The tax return most Australians are lodging right now covers FY2025-26, the year that ended on 30 June 2026. If you lodge it yourself the deadline is 31 October 2026. It uses the old 16% second bracket, not the 15% rate that started on 1 July 2026, so this year's cut does not show up in this year's refund.
Which financial year does my tax return cover?
Australia's financial year runs from 1 July to 30 June, and the return you lodge between July and October 2026 is for the year that ended on 30 June 2026. That is FY2025-26. The income you are earning today belongs to FY2026-27 and will be dealt with in next year's return.
This sounds obvious and it trips up an enormous number of people, because the tax cut that took effect on 1 July 2026 is in the news at exactly the moment everyone is filling in a return governed by the older rates. The two things are a year apart.
| FY2025-26 | FY2026-27 | |
|---|---|---|
| Period | 1 Jul 2025 to 30 Jun 2026 | 1 Jul 2026 to 30 Jun 2027 |
| Second bracket rate | 16% | 15% |
| What it governs | The tax return you lodge now | The pay landing in your account now |
| HECS/HELP minimum threshold | $67,000 | $69,528 |
| Cents per kilometre rate | 88c | 91c |
| Working from home fixed rate | 70c an hour | Not yet published by the ATO |
When is my tax return due?
If you prepare and lodge it yourself, through myTax or on paper, the deadline is 31 October 2026. If 31 October falls on a weekend the ATO accepts the next business day.
If you use a registered tax agent, most have a lodgment program that lets them lodge for clients well after 31 October, often into the following May. There is a condition people miss: you generally have to be on the agent's books before 31 October to get that extension. Engaging an agent on 15 November does not retrospectively buy you the later date, and the ATO says the due date also depends on your own situation and prior-year lodgments (ATO, lodging with a registered tax agent).
One further wrinkle: if you have any prior-year returns outstanding as at 30 June 2026, the ATO requires the current return by 31 October regardless of your agent's program.
Should I lodge on 1 July?
Generally no, and this is one of the few genuinely useful pieces of tax-time advice. The ATO pre-fills your return with data reported by employers, banks, health funds, share registries and government agencies, and most of that data does not land until late July. Lodging in the first weeks of July means either typing everything manually or lodging against incomplete data, and returns lodged early are amended far more often.
The practical sequence is: wait until your income statement shows as "tax ready" and the pre-fill is populated, check every pre-filled figure rather than assuming it is right, then add the deductions the ATO cannot know about.
Why is my refund smaller than I expected?
A refund is not a bonus. It is the difference between what your employer withheld from your pay across the year and what you actually owed. A big refund usually means too much was withheld, and a small one often means the withholding was accurate.
Four things reliably shrink a refund, and none of them are errors:
- A second job or a mid-year job change. Each employer withholds as though it is your only income, so the combined withholding is short. How that gap arises, with the numbers.
- A HECS or HELP debt. Compulsory repayments come out of the same pool as your tax, so they eat the refund before you see it.
- The Medicare levy surcharge, if your income passed $101,000 in FY2025-26 and you had no private hospital cover. It is not withheld through the year, so it lands as a bill at return time.
- Bank interest, dividends or side income with no tax withheld at all.
For completeness, this table shows how much less total tax and levy the same salaries face in FY2026-27 than in FY2025-26. Note that this is a change to your pay, not to the refund on the return you are lodging now.
| Salary | Total tax and levy FY2025-26 | FY2026-27 | Reduction |
|---|---|---|---|
| $30,000 | $1,387 | $1,269 | $118 |
| $50,000 | $6,538 | $6,270 | $268 |
| $70,000 | $13,188 | $12,920 | $268 |
| $90,000 | $19,588 | $19,320 | $268 |
| $120,000 | $29,188 | $28,920 | $268 |
| $150,000 | $39,838 | $39,570 | $268 |
What is a deduction actually worth to me?
A deduction reduces your taxable income, not your tax bill, so a $1,000 deduction does not save you $1,000. It saves you $1,000 multiplied by your marginal rate. That is why the same claim is worth roughly twice as much to a high earner as to someone on $45,000.
| Taxable income (FY2025-26) | Marginal rate including Medicare levy | What a $1,000 deduction saves |
|---|---|---|
| $45,000 | 34% | $335 |
| $70,000 | 32% | $320 |
| $100,000 | 32% | $320 |
| $150,000 | 39% | $390 |
| $200,000 | 47% | $470 |
This also means an expense is never "free because I can claim it". Spending $1,000 to save $320 still leaves you $680 out of pocket. Claim what you are genuinely entitled to and no more. What you can actually claim, and the records required.
What you need before you start
- A myGov account linked to the ATO, or a registered tax agent.
- Your income statement marked "tax ready" in myGov. Employers no longer issue paper payment summaries.
- Bank interest, dividend and managed fund statements, most of which pre-fill by late July.
- Private health insurance statement, if you had cover, which determines your rebate and whether the surcharge applies.
- Records for every deduction: receipts, a working from home hours log, and a car logbook or kilometre record.
- Your spouse's taxable income, if you have one, because several thresholds are assessed on combined income.
Frequently Asked Questions
When is the 2026 tax return due in Australia?
If you lodge it yourself, 31 October 2026. If you use a registered tax agent and are on their books before 31 October, their lodgment program usually gives you until some time in the following May, though the exact date depends on your circumstances and prior-year lodgments.
Which tax rates apply to my 2025-26 return?
The FY2025-26 rates: nil to $18,200; 16% to $45,000; 30% to $135,000; 37% to $190,000; 45% above $190,000. The cut to 15% took effect on 1 July 2026 and applies to FY2026-27, which is next year's return.
What happens if I lodge my tax return late?
The ATO can apply a failure to lodge penalty, charged in units for each 28 day period the return is late. In practice the ATO often does not penalise a first late lodgment that results in a refund, but it can, and interest applies to unpaid tax. If you cannot lodge on time, contact the ATO or an agent before the deadline rather than after.
Do I have to lodge a tax return?
Generally yes if you had tax withheld from any payment, or your taxable income exceeded the tax-free threshold of $18,200. If neither applies you may only need to submit a non-lodgment advice, which tells the ATO not to expect a return. If tax was withheld and you do not lodge, you do not get it back.
How long does a tax refund take?
The ATO says most electronically lodged returns are processed within about two weeks. Paper returns take considerably longer. Returns that are amended, that have missing information, or where the ATO offsets a debt against the refund take longer again.
A note on what this is
This guide is general information built from the ATO's published material. It is not tax or financial advice, and it cannot take your circumstances into account. Clearway Apps is not a registered tax agent. Where a decision matters, check it against the ATO page linked in each section or talk to a registered tax agent.