Registered agent lodgment program public holidays

When does the next-business-day rule apply?

The ATO rule for lodgment and payment dates on weekends or public holidays allows an approved form to be lodged, or a tax debt to be paid, on the next business day when its due date is not a business day. A business day excludes Saturdays, Sundays and qualifying public holidays.

The ATO states, "A public holiday is defined as a day that is a public holiday for the whole of any state or territory in Australia." Consequently, taxpayers in every state and territory can use the first business day where a due date falls on a public holiday observed across an entire state or territory, even if the holiday is not observed locally.

This is an automatic timing rule, rather than a reason to seek a deferral. The ATO guidance on lodgment deferrals says agents do not need to request one when a lodgment or payment date falls on a weekend or public holiday, because lodging or paying on the next business day is available.

Where exceptional or unforeseen circumstances affect an ability to lodge, the ATO says lodgment deferrals can provide additional time without a failure-to-lodge-on-time penalty. Eligible obligations include tax returns, FBT returns, monthly and quarterly activity statements with stated exclusions, annual GST returns, payment summary annual reports and taxable payments annual reports.

The ATO says it monitors lodgment performance and deferral use, and may contact agents with higher levels of non-compliance or high deferral use. Public holiday dates can also change during the year, and the ATO says it reviews and updates its tables with current information.

These dates are published examples, not assumptions based on a practice’s office closure dates. For example, the ATO table identifies 25 December 2026 as Christmas Day and gives 29 December 2026 as the first business day, while 31 December 2026 in NT and SA moves to 4 January 2027.

How do registered agent program dates fit the rule?

The ATO monthly index lists registered agent lodgment program dates from July 2026 through June 2027. Each month has its own page, including July 2026 and May 2027, so a practice should identify the applicable monthly page before recording its workflow date.

For example, the ATO’s July 2026 due-date page lists 21 July 2026 for lodging and paying the June 2026 monthly BAS. It lists 28 July 2026 for lodging and paying quarter 4, 2025–26 activity statements lodged by paper, and for making quarter 4 super guarantee contributions to funds.

The same July 2026 page says an employer that does not pay minimum quarter 4 super contributions by 28 July must lodge a super guarantee charge statement and pay the charge by 28 August 2026 to avoid additional penalties. It also lists 31 July for several reporting obligations, including the TFN report for closely held trusts where relevant.

The ATO PAYG withholding payment summary annual report guidance gives 14 August for large withholders with annual withholding above $1 million, or for those lodging without a registered agent.

For payers using a registered agent, excluding large withholders, that ATO page gives 30 September. It also says that the ATO may apply a failure-to-lodge-on-time penalty if a client’s payment summary annual report is not lodged by its required lodgment due date.

Further into the program, the ATO’s May 2027 page lists 15 May to lodge 2026 tax returns for entities not required earlier and not eligible for the 5 June concession. It lists 21 May for the April 2027 monthly BAS and 26 May for eligible electronically lodged quarter 3, 2026–27 activity statements.

What should a practice check before the due date?

Practices should identify the published ATO date for the specific obligation and compare it with the ATO business-day definition and public-holiday table. The regulator says public-holiday dates may change during the year and will update its tables with current information, making a current check preferable to relying on a static calendar.

1. Locate the current date for the specific obligation in the ATO’s monthly program or obligation-type pages.
2. Check the stated date against the ATO definition of a business day and its current public-holiday table.
3. Record the result of that date check in the client workflow, separately identifying lodgment and payment tasks.

For repetitive preparation work around lodgment, DeskMate takes on gathering, chasing, matching and formatting, and it retrieves the activity statement lodgment report and client report without lodging anything. The skill library lists fixed, repeatable workflows that a practice records once, while the knowledge centre provides plain-English, regulator-sourced, dated articles about obligations Australian practices carry.