What is sole trader return preparation?
The business schedule from reconciled books — income, deductions substantiated, ready for the agent.
A sole trader in Australia does not lodge a separate business tax return. Business income and expenses are reported inside the same individual tax return everyone lodges, as a Business and professional items schedule attached to it — one return, one Notice of Assessment, personal and business income combined. That structure changes what the work actually is: it is not building a second document, it is getting the business figures right enough that they slot cleanly into the schedule your registered tax agent is already preparing around your other income.
The year starts with an ABN, and if turnover has crossed $75,000 in a rolling twelve months, GST registration on top of it. Through the year the job is keeping business records — income, deductible expenses, any trading stock — reconciled well enough that year-end isn't a reconstruction exercise. At year-end, that ledger has to answer four questions cleanly: what income was earned, what expenses are properly deductible and substantiated, what depreciation or instant asset write-off applies to equipment bought in the year, and what trading stock, if any, sits on hand at 30 June.
Who does what
Prepared for your registered tax agent to advise on and lodge.
Who does what
| Your CapEasy team | Sole trader return preparation, the reconciliations and reporting behind it, and the questions list that keeps it honest. |
| Your registered BAS or tax agent | Everything that carries a licence in Australia — rendered exactly as written: work out what goes on your bas, or advise you on it — under tasa 2009 that requires registration we do not hold. |
| You | One conversation with one named person, and the decisions that are genuinely yours. |
Sole trader return preparation in Australia
There is no separate sole trader return — the business schedule rides inside your individual return
Sole traders in Australia report business results as a Business and professional items schedule attached to the same individual tax return that covers salary, investment income and everything else — there is no standalone form to file. That means the business figures have to be accurate on their own terms and consistent with whatever else is on the return; a Notice of Assessment reflects the combined total, not a business result in isolation. We prepare the schedule figures; your registered tax agent reviews them against the rest of your return and lodges under the Tax Agent Services Act 2009.
GST registration is mandatory once turnover reaches $75,000 — it changes what the schedule reports
An ABN is required to trade as a sole trader, and GST registration becomes mandatory once turnover reaches $75,000 in a rolling twelve-month period (voluntary registration is available below that). Once registered, the business figures feeding the year-end schedule need to reconcile against what was reported on each period's BAS — income and expense totals should already tie to the GST-exclusive figures lodged through the year, not be reconstructed separately at year-end.
PAYG instalments paid during the year must offset the final liability, not sit alongside it
Once the ATO has a prior year's result to work from, it typically places a sole trader on quarterly PAYG instalments — prepayments toward the current year's tax, due 28 days after each quarter-end. Those instalments are meant to reduce the final amount owed on the Business and professional items schedule's calculated liability, not be treated as separate. We track instalments paid against ATO records through the year so the offset applied at year-end is the one your Notice of Assessment actually reflects.
The amendment window for sole traders is now four years, not two — but only from the 2024–25 year
Individuals generally have two years from the Notice of Assessment issue date to lodge a self-amendment. From the 2024–25 income year onward, sole traders specifically get a four-year window instead, matching the period most companies and trusts already have. That extra time matters for a business schedule with depreciation schedules or trading stock positions that sometimes only surface as wrong in a later review — but the four-year window applies to 2024–25 and later years only, not retrospectively.
What your registered BAS or tax agent receives from us
- A reconciled Business and professional items schedule — business income, deductible expenses and net result matched to source documents.
- A depreciation and instant asset write-off schedule for equipment purchased in the year, applied against the relevant thresholds and eligibility rules.
- A trading stock reconciliation where the business holds stock — opening and closing stock on hand at 30 June, valued consistently with prior years.
- A PAYG instalments summary — every instalment paid through the year matched to ATO instalment activity statements, ready to offset against the calculated liability.
- GST reconciliation notes tying the schedule's income and expense figures back to the BAS lodged for each period, for GST-registered sole traders.
- A substantiation file for every claimed deduction — invoices, receipts and the business-use apportionment where an expense is part-private, part-business.
