End of Financial Year Check List and Timeline

Checklist

The end of the financial year is always a busy time for business owners, bookkeepers and accounts staff.

The following timeline has really helped keep me on track and I wanted to share it with you in my blog this month.

Month of June

9th June – Run reports and take to accountant, check if any tax planning needs to be done (ie would you benefit from purchasing or prepaying anything to reduce tax for 2017? )

Has your previous financial year 2016 been matched to the tax return and the datafile locked or rolled over?

12th June – Reconcile payroll reports to wages general ledgers.

Add up all BAS lodged to date in a spreadsheet, ready for final annual check of BAS totals for the year.

15th June – Salary Sacrifice – Is it beneficial for you to put some extra funds in super via salary sacrifice this year?

If owners have contributed additional superannuation during the year, check that they are still under the concessional caps for this year (cap figures changes most years)

16th June – If you prepare an FBT return then this should have been finalised for period end 31 March 17, ask your accountant for any figures that need to be reporting on the payment summaries for staff.

Make a plan for preparing and sending out staff Payment Summaries – once your last pay has been run and bank account, clearing accounts reconciled then these can be prepared. Book a date to prepare.

20th June – Pay last period of super into clearing house before 30 June for a tax deduction this year. Delay until July if no deductions needed

Those in the building construction industry will need to prepare Taxable Payment Reports (TPAR). Ensure your software will be able to prepare these and is setup correctly. If you are liable to prepare TPAR but have not paid any contractors for the year then you will need to lodge a NIL return.

Most importantly for those that have staff or need to lodge TPAR, check with your software provider to ensure that your software’s electronic files will be accepted by the ATO.

Pay out any other expenses that might help to reduce tax if you have made profits this year

21st June – If you are reporting monthly for PAYG, your May IAS lodgement is due.

25th June – Is it beneficial for you to delay income until after 30 June to reduce tax this year?

Ensure any staff loans are paid back. Staff loans are classed as fringe benefits.

30th June – Complete a stocktake for those with stock holdings of over $5000.

Check with the owners for any business purchases that were paid personally that might need to be brought into account.

Month of July

6th July – Check your banks are reconciled as at 30 June. Check for any old, unreconciled amounts. Look for duplicate entries or maybe payments from the wrong bank account that are causing uncleared amounts on your bank reconciliation

Check all clearing accounts all reconcile back to zero as at 30 June

  • Payroll clearing
  • Electronic clearing
  • Suspense
  • Undeposited funds
  • Wages payable
  • Staff loans

25th June to 13th July – Prepare your payment summaries and distribute to the staff (before 14th July) once you have reconciled the totals to the financial reports and the BAS lodged for the year.

20th July – Pay last period of super into clearing house if not paid in June.

24th July –  Look at your Debtors / Receivables list. Check for any old dates or any unreal sales still in the system. Bad Debts will need to be written off to claim the deduction, incorrect or duplicate invoices will need to be reversed. If sales are still showing as unpaid in your software as the customer paid cash, then the cash will need to be hunted down and the sales settled in your software. Often times, the owners has taken the cash personally, if this is the case then close the old sale to the owners loan account.

Similar to the above – Look at your Creditors/ Payables list. Check for any old dates or any unreal purchases still in the system. Incorrect or duplicate invoices will need to be reversed. If purchases are still showing as unpaid in your software as the owner paid the purchase with his/her cash, then  close the old purchase to the owners loan account.

28th July – June BAS lodgement is due today. Ensure that your last BAS figures balance back to the figures in your GST account in the financial reports – Balance Sheet. If you have a business ATO portal setup then you will have an extension to lodge any pay of 2 weeks. If you are lodging through a BAS Agent (Awww that’s us folks!!) then you will have an extension to lodge any pay of 4 weeks.

Month of August

15th August – Payment Summary annual report is due at the ATO by 28th August. Send or upload staff Payment Summary totals via your ATO business portal. https://www.ato.gov.au/Business/PAYG-withholding/Annual-reporting/How-to-lodge-your-payment-summary-annual-report/

21stAugust – If you are reporting monthly for PAYG, your July IAS lodgement is due.

28th August – Taxable Payments annual report needs to be prepared and lodged by this date at the ATO for those in the building construction industry https://www.ato.gov.au/business/reports-and-returns/taxable-payments-annual-report/businesses-in-building-and-construction/

If you did not pay and contractors this year. Submit a nil TPAR return here https://www.ato.gov.au/tparnilreport/

No wonder there never seems to be enough hours in a day!

Now we can talk about how easy bookkeeping is…..and running a business whilst being the bookkeeper also…. and the marketing person….and the financial advisor… and the staff councillor….

Until next month,

Cheryl

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