Category: News

Payday Super & Qualifying Earnings

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From 1 July, under Payday Super, super will be calculated on qualifying earnings (QE).
As an employer, you currently calculate and pay super on your employees’ ordinary time earnings.
However, from 1 July, you’ll need to calculate it on their qualifying earnings, or ‘QE’ for short.For many employers, this won’t change how much super you currently pay to your employees, but you’ll have to report QE and super liability in Single Touch Payroll.
Source: Australian Taxation Office

2025–26 Instant Asset Write-off Limit

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Find out if your business is eligible for the $20,000 instant asset write-off for the 2025–26 income year.
Have you purchased, upgraded or are you purchasing an asset?
If your business has an aggregated annual turnover of less than $10 million, you may be able to use the instant asset write-off (IAWO) to immediately deduct the business portion of the cost of eligible assets which cost less than $20,000.Eligible assets must have been first used or installed ready for use for a taxable purpose between 1 July 2025 and 30 June 2026. The $20,000 limit applies on a per asset basis, so you can instantly write-off multiple assets.
If an eligible small business has previously claimed a deduction for an asset’s cost under the simplified depreciation rules in an earlier income year, they can also immediately deduct the first improvement cost for that asset. This applies as long as the improvement cost was incurred between 1 July 2025 and 30 June 2026 and is less than the $20,000 limit.
The IAWO can be used for both new and second-hand assets; some exclusions and limits apply. It is only available to eligible small businesses that use the simplified depreciation rules.
Assets costing $20,000 or more can continue to be placed into the general small business pool and depreciated at 15% in the first income year and 30% each following income year.

The usual rules for claiming deductions still apply, and you must have records to prove your claim.

Source: Australian Taxation Office

Self-education Expenses

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Eligibility to claim self-education expenses

You can claim a deduction for a self-education expense if, at the time you incur the expense, it has a sufficient connection to earning income from your employment activities.

Self-education has a sufficient connection to earning your employment income if it either:

  • maintains or improves the specific skills or knowledge you require for your current employment activities
  • results in, or is likely to result in, an increase in your income from your current employment activities.

Expenses you can claim

If your self-education expenses meet the eligibility criteria, you can claim a deduction for the following expenses:

For self-education expenses incurred before 1 July 2022, you generally can’t claim the first $250 of expenses.

Source: Australian Taxation Office

Clearance Certificates for Australian Residents

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Australians selling property need a clearance certificate to avoid having an amount withheld from the sale price.

Foreign resident capital gains withholding (FRCGW) must be withheld on all real property (property) sales unless the vendor is an Australian resident for tax purposes.

All Australian residents (for tax purposes) selling or disposing of Australian real property (property) must have a clearance certificate and give it to the purchaser at, or before settlement.

Without a clearance certificate, the purchaser must withhold up to 15% of the sale (or market value if not sold at arm’s length) for foreign resident capital gains withholding (FRCGW) purposes.

Source: Australian Taxation Office

The Small Business Superannuation Clearing House Is Closing

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As part of the Payday Super reform, the Small Business Superannuation Clearing House (SBSCH) will close on 1 July 2026.

To support small businesses to transition to alternative services prior to this time, new users will be unable to register to use the service from 1 October 2025.

Existing users are encouraged to take steps now to transition to alternative options. These include reviewing your existing software and payroll packages, which may already include super functions, or looking at options offered by super funds, commercial clearing houses, or other payroll software or providers.

For more information visit ato.gov.au/howtopaysuper or speak with your registered tax professional.

Source: Australian Taxation Office

Payday Superannuation

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The government announced changes to superannuation guarantee from 1 July 2026.

On 2 May 2023 the Australian Government announced that from 1 July 2026, employers will be required to pay their employees’ superannuation guarantee (SG) at the same time as their salary and wages.

On 9 October 2025, the Government introduced the Treasury Laws Amendment (Payday Superannuation) Bill 2025External Link and the Superannuation Guarantee Charge Amendment Bill 2025External Link.

This measure is now law.

Source: Australian Taxation Office

Reminder – ATO Interest Deductibility Changes

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ATO reminder for the upcoming changes to the deductibility of interest.

The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) is reminding taxpayers, from 1 July 2025 interest charged by the ATO for late payments or underpayments will no longer be tax deductible.

The Treasury Laws Amendment (Tax Incentives and Integrity) Act 2025 is now law. This means any general interest charge (GIC) incurred on and after 1 July 2025, regardless of whether the debt relates to an earlier income year, will no longer be tax deductible.

The change is designed to ensure that taxpayers who do the right thing and pay their tax in full and on time are not disadvantaged relative to those who do delay payment.

The ATO website has a range of helpful tools and free resources to help taxpayers and business owners to plan ahead and manage their cash flow to prevent a tax debt.

Source: Australian Taxation Office

ATO 2025 Holiday Closure Period

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The ATO offices, phone support services and customer response on their social media pages will be unavailable during their annual closure.

The closure will start at noon local time Wednesday 24 December 2025. Normal services will resume at 8am local time on Friday 2 January 2026.

Source: Australian Taxation Office

ATO Interest Charges – No Longer Deductible

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Taxpayers can no longer claim an income tax deduction for ATO interest charges incurred on or after 1 July 2025.

On 13 December 2023, as part of the 2023–24 Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook (MYEFO), the government announced it would amend the tax law to deny income tax deductions for ATO interest charges.

This is now law.

The law change applies in relation to assessments for income years starting on or after 1 July 2025. An assessment for an income year is how your income tax is calculated, as explained in your notice of assessment.

This means that you can no longer deduct GIC and SIC incurred on or after 1 July 2025 in your income tax return for income years starting on or after that date. However, this law change applies in a different way for Entities with a substituted accounting period.

Source: Australian Taxation Office

20% Student Loan Reduction

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The ATO have commenced reducing all student and training support debts by 20% that existed on 1 June 2025. If you have multiple eligible student debts, each account will receive a 20% reduction.

The 20% reduction is applied to your student debt balance as at 1 June 2025, before indexation was applied. The 2025 indexation will be recalculated on the reduced debt amount.

Where your study loan account is in credit after the 20% reduction, you may receive a refund. If you have outstanding tax or other Commonwealth debts, the ATO will apply your credit to these debts first.

If you made a compulsory repayment after 1 June 2025, the ATO will refund your study loan credit by amending your tax return to adjust your assessed compulsory repayment. You’ll also receive a notice of amended assessment.

Source: Australian Taxation Office