Small Business Monthly Compliance Calendar

Why monthly is the right unit

Most compliance failures aren't caused by ignorance — they're caused by lumpiness. Obligations arrive in bursts (quarter ends, year end), and businesses that only think about compliance when a deadline looms are permanently sprinting. The fix is to convert everything into a monthly rhythm: a short, repeatable close process that makes each statutory deadline a non-event. What follows is general information — your actual dates depend on your registrations, state and lodgement method, so confirm them with the ATO, your state revenue office and your agent.

The core monthly loop (every month, every business)

• Reconcile bank accounts — the foundation everything else sits on.
• Review debtors and chase overdue invoices — compliance and cash flow share a calendar for a reason: BAS is easier to pay when customers have paid you.
• Review payables and confirm super and PAYG amounts accrued through the month's pay runs actually went out (payday super means these now move with every pay cycle).
• Lodge monthly obligations if they apply to you — monthly BAS or IAS, and payroll tax returns if you're over your state's threshold.
• Glance at the next 60 days — what's due, who owns it, what data it needs.

Quarter-end months carry extra load

Four times a year — after the September, December, March and June quarters — quarterly BAS lodgers add GST, PAYG withholding and PAYG instalment reporting to the monthly loop. The statement falls due about a month after quarter end on the ATO's published dates, with extra time typically available through a registered agent. If your monthly reconciliations are current, quarter end is an hour's work; if they're not, it's a lost week.

The heavy months of the financial year

• July — the year's biggest reset. New minimum and award rates apply from the first full pay period (check the Fair Work Ombudsman), super settings and other thresholds can change (check the ATO), STP finalisation for the year just ended falls due, and the June-quarter BAS lands too.
• August — TPAR territory: businesses in the ATO's listed industries that pay contractors lodge their annual report around now (the ATO publishes the date).
• Autumn — the FBT year closes on its own cycle; if you provide vehicles or benefits, the return follows (dates from the ATO).
• Year-round — income tax return timing depends on your entity and agent arrangements; your workers compensation wage declaration and payroll tax annual reconciliation cluster near year end in most states.

Ongoing obligations with no date attached

Some duties never appear on a calendar because they apply continuously: STP with every pay run, super with every payday, record-keeping retention, WHS duties and privacy obligations. These belong in your standard operating procedures, not your diary — the calendar handles what recurs on dates; process handles what recurs on events.

Turning this into a system

• Write down every obligation that applies to you, its cadence, and its named owner — one page is enough.
• Confirm the actual current dates with each authority once a year, every July.
• Set reminders two weeks before each date, addressed to the owner, not a shared inbox.
• Do the monthly loop on the same day each month so it becomes habit, not decision.

If the monthly loop keeps stalling because everything routes through you, the calendar isn't the constraint — the operating model is. See how to systemise your business and what a modern SME back office looks like when compliance runs without the owner in the loop.