TPAR due 28 August: haven't lodged yet? Here's what to do now

What is the TPAR?

The TPAR is an annual report to the ATO that shows the payments your business made to contractors for services during the financial year. It works a bit like an employee payment summary, but for contractors instead of staff.

The ATO uses this information to cross-check that contractors are declaring the income they receive. The report itself doesn't create a tax bill — it's a reporting obligation — but lodging it correctly, and on time, keeps you off the ATO's watch list.

Who has to lodge a TPAR?

You generally need to lodge a TPAR if your business operates in one of the specified industries and you pay contractors for services:

• Building and construction — builders, trades, and anyone in the construction supply chain, including head contractors and subcontractors.
• Cleaning services — commercial and residential cleaning businesses.
• Courier services.
• Information technology — IT businesses paying contractors for services such as software development or consulting.
• Road freight transport.
• Security services and investigation services.
• Government entities, and businesses making payments under certain government grants.

Haven't lodged yet? Do it now

If your TPAR was due on 28 August and still hasn't been lodged, don't wait for the ATO to come looking — late lodgement can attract penalties, and the ATO actively follows up missing TPARs in reportable industries.

The good news: once your contractor records are in order, preparing and lodging a TPAR is usually a quick job. The longer you leave it, the more likely it is that contractor details have gone missing, records have been archived, or a penalty notice has already arrived.

What counts as a payment to report?

The rules are about payments for services — not payments for goods alone. You generally report the total of what you paid, including GST.

• Labour-only contractor payments, and payments for a mixture of goods and services where the service component is substantial.
• Payments to subcontractors on building projects, including labour bundled into progress claims.
• Commission payments, such as to agents or couriers.
• Payments where the contractor didn't quote an ABN (you may also have an obligation to withhold tax in that situation).

What information do you need for each contractor?

For every contractor you report, you'll need their ABN (where known), their name and address, and the total payments you made including GST. If tax was withheld because no ABN was quoted, that amount is reported too.

The biggest pain point in practice is contractor details that were never captured — an ABN that was never recorded, or a supplier card with a PO box but no street address. That's why the fix for next year's TPAR starts with how contractor details are entered in your accounting software today.

Getting your data ready in QBO, Xero or MYOB

Whichever platform you use, the same principles apply: contractor payments need to be identifiable, and contractor cards need complete details.

• Xero: use the TPAR report to gather payments, and make sure contact records include ABN and address fields before you run it.
• MYOB: AccountRight and Business both have TPAR tools that identify reportable payments — check your tracking or category setup first.
• QuickBooks Online: there's no native TPAR report, so contractor payments are best tracked with a dedicated supplier type or account; we can help you extract and format the data for lodgement.
• Check for missing ABNs now — an ABN lookup against your supplier list takes minutes and saves a scramble at next year's deadline.

What if you didn't pay any contractors?

If you're in a reportable industry but paid no contractors for services during the year, you may still need to lodge a nil TPAR. It's a quick lodgement, but it's easy to forget — and a missed TPAR can attract penalties even when nothing was owed.

Businesses outside the specified industries generally don't lodge a TPAR, but it's worth confirming your situation rather than assuming, especially if your services span more than one industry.

How a registered BAS agent can help

A registered BAS agent can determine whether the TPAR applies to you, tidy up contractor records in your software, and prepare and lodge the report on your behalf — alongside your BAS and payroll obligations.

If your TPAR is already overdue, don't put it off any further. We can pull your contractor data together quickly, lodge the report, and set things up so next year's TPAR is a five-minute job instead of a last-minute panic. And if your bookkeeping is behind generally, our rescue bookkeeping service can bring everything up to date.