NSW Compliance Calendar

Two layers, one calendar

A NSW business runs on two compliance layers. The federal layer — BAS, PAYG, superannuation, STP, income tax, TPAR, FBT — is the same everywhere in Australia and answers to the ATO. The state layer answers to Revenue NSW, icare and SafeWork NSW, and it's the layer owners most often miss because it doesn't come up in conversations with their accountant. This calendar covers the cadence of both; for the current due date of any item, go to the relevant authority — dates move, and the authority's website is always right where a static page can go stale. Treat this as general guidance and check your own position with your adviser.

The federal rhythm (same nationwide)

• Quarterly — BAS lodgement and payment, PAYG instalments, and superannuation guarantee (watch the payday super reform, which shifts super from quarterly to per-pay-run — confirm timing and transition rules with the ATO).
• Each pay run — STP reporting on or before payday.
• Annually — STP finalisation after year end, income tax return per your agent's program, TPAR if you're in a reportable industry, FBT if you provide benefits, and the ASIC annual review for companies.

Revenue NSW: payroll tax

Payroll tax applies once your Australia-wide wages exceed the NSW threshold — and grouped businesses are assessed together, which catches plenty of owners with more than one entity. Liable employers generally lodge monthly returns plus an annual reconciliation after year end. Revenue NSW publishes the current threshold, rate and due dates; if your wages bill is anywhere near the threshold, check it every year rather than assuming last year's answer still holds.

icare: workers insurance

• Hold a policy — compulsory for almost every NSW employer, arranged through icare.
• Annual wages declaration — declare actual wages so your premium is trued up; under-declaring means a catch-up bill later.
• Renewal — premiums are recalculated on renewal based on wages, industry classification and claims history. Diarise it; letting a policy lapse is a serious exposure.

NSW-specific extras

• Portable long service leave — the NSW Long Service Corporation runs portable schemes for building and construction and contract cleaning. If you're in those industries, worker registration and levy returns are an extra cadence on top of ordinary long service leave.
• Long service leave — NSW's own Act sets accrual and payout rules that differ from other states; check the current entitlements with NSW Industrial Relations before an employee hits a milestone.
• Public holidays — NSW observes the standard national set plus its own arrangement of King's Birthday, Labour Day and (for banks and certain financial institutions only) the August Bank Holiday. Check the NSW Government's published holiday list each year before building rosters — penalty rates under your award turn on it.
• SafeWork NSW — WHS duties are ongoing rather than dated: incident notification, consultation, and licence/registration renewals for high-risk work.

Turning the list into a system

The state layer is where "we didn't know" happens most, because no single adviser owns it. The fix is boring and effective: one shared calendar, every obligation entered with the authority's current date, and a named owner for each — not the founder for all of them. If every renewal and reconciliation still lands on one desk, that's a founder dependency problem wearing a compliance costume, and it's exactly what a connected back office is built to absorb.