Tax Return Deadlines for a Tax Agent: 2026-27 Program

The tax return deadline for a tax agent client depends on their entity type, lodgment history and program eligibility. Match the client to the ATO’s official category, then confirm their recorded deadline in Online services for agents before scheduling the return.

How the Lodgment Program Works

The tax agent lodgment program gives eligible clients later deadlines so your practice can lodge returns progressively. Later dates depend on when the ATO receives your authority to act, the client’s circumstances and electronic lodgment.

Add the client to your list by the income tax cut-off in the ATO’s program coverage conditions. The next-business-day rule does not extend that cut-off. Engaging your practice during the program year does not, by itself, establish eligibility.

Outstanding prior-year returns can bring the current return forward. Check the ATO’s specified review boundary and deadline for clearing those returns in its ATO due-date checking instructions. If all overdue returns are lodged by that boundary, the current return receives the applicable program date. Lodging them on the next business day does not meet this eligibility condition.

The 2026–27 program is a lodgment workload period, not the income year of every return. A standard annual return will commonly concern the 2025–26 income year. Prior-year returns and approved substituted accounting periods need their own obligation and year checked.

Find 2026–27 Due Dates by Client Type

Find each client’s tax return deadline in the official category and their client record. One later deadline does not apply to every client on an agent’s list.

Client type	Conditions to check before choosing a date	Official program destination
Individuals and trusts	Check overdue returns, any prosecution notice and the latest return’s tax liability. For a trust, also check large or medium status, taxable status and new registration.	Individuals and trusts
Partnerships	Schedule the partnership return early enough for partners to meet their own deadlines. Check whether a partnership return is required and whether an approved substituted accounting period applies.	Partnerships
Companies	Check overdue returns, taxable status and new registration. Also check income thresholds, full self-assessment status and consolidated-group rules before using the remaining-returns category.	Companies and super funds
Super funds, including SMSFs	Check large or medium status, overdue returns and any earlier ATO requirement. A newly registered SMSF has a separate branch from other new registrants.	Companies and super funds
Large and medium taxpayers	Apply the ATO’s classification, including income or investment tests and specified entity categories. Then distinguish taxable, non-taxable and new registrant cases, subject to earlier requirements.	Large and medium taxpayers

The remaining-returns category applies only after excluding earlier requirements and special categories. A refund expectation does not automatically give a company or super fund a later deadline.

The individual and trust concession also covers eligible partnership returns with the specified ordinary due date. Any required payment must be made by the concession boundary. For companies and super funds, both the prior and current returns must be non-taxable or result in a refund. Large and medium taxpayers and consolidated-group head companies are excluded from that concession.

Record the ordinary deadline separately from the concession boundary. Concessions give conditional penalty relief and do not replace the ordinary due date.

Use these steps for each job:

1. Select the client’s income tax obligation and income year. Confirm any substituted accounting period before opening the program category.
2. Match the client’s circumstances to the official table above. Read the full category page, including its earlier-lodgment rules and concession restrictions.
3. Open the client’s Client summary in Online services for agents and check the recorded due date and lodgment status. Use the Income tax lodgment status report to check the current year and previous three years.
4. Compare the record with the category you selected. If the date is missing or unclear, use the ATO’s registered agent phone line listed in its due-date checking guidance.
5. Apply the ATO’s weekend and public holiday rule before scheduling the deadline. An ordinary lodgment or payment deadline moves to the next business day when that rule applies.
6. Record the obligation, income year and confirmed deadline in the job. Record the payment deadline separately, along with any concession or approved deferral you rely on.

The expected result is a job tied to the client’s actual obligation and recorded deadline. Recheck it if a prior-year amendment or another change affects the client’s category.

Activity statements have their own agent program. Use BAS due dates for agents for those obligations, even when the same client also has an income tax return.

The on-Time Lodgment Benchmark

The ATO’s on-time lodgment benchmark is 85% of current-year returns. Income tax and fringe benefits tax performance are calculated separately. Prior-year returns are excluded.

The ATO’s calculation adds current-year returns lodged by their due or deferred date to current-year non-lodgment advices. It divides that figure by attached clients expected to lodge by that point, plus those who have already lodged before their deadline.

For a hypothetical practice, 170 timely returns and 10 non-lodgment advices against 200 clients in the calculation produce 90%. The denominator is not automatically every client in the practice’s database.

Falling below 85% does not automatically remove access to program dates. The ATO’s performance response depends on the result and compliance history. It may contact the practice, discuss improvements and progressively apply support strategies.

Continued poor performance and poor compliance history can lead to a managed lodgment program with progressive milestones. The ATO may also contact clients directly to seek lodgment. Treat any individual lodgment demand or revised deadline as a separate requirement to check.

For a small practice, remove clients you no longer represent and lodge eligible non-lodgment advices before their due dates. Identify missing records early enough to plan a lodgment deferral when exceptional circumstances prevent timely lodgment.

Clients Who Join After the Program’s Cut-Off

A client added after the coverage cut-off needs their recorded deadline checked immediately. A former self-preparer is not automatically covered by your lodgment program. Use the ATO’s late-client coverage rule before promising a later date.

On the first day you can access the client, open Client summary and review their income tax lodgment status. Check the current return and earlier years for outstanding obligations. The on-demand report covers the current year and previous three years, so investigate older gaps separately when the client’s history suggests them.

Ask the previous accountant for the lodgment status of every outstanding year in your professional clearance request. Ask whether any return is prepared, lodged or subject to an ATO notice. Reconcile their answer with the portal record before agreeing the first job deadline.

The new or re-engaged client deferral applies to specified current-year income tax deadlines and clients with overdue tax returns. Its maximum additional time is 42 days from the request. It can also suspend compliance action for overdue prior-year returns for that period.

Check the exact eligible due-date boundary on that ATO page before choosing the deferral reason. Another current-year deadline, other overdue obligation types or a need for more than six weeks requires a different request path. The arrangement does not erase existing penalties or interest.

Use Online services for agents lodgment reports to monitor the recorded outcome. A requested deferral becomes a scheduling deadline only when the ATO confirms the result.

Keeping the Client List Accurate

A final return or further-return-not-necessary advice does not remove a client from your agent list. Clients you no longer represent can remain attached until you remove them. An unresolved expected return can distort your performance result.

Confirm the client’s actual lodgment requirement before submitting a return not necessary advice. The ATO’s eligibility rules exclude cases such as super funds and clients operating a business with an active ABN. Newly registered SMSFs have a separate, limited request procedure.

For an eligible non-lodgment advice, follow the ATO’s portal instructions:

1. Select the client, then Income tax and Not lodged.
2. Select A return is not necessary and choose the eligible financial years.
3. If no future income tax returns are required, select Client has no obligation to lodge future income tax returns for the current year. Resolve prior years separately.
4. Complete the declaration and select Submit. Save the receipt and confirm the selected years have been processed.

Keep an active client on your list when you still represent them, even if one return is unnecessary. When you cease to act, follow the ATO’s client-list removal guidance. First remove your practice’s contact details, bank details and name from authorised contacts. Then remove the client using Online services for agents or the practitioner lodgment service.

If removal fails, use the ATO’s client-list help for the appropriate request, including clients the ATO must remove itself. Confirm the client is absent from your active list after removal.

For a hypothetical year-end review, compare the portal list with the practice’s active engagements. One client has moved practices, so staff update contact details and remove the relationship. Another remains a client but has no return requirement for the year, so staff submit the eligible advice and retain the relationship.

Resolve each difference before assigning next year’s jobs. The resulting list must show who you represent and the obligations your practice actually needs to lodge.