make repayments weekly, fortnightly or monthly, depending on what is agreed with the ATO.

But there are a few things worth knowing.

Firstly, interest generally continues to accrue on your outstanding tax debt, even while you are making repayments.

Secondly, your normal tax obligations do not stop. You still need to lodge your BAS and tax returns on time and keep up with any new amounts that become due.

And this is probably the biggest thing I would be careful of.

Do not agree to repayments that your business cannot realistically afford.

If you default on an ATO payment plan, it can affect your ability to negotiate another arrangement in the future. The ATO considers your payment history, and repeated defaults can make things more difficult.

I would much rather see a business owner agree to a manageable repayment amount and actually stick to it.

Before setting up a payment plan, have a look at your cash flow over the next few months. Think about your wages, suppliers, operating expenses and what your next BAS might look like.

You want to make sure you can keep up with the payment plan while still putting money aside for your next tax bill.

And if you are already on a payment plan and struggling with the repayments, speak to the ATO or your accountant before you fall behind.

If you are a small business owner with an ATO debt and you are unsure what you can realistically afford to repay, get in touch. We can review your figures and help you work through your options.

13/10/2026

Still have not done your 2026 tax return? 👀

With 31 October coming up, I thought this was worth mentioning, especially for anyone who has been putting off getting their tax return organised.

If you lodge your own tax return, the usual deadline is 31 October.

But if you use a registered tax agent, you may actually have quite a bit longer.

Depending on your circumstances, some tax returns are not due until May 2027 under the ATO's tax agent lodgment program.

The important part is getting registered with an accountant in time.

If you have not engaged an accountant yet, you generally need to be added to their ATO client list by 31 October to access the extended lodgment deadlines.

It is also worth mentioning that not everyone automatically qualifies for an extension, particularly if you have outstanding returns from previous years. If you are up to date lodgment wise you are fine👍

If you have been meaning to find an accountant for your 2026 tax return, now would be a good time to get that organised.

We are taking on new clients at Collectiv. Accounting, including individuals, sole traders, companies and all business owners right across Australia.

If you would like us to look after your tax return, you can enquire through the link in our bio and we can get your onboarding underway. 🤎

12/10/2026

Our mate Trevor is back 😂

And this time he is trying to work out why he has just received his 2026 income tax bill, but the ATO is already asking him to pay more tax for 2027.

I actually get asked about this quite a bit, especially when business owners receive their income tax bill and PAYG instalment notices around the same time.

It can look like you are being asked to pay income tax twice.

So, here is what is happening.

When you lodge your income tax return, the ATO uses that information to work out whether you should be making PAYG income tax instalments (PAYGI) towards the current financial year.

Depending on your circumstances, the ATO will calculate an instalment amount or rate, usually with payments made quarterly.

Essentially, you are prepaying some of your income tax for the year you are currently in.

So Trevor's 2026 tax bill is for the year that has already finished, while his PAYG instalments are going towards his 2027 income tax.

When we eventually lodge Trevor's 2027 tax return, the instalments he has paid throughout the year are credited against his actual income tax liability.

Hopefully, that means there is a much smaller amount left to pay.

One thing I would also keep an eye on is whether those instalments still make sense for how your business is performing.

The ATO is using previous tax information, so if your business has slowed down, your profits have changed considerably or you have stopped trading, we may need to review the instalments.

They can be varied where appropriate, but there needs to be a reasonable basis for doing so.

And if you are seeing PAYGI on your BAS and wondering what on earth you are paying for, this is generally what it relates to.

07/10/2026

Why is my BAS bill so high? 👀

One of the biggest misconceptions I see with business owners is thinking their BAS is just the GST they owe.

Your business activity statement (BAS) can actually have a few different amounts sitting inside it.

For a lot of Australian businesses, the main three are GST, PAYG withholding from employee wages and PAYG instalments towards income tax.

And they can all be due at the same time.

That is how you can end up with a BAS bill that feels much bigger than you were expecting, even when the GST component itself does not seem that high.

This is also why I am a big fan of having a separate bank account for tax.

Rather than waiting until your quarterly BAS is prepared to find out what you owe, get into the habit of moving money across regularly for the tax obligations that are building up as you go.

You do not want to get to BAS time and realise you have already spent money that was meant for the ATO.

05/10/2026

And just like that, quarter one of the financial year is done 👀

Which means it is time to get your bookkeeping up to date and start thinking about your September quarter BAS.

A few dates to have in your calendar:

📌 21 October
September monthly BAS / IAS

28 October
September quarter BAS, where the standard due date applies

📌 31 October
Individual tax return deadline if you lodge yourself, or the date to make sure you are registered with a tax agent if you want to access their extended lodgment program

📌 26 November
September quarter BAS due date for our eligible BAS clients lodging through us
For our BAS clients, the earlier we can get your bookkeeping finalised and start preparing your BAS, the earlier you will know what is payable and the more time you have to plan for it.

29/09/2026

Can your business actually afford to hire an employee?

It is one of the harder decisions to make when your business is growing.

You know you need help. You are running out of time, turning away work or spending too much of your day doing things someone else could be doing.

But before you hire, I would want to know what the decision actually looks like in your numbers.

Start with the total cost of the employee, rather than just their salary. Then look at what happens to your business profit once that cost is added.

And remember, a drop in profit does not automatically mean the hire does not make sense.

Maybe that person gives you 15 hours back every week. Maybe you can take on more clients. Maybe you can stop outsourcing work. Maybe you finally have time to focus on the parts of the business that actually need you.
That has value too.

Then there is cash flow. Your business still needs enough cash available to pay wages, super and the normal costs of running the business, including during quieter periods.

There is no single turnover or profit number that tells every business “yes, you can afford to hire.”

You need to look at the cost, the impact on profit, what you gain in return and whether the cash is there to support it.

21/09/2026

How much should you put aside for tax as a business owner?

You will often hear “just put 30% aside”, but that does not necessarily tell you how much tax your business will actually need to pay.

A better starting point is to work from your profit, rather than simply taking a percentage of every dollar that comes into the business.

Here is the basic calculation:

1. Work out your income excluding GST
If you received $22,000 including GST, your income before GST is $20,000.

2. Take away your business expenses
$20,000 income
− $8,000 expenses
= $12,000 estimated profit

3. Estimate the income tax on that profit
This is where your business structure matters.

If you are a sole trader, your business profit forms part of your personal taxable income and your individual tax rates apply.

If you operate through a company, many small trading companies qualify for the 25% company tax rate.

4. Take off PAYG instalments you have already paid

Estimated income tax
− PAYG instalments already paid
= roughly what you still need to allow for

And remember, GST and PAYG withholding are separate amounts that may also need to be sitting there ready for your activity statement.

This is a simplified way to estimate it. Your actual taxable income can be different from your accounting profit, and your personal circumstances can change the final calculation.

The important part is that you are not choosing a percentage once and forgetting about it.

If your business profit grows during the year, revisit the amount you are putting aside for tax.

I would always prefer to see a little more sitting in the tax account than find out at tax time that you have not saved enough.

02/09/2026

Cannot afford your BAS or tax bill? Do not stop lodging. ❌

This is something I see business owners get caught on all the time.

The BAS is due. The cash is not there. So they leave the lodgement sitting there until they can afford to pay it thinking nothing will happen.....

But your BAS lodgement and your ATO payment are two separate things. 🤦‍♀️

If you cannot afford to pay the ATO in full, you can still lodge what is due and then deal with the tax debt separately.

Leaving the lodgement undone does not make the GST, PAYG withholding or tax liability disappear. It can simply leave you with an ATO debt and overdue lodgements to sort out. You are also leaving yourself open to fines.

And if you are already on an ATO payment plan be careful..

Your new tax obligations do not automatically get rolled into the existing payment plan. The ATO generally expects you to keep up with the agreed repayments as well as your new lodgement and payment obligations.

So if the payment plan is taking every spare dollar and the next BAS is already going to go unpaid, the problem has not really been fixed. It has just been pushed forward.

👉For company directors, there is another reason I take overdue lodgements seriously.

Certain unpaid company debts, including PAYG withholding, GST and Superannuation Guarantee Charge, can lead to a Director Penalty Notice, which can make the director personally liable.

If you are struggling to pay an ATO tax debt follow this list:
Speak to your accountant.
Lodge what is due.
Know exactly what you owe.
Work out what the business can realistically afford.
Review any existing ATO payment plan.
Then make a plan for the next BAS as well.

If the cash is not there, deal with the debt problem later.

Do not accidentally turn it into a payment problem and a lodgement problem.

01/09/2026

🗓️September and October are bringing a few important dates for Australian business owners

A few dates to have in your calendar:

📌 21 September
August monthly BAS / IAS

📌 1 October
Card surcharge rules change

📌 21 October
September monthly BAS / IAS

📌 28 October
September quarter BAS, where the standard due date applies

📌 31 October
Individual tax return deadline if you lodge yourself, or the date to make sure you are registered with a tax agent if you want to access their extended lodgment program

31/08/2026

If the only time you are really looking at your business numbers is when your tax return is being prepared, you are leaving it way too late.

As a business owner, there are a few things you should have some idea of throughout the year.

What is sitting in the bank?
Who owes you money?
What bills and tax obligations are coming up?
Are your expenses increasing?
And is the business actually making a profit?

These are the numbers that help you understand what is really happening in the business, especially when you are trying to work out things like cash flow, pricing, spending or why there never seems to be as much money in the bank as you expected.

This is one of the reasons I love using Xero with my business clients. It brings the day-to-day financial side of the business into one place so you can access the information as you go.

As a business accountant, I would much rather you be looking at your numbers during the year and asking questions early than getting months down the track and saying, “I had no idea.”

👀 Looks for a special Xero offer?
Visit the link in my bio. Terms & Conditions apply.*

Xero, ,

Address

Griffith, NSW
2680

Opening Hours

Monday	9am - 5pm
Tuesday	9am - 5pm
Wednesday	9am - 5pm
Thursday	9am - 5pm
Friday	9am - 5pm

Website

https://collectivaccounting.com.au/

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