Stay Ahead on Tax

Your 12-Point Checklist for 2025

As the end of the tax year approaches, now is the time to get your finances in order and ensure you’re making the most of every opportunity to optimise your tax position. Because let’s be real—nobody enjoys last-minute tax scrambles. Whether you’re a business owner, property investor, or self-employed, taking proactive steps now can help you avoid costly surprises (and unnecessary stress-eating).

Here’s your 12-point checklist to help you stay ahead on tax for 2025:

1. Review Your Contracts(Avoid Surprise Tax Bills)

Have you invoiced retentions that don’t need to be paid until next year? If they are payable this tax year, they will be classed as taxable income for 2024-2025.

2. Employee Expenses & Holiday Pay(Give, But Plan!)

If you’ve committed to paying holiday pay, bonuses, redundancy payments, or long service leave by year-end and settle them within 63 days of balance date, you can claim a deduction this year. Just make sure your calculations are correct—no one likes revisiting payroll figures after the fact.

3. Make the Most of Credit Notes (A Clever Tax Strategy)

Issued any credit notes after the balance date? You might be able to apply them to the current tax year and reduce your taxable income. Review outstanding credits—because who doesn’t love paying less tax (legally, of course)?

4. Prepay Expenses Where Possible (Future You Will Thank You)

You can prepay certain expenses before March 31—such as stationery, postage, and courier costs—to claim deductions sooner. A little planning now could mean keeping more money in your pocket later. And that means more coffee. Win-win.

5. Write Off Bad Debts (If They’re Not Paying, Why Should You?)

Got unpaid invoices? If you’ve made reasonable efforts to recover them but they remain unpaid, writing them off before March 31 can allow you to claim them as a deduction. Because let’s be honest, chasing bad debtors is about as fun as explaining GST to your teenager.

6. Assess Fixed Assets (Declutter Your Balance Sheet)

If you have assets you’re no longer using, you may be able to write them off. This isn’t just financial spring cleaning—it can help tidy up your balance sheet and potentially give you a tax advantage.

7. Plan for Tax Losses (A Silver Lining to a Tough Year?)

Making a loss this financial year or carrying losses from prior years? Talk to your accountant about carry forwards, loss offset elections, and subvention payments to make sure you’re squeezing every benefit possible out of a less-than-ideal situation.

8. Track Prompt Payment Discounts (Good Deeds Can Pay Off)

If you’ve offered discounts for prompt payment and maintain a discount reserve, it might be deductible. Keep clear records to ensure compliance—because rewarding good behaviour (like clients paying on time) should come with perks.

9. Complete Repairs & Maintenance(Fix It Now, Save on Tax Later)

Carrying out repairs or maintenance before year-end can allow you to claim deductions now rather than waiting another year. This applies to business assets, commercial properties, and even software development and improvements. Just don’t confuse maintenance with major renovations—that’s a different story tax-wise.

10. Review Dividends & Imputation Credits (Because Surprise Penalties Are the Worst)

If you’re paying dividends, ensure they’re finalised before March 31. Also, check that your imputation credit account isn’t in debit—otherwise, you could face penalties. If you have overdrawn shareholder current accounts with no interest charged, you may need to address deemed dividend issues. Because the only surprises we like are birthday parties, not tax penalties.

11. Manage Your Stock (Less Clutter, More Cash Flow)

If you hold inventory, now is the time to review it. Consider:

• Writing down obsolete stock to its net realisable value.
• Disposing of excess stock before year-end (because nobody wants to keep that pile of unsellable widgets another year).
• If your stock is under $10,000 and annual turnover is less than $1.3M, you may not need to account for stock movements for tax purposes. Less admin? Yes, please.

12. Consider Building & Property Tax Changes (The Fine Print Matters)

If you own commercial buildings, note that tax depreciation deductions are no longer available from April 1, 2024. This will impact your 2025 tax payable.

For residential property investors, interest deductibility on rental property loans is increasing to 80% for the 2025 tax year, with a full 100% deduction reinstated from April 1, 2025. If property is your game, make sure you’re up to speed on these changes.