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It might seem like a good idea to lodge your tax return as soon as the financial year ends – with costs of living rising you might be hoping for a refund, or you might just want to tick it off your to-do list for another 12 months. But the ATO has warned that early July lodgers are twice as likely to make mistakes on their returns, and recommends that tax returns be submitted later in July.

In 2024, over 140,000 people who lodged in the first two weeks of July had to lodge amendments, or had the ATO investigate and amend their returns to fix inaccuracies like income that hadn’t been declared properly.

Lodging towards the end of July allows time for information from employers, banks, health funds and government agencies to be automatically pre-filled in your tax return if you lodge your own return via myTax or use a registered tax agent. While some pre-filled data’s available from 1 July, most usually finalised by the end of the month. The ATO notes that early lodgers often make mistakes like not including interest from banks, dividend income, government agency income and health insurance details.

Take your time to properly prepare for lodging your returns while you wait for the relevant information to pre-fill, by:

• checking contact and bank details are correct, as updating these after lodging a return can cause delays;
• gathering all necessary records, including receipts, diaries and private health insurance details; and
• reviewing the ATO’s occupation guides to make sure you claim what you’re entitled to.

You should also check that your income statement from your employer/s (covering your year-to-date salary and wages, PAYG withholding tax and employer super contributions) has been marked “tax ready”.

Once it’s available, check that all the pre-filled information is complete and correct. Note that you can’t delete or remove pre-filled government benefit data for Allowance or Pension payments (eg Jobseeker, Age Pension, Disability Support Pension). If you find errors in that information, contact the information provider so they can send corrections to the ATO.

Whether you lodge early in July or wait until later to ensure that you have all of your pre-filled data, the ATO understands that mistakes can sometimes happen. If you realise you've made a mistake after lodging your tax return, you can fix errors or omissions once the initial lodgement has been processed by going through the ATO online amendment process (accessible through myGov) or by speaking with your registered tax agent.