The Australian financial year runs from 1 July to 30 June. It ends on 30 June, which is why 30 June is called the end of the financial year, or EOFY. The next financial year starts the following day, on 1 July.
This is not the same as the calendar year, and it is not the same as the tax year used in the United States or the United Kingdom, both of which end on different dates. If you have moved here or you work with overseas clients, that mismatch is the usual source of confusion.
Financial year dates
| Financial year | Starts | Ends |
|---|---|---|
| 2024–25 | 1 July 2024 | 30 June 2025 |
| 2025–26 | 1 July 2025 | 30 June 2026 |
| 2026–27 | 1 July 2026 | 30 June 2027 |
| 2027–28 | 1 July 2027 | 30 June 2028 |
What financial year are we in?
Work it out from the month. From 1 July to 31 December you are in the financial year that ends in the following calendar year. From 1 January to 30 June you are in the one that ends in the current calendar year.
So in September 2026 you are in the 2026–27 financial year, which ends on 30 June 2027. In March 2027 you would still be in it.
Why FY26 means the year ending in 2026
A financial year spans two calendar years, so it gets written two ways. The long form names both, as in 2025–26. The short form, FY26, names only the year it ends in. FY26 is therefore 1 July 2025 to 30 June 2026.
This trips people up constantly, because FY26 intuitively reads as "the year starting in 2026". It does not. When a date matters and someone has written FY followed by two digits, confirm which year they mean rather than assuming.
Why 30 June and not 31 December?
It is inherited rather than designed. Australia took the 1 July to 30 June year from British practice at federation and never changed it, and New Zealand ends its year on 31 March for similar historical reasons. There is no accounting logic to recover here. The practical effect is that the busiest month for Australian bookkeeping is June, and the quietest is December, which is the reverse of the northern hemisphere.
When is tax time?
Tax time is the lodgment season that opens on 1 July, once the financial year has closed. If you lodge your own return it is due by 31 October. Through a registered tax agent it can be considerably later, provided you engaged them before 31 October. The due dates are set out in full here.
Opening on 1 July does not mean lodging on 1 July is wise. Employers, banks, health funds and government agencies report your data to the ATO on their own schedule, and a return lodged before that lands is one you are filling in from memory. If you are a contractor whose clients report payments to the ATO, most of that data only arrives after 28 August. Late August onwards avoids an amendment later.
What a small business should do before 30 June
The point of an EOFY routine is that the year closes cleanly, so the return is a reporting job rather than a reconstruction job. None of this is exotic.
- Reconcile the bank. Every transaction for the year matched to an invoice, a bill or an expense. Unreconciled transactions on 30 June become guesswork in October.
- Chase the unpaid invoices. June is the natural moment to clear overdue accounts, and an invoice left unchased for six months is considerably harder to collect than one chased in the week it fell due.
- Find the missing receipts. Substantiation is what deductions rest on. A claim you cannot evidence is a claim you should not make.
- Confirm what is deductible this year. An expense generally belongs to the year you incurred it. Bringing a genuine planned purchase forward into June can be sensible; inventing one to reduce tax is not, because you still spend the dollar to save a fraction of it.
- Deal with super properly. A personal contribution has to be received by the fund before 30 June to count in that year, and clearing houses take time, so late June is already too late. Claiming a deduction for it also requires lodging a notice of intent with the fund.
- Write off what is genuinely gone. Stock you will never sell and debts you will never recover.
- Take a copy of everything. You must keep business records for five years, and the cheapest moment to export them is while you still have access to the system that holds them.
Our guide to what a sole trader can claim covers the substantiation rules behind point three, and superannuation for sole traders covers the notice of intent behind point five.
Does the financial year change my BAS dates?
No. If you are registered for GST your BAS runs on quarters, and those quarters sit inside the financial year rather than replacing it. The quarter ending 30 June is the one that coincides with EOFY, which is why June feels like everything lands at once, but the BAS and the annual return are separate obligations with separate dates. The BAS calendar is here.
A note on EOFY sales
Most of what is advertised as EOFY is retail discounting that has nothing to do with your tax position. Buying equipment you do not need in June does not save you money. You spend the full amount and reduce your taxable income by that amount, which returns you a fraction of it at your marginal rate. A purchase is worth making in June only if you were going to make it anyway and bringing it forward suits the business.
Related reading
Frequently asked questions
30 June. The Australian financial year runs from 1 July to 30 June, so it ends on 30 June and the next one begins on 1 July. It does not follow the calendar year, and it differs from the tax years used in the United States and the United Kingdom.
Work it out from the month. Between 1 July and 31 December you are in the financial year ending in the following calendar year. Between 1 January and 30 June you are in the one ending in the current calendar year. In September 2026 that means the 2026 to 2027 financial year, which ends on 30 June 2027.
FY26 means the financial year ending on 30 June 2026, so 1 July 2025 to 30 June 2026. The short form names the year the financial year ends in, not the year it starts in. This is a common source of confusion, so confirm which year is meant when a date matters.
Tax time opens on 1 July, once the financial year has closed. Lodging immediately is usually a mistake, because employers, banks, health funds and government agencies report your data on their own schedule and the ATO pre-fills from it. For contractors whose payments are reported to the ATO, most of that data only arrives after 28 August.
Reconcile your bank account, chase unpaid invoices, collect missing receipts, confirm which expenses fall in this year, make any personal super contribution early enough for the fund to receive it before 30 June, write off stock and debts that are genuinely gone, and export a copy of your records. You must keep business records for five years.
For individuals and small businesses, yes. The income year your tax return covers is the same 1 July to 30 June period. Some entities can apply to the ATO for a substituted accounting period, usually to align with an overseas parent company, but that is an exception rather than the norm.
Only if you were going to make the purchase anyway. Buying equipment in June does not save you money on tax. You spend the full amount and reduce taxable income by that amount, which returns a fraction of it at your marginal rate. Bringing forward a genuine planned purchase can make sense; creating one to reduce tax does not.
Sources
The financial year dates, the lodgment season and the five year record-keeping period come from ato.gov.au, read on 21 September 2026. Deduction rules and thresholds change, so confirm current figures there or with a registered tax agent rather than from this page. Balaana is bookkeeping software, not a tax agent. This article is general information, not personal tax advice.