The financial year just ended, myGov is warming up, and the deadline is 31 October. Here is the timing that matters and the traps that catch early birds.
Checked against ATO guidance, July 2026. 31 Oct deadline for lodging through myTax; late July is when prefill data is usually complete; about 2 weeks for most online refunds to land.
The financial year ends 30 June. If you lodge yourself through myTax, the deadline is 31 October. Using a registered tax agent buys you longer, often into May next year, but only if you are on their books before 31 October. Miss the deadline with tax owing and late penalties start stacking.
Employers, banks and health funds feed your data to the ATO through July. Lodge in the first days of the year and you are typing numbers the ATO has not verified yet. Get one wrong and you are amending your return in August. Waiting until late July, when prefill is marked complete, makes lodging faster and safer.
Your income statement (finalised by your employer by 14 July), your deduction records for the year, your private health cover statement, and the bank account you want the refund in. If your records lived in a shoebox all year, this is the annual reckoning.
Most online returns are processed within two weeks, and you get a notice of assessment confirming the final numbers. Keep it, and keep your records for five years. If something changed after you lodged, you can amend online rather than panic.
Where Nomo fits: Nomo turns the worst part of lodging, reconstructing a year of deductions, into a single export. A tax ready report of every trip, receipt and home hour, ready for myTax or your accountant. Review it, lodge it, done.
General information only, not tax advice. Rules change and everyone’s situation is different, so check ato.gov.au or talk to a registered tax agent before you lodge. Nomo is a record keeping tool and does not lodge returns.