Suitable for: Anyone needs to extend the payment of their income tax liability

Tax Difficulty: None required

Airtax Experience: Anyone

Time to read: 2-3 minutes

Income tax liability payment extension via Airtax

Did you know that by using Airtax to lodge your income tax return, you may be eligible to extend your lodgement and payment deadline for your annual income tax return?

How this works

If you’ve lodged your past tax returns on time, at the ATO’s discretion, you may be able to defer your income tax return lodgement and payment by more than 6 months. In the case that you haven’t put money aside for a tax liability, this will give you extra time to save up to pay.

How to get the extension

We do it for you!

When lodging through Airtax, most people will have an extended due date of mid May the following year as long as they have signed up to Airtax, provided their Tax File Number, and started their tax return prior to 31 October.

Generally income tax returns lodged before mid-February through a Tax Agent (ie. Airtax) have a payment due date in March. Those lodged from mid-February to mid-March have a due date in April and those lodged from mid-May onwards have a June payment due date.

If you notify us by email that you would like to make use of the extension we will hold your return and then lodge in May, allowing you the maximum time to pay.

Example

Mary is a full time freelancer. Because Mary is a sole trader, she doesn’t have an employer withholding tax on her income and therefore needs to take ownership of this herself.

Not realising that no one was withholding tax on her income and that she wasn’t paying PAYG instalments in her first year as a full time freelancer for the year ending 30 Jun 2022, Mary didn’t allocate any money for income tax.

Because Mary has lodged all her past personal tax returns diligently and on time, and she signed up to Airtax prior to 31 October 2022 and has submitted her tax return with Airtax, she qualifies for an extension to lodge in May 2023. This means she knows the tax bill she has to pay and has time to save to pay it when it is lodged in May 2023.

Where you can get more help:

• Feel free to search for other topics in the Help Centre
• If interested, consider using our Business Assist service to discuss with a qualified Tax Specialist about your BAS (recommended for first time users)

• If you want to speak to someone about your current Airtax income tax return, book in a Tax Assist call or Tax Professional call with a tax specialist.

This document merely provides a broad outline of the subject and is necessarily general in nature.  If you require specific advice, which is tailored to your specific circumstances, please do not hesitate to contact us (fees would apply).