FY27 Tax Planning for Australian Small Business: The Decisions That Matter
Tax planning is not deduction hunting. Here are the structural decisions that change your FY27 position, ranked by dollar impact.
Tax planning is not deduction hunting. Here are the structural decisions that change your FY27 position, ranked by dollar impact.
Most grant content lists programs and goes stale in a quarter. This explains eligibility architecture — so you stop wasting weeks applying for things you were never going to get.
The SG rate hit its legislated ceiling on 1 July 2025. The rate is done rising — but Payday Super changed the timing, which matters more for cash than the rate does.
The ATO issued around 85,000 director penalty notices in 2024-25 covering $5.5 billion. Here is what triggers one, and the 21-day window that follows.
The $20,000 permanent write-off was announced in the May 2026 Budget. Announced is not the same as legislated — and the difference matters if you are timing a purchase.
NSW $1.2m at 5.45%. VIC $1m at 4.85% with a phase-out. QLD $1.3m at 4.75%. Here is what crossing the threshold costs, and the grouping trap that catches people out.
The general interest charge runs at around 10.96% a year, compounds daily, and stopped being tax-deductible on 1 July 2025. Australian small business owes $35.9 billion of it.
Award rates rose 4.75% and the minimum wage 5.97% to $26.44/hr from 1 July 2026. The headline percentage understates the real cost by roughly a third.
A practical checklist for the Payday Super change: payroll setup, clearing house migration, the seven-business-day rule and the cash buffer you actually need.
Payday Super started 1 July 2026. Research puts the average Australian SME’s additional working capital requirement at over $124,000 — and 68% of businesses had made no preparation at all.