Australia / Guides / Can you legally do your own company tax return in Australia?
Australia · guideCan you legally do your own company tax return in Australia?
The short answer
It is legal for a company to self-lodge its own income tax return — there is no statutory requirement to engage a tax agent, and a company officer can prepare and lodge the return through the ATO's systems directly, in principle the same way an individual self-lodges via myTax. In practice almost no company does this, because the return itself is harder to get right than an individual return: it requires correctly determining base-rate-entity status (aggregated turnover under $50 million and no more than 80% base-rate passive income, which sets the rate at 25% rather than 30%), reconciling and updating the franking account for dividends paid or received, and, for companies with director loan accounts, complying with Division 7A so those transactions are not deemed unfranked dividends. Self-lodging also forfeits the registered agent lodgment program's extended deadline, which can push the effective due date months past the standard 31 October cutoff.
Key facts — verified dates on each
The legal answer: yes, self-lodgment is permitted
Nothing in Australian tax law requires a company to engage a registered tax agent to lodge its own income tax return. The ATO's lodgment channels — Standard Business Reporting-enabled software or, for a genuinely simple micro-company with the right software capability, direct lodgment — are open to any company willing to prepare the return itself, and there is no ATO lodgment fee whether the company self-lodges or uses an agent.
What is regulated is charging a fee to prepare or lodge someone else's company return: that requires the preparer to be a TPB-registered tax agent under the Tax Agent Services Act 2009. A company preparing and lodging its own return is not "someone else" providing a service for a fee, so that registration requirement simply does not apply to a company acting for itself, exactly as it does not apply to an individual self-lodging their own return.
Gate one: the base-rate-entity test decides your tax rate
A company return requires determining which of two company tax rates applies before the liability can be calculated at all: 25% for a base-rate entity, 30% otherwise. Base-rate-entity status turns on two conditions that must both hold — aggregated turnover under $50 million, and no more than 80% of the company's assessable income made up of base-rate-entity passive income (interest, rent, royalties, dividends, and net capital gains). Getting this wrong in either direction misstates the entire return: applying 25% to a company that fails the passive-income test understates the liability, and the reverse overstates it.
This determination is not a one-line lookup — it requires classifying every income stream correctly against the passive-income definition and tracking aggregated turnover across any connected or affiliated entities, work that sits well past what most company officers do routinely.
Gate two: the franking account has to be reconciled, not just remembered
A company that pays or receives franked dividends must maintain and update a franking account reflecting the tax paid at the company level that entitles those dividends to a franking credit. The company return requires reconciling accounting profit to taxable income — capital allowances, tax losses carried forward, add-backs — and updating the franking account balance for the year's dividend activity as part of that same return.
An incorrect franking account balance does not just misstate the company's own return; it can misstate the franking credits passed on to shareholders, who rely on that figure in their own returns — an error that compounds outward rather than staying contained to the company's own filing.
Gate three: Division 7A turns shareholder loans into deemed dividends if you get it wrong
Division 7A of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1936 treats certain loans, payments, or forgiven debts from a private company to a shareholder or their associate as an unfranked deemed dividend, unless the arrangement is structured as a complying loan agreement — in writing, executed before the company's lodgment day for the year the loan was made, with minimum annual repayments and interest charged at least at the ATO's published benchmark rate. For the 2025–26 income year that benchmark rate is 8.37%, set from the RBA's housing variable indicator rate ahead of the year.
The minimum yearly repayment is due by 30 June each year; a shortfall converts the unpaid portion into a deemed unfranked dividend on that year's company return, with real tax consequences for the shareholder receiving it. Any company with a director loan account carries this as a recurring annual compliance obligation embedded inside the company return, not a one-off setup step — one of the specific reasons company returns are described as needing a "complexity layer" beyond a standard small-business filing.
- Base-rate-entity test: aggregated turnover under $50 million AND no more than 80% passive income → 25% rate; otherwise 30%.
- Franking account: must be reconciled and updated for dividends paid or received as part of the same return.
- Division 7A: shareholder loans/payments need a complying loan agreement (minimum repayments, benchmark-rate interest) or they become deemed unfranked dividends; the 2025–26 benchmark rate is 8.37%, and the minimum yearly repayment falls due by 30 June.
What a self-lodging company gives up: the agent deadline
Beyond the substance of the return, self-lodging a company return means facing the standard lodgment timetable — broadly 31 October, with an earlier date applying to companies that had tax payable above a threshold in the prior year. Lodging through a registered tax agent instead opens the agent lodgment program, which extends the effective due date considerably — commonly out to 15 May of the following year for companies without an earlier payment-date trigger — provided the company was added to the agent's client list ahead of the standard cutoff.
Separately from the income tax return, a proprietary company also has an annual ASIC review obligation — including a $342 annual review fee for FY2025–26 for a standard (non-special-purpose) proprietary company — which runs on its own timetable regardless of who prepares the tax return.
Where this leaves the decision, and where CapEasy sits
The legal answer and the practical answer point in different directions on purpose: self-lodgment is allowed, but the base-rate-entity test, franking account, and Division 7A compliance are the reasons company returns are, in practice, almost always prepared with a registered tax agent involved — the return has more moving parts than most company officers handle correctly without that support, and the agent-lodgment deadline extension is a real, forfeited benefit for going it alone.
CapEasy's role here is on the preparation side: reconciling accounts, organising records, and assembling the underlying figures — sales, expenses, dividend activity, loan-account movements — into a workpaper package a company can either use to self-lodge or hand to its own registered tax agent for review and lodgment. CapEasy does not determine the company's base-rate-entity status as tax advice, does not hold TPB registration, and does not lodge a company return for a fee; that determination and lodgment sit with the company's own registered tax agent.
The figures, and when we checked them
These numbers change by year or by notification. Each one shows the date we last verified it against the source — if that date looks old, check the source before relying on it.
Questions on this
Is it legal for a company to lodge its own tax return without a tax agent?
Yes. No law requires a company to engage a registered tax agent to lodge its own return. The TPB registration requirement applies to someone charging a fee to prepare or lodge a return on another entity's behalf, not to a company acting for itself.
Why do almost all companies use a tax agent anyway, if self-lodgment is legal?
Because the return itself is genuinely complex: correctly applying the base-rate-entity test (turnover and passive-income thresholds that set the 25% vs 30% rate), reconciling the franking account, and getting Division 7A shareholder-loan compliance right all sit inside the one return, and errors in any of them have real tax consequences beyond a simple filing mistake.
What is the base-rate-entity test and why does it matter?
It determines which company tax rate applies: 25% if aggregated turnover is under $50 million and no more than 80% of assessable income is base-rate-entity passive income (interest, rent, royalties, dividends, net capital gains); 30% otherwise. Applying the wrong rate misstates the entire tax liability.
What happens if a director loan doesn't meet Division 7A requirements?
A loan, payment, or forgiven debt from a private company to a shareholder or associate that isn't structured as a complying loan agreement — written, executed before lodgment day, minimum annual repayments, interest at least at the ATO's benchmark rate (8.37% for 2025–26) — is treated as a deemed unfranked dividend, with tax consequences for the shareholder.
What deadline does a self-lodging company give up compared to using a registered agent?
Self-lodged company returns follow the standard due date, broadly 31 October (earlier for companies with a prior-year payment-date trigger). A company added to a registered tax agent's client list before the standard cutoff can access the agent lodgment program, commonly extending the effective deadline to 15 May of the following year.
Does the company tax return cover the ASIC annual review too?
No, they are separate obligations. The ASIC annual review (including its $342 fee for a standard proprietary company in FY2025–26) runs on the company's own ASIC review date and is a distinct process from the ATO income tax return, though many accounting firms handle both.
Can CapEasy prepare or lodge a company tax return for an Australian client?
CapEasy reconciles accounts and assembles the underlying workpaper package — sales, expenses, dividend and loan-account activity — for a company to self-lodge or hand to its own registered tax agent. CapEasy does not determine base-rate-entity status as tax advice, does not hold TPB registration, and does not lodge a company return for a fee.
Which guide covers whether I need a tax agent or accountant at all, beyond just the company return?
See the companion guide on whether you need a tax agent or accountant — it covers that broader question across entity types, while this guide focuses specifically on what a company return requires if you self-lodge.
Primary sources
- Australian Taxation Office — Company tax rates 2025–26
- Australian Taxation Office — Registered agent lodgment program (for tax professionals)
- Australian Taxation Office — Division 7A benchmark interest rate
- ASIC — Company annual review
Last reviewed 2026-08-16. Statutes and schedules change — the sources above are authoritative, this page is orientation.
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