Tax Planning: Why Timing Matters
Tax is usually one of the highest expenses of your business or personal income, yet many business owners and investors wait until after the end of the financial year to think about how much they have paid. The most effective tax outcomes are achieved before 30 June, when there is flexibility to act.
What is Tax Planning?
Tax planning involves reviewing your business and personal tax position before 30 June and identifying actions that legitimately:
- optimise cash flow
- align tax outcomes with commercial reality
- reduce surprises when assessments are issued
- ensure compliance with changing rules.
Once 30 June passes:
- deductions not incurred are lost until the next year and sometimes permanently
- elections not made cannot be backdated
- distributions not resolved may default under trust deeds
- opportunities to manage taxable income disappear
Key Areas Where 30-June Planning Makes a Difference
- Cash Flow and Tax Payments
Understanding your likely tax position before year-end allows you to:
- plan for upcoming tax liabilities
- avoid unexpectedly large PAYG or income tax bills
- smooth cash flow rather than funding tax from emergency reserves
For growing businesses, this forward visibility is often more valuable than the tax saving itself.
2. Business and Investment Decisions
Capital purchases, asset disposals, timing of income and expenditure, prepayments and financing decisions can all have tax consequences that differ depending on which side of 30 June they fall.
Reviewing these items before 30 June ensures tax is not an afterthought and you know when any tax is payable.
3. Trusts and Group Structures
For groups operating through trusts and companies, planning is critical to:
- confirm who should be entitled to income
- ensure trust distribution strategies are compliant
- avoid unintended allocations or ATO scrutiny
- align distributions with cash movements and Division 7A (private loans) considerations
It is often difficult to fix these positions after 30 June.
4. Superannuation
Superannuation is a hot topic for tax planning:
- If you would like to make additional personal superannuation contributions these must be deposited into your superannuation fund usually by about 20 June.
- There are special rules around “catch up contributions” that need to be calculated each year and may not carry to next year if your balance goes over $500,000
- There is a new tax on funds with large balances. Read our recent article hereand there is a once-off opportunity to reset cost bases available.
- If you have a SMSF and are on a pension or income stream you may need to ensure sufficient payments are made prior to 30 June.
5. Changing ATO Focus Areas
The ATO continues to increase scrutiny around:
- profit retention and income splitting
- related‑party arrangements
- personal services income structures
- documentation versus commercial reality
Tax planning is an opportunity to check structures, document commercial reasons, and ensure positions remain defensible before they are tested.
If you’d like to discuss how tax planning could help you, now is the ideal time to start the conversation.
Date: 24/04/2026
The Macro Group Limited AFSL: 485843 Tax Agent Number 24 76 5236.
The information in this article contains general information only. We have not taken into consideration any of your personal objectives, financial situation or needs. Before taking any action, you should consider whether the general advice contained in this communication is appropriate to you having regard to your circumstances and needs and seek appropriate professional advice if you think you need it. We recommend that you consult a licensed or authorised financial adviser if you require financial advice that takes into account your personal circumstances