If you run a building or construction business and paid subbies during the 2025-26 financial year, your TPAR due 28th August deadline is getting close.

TPAR stands for Taxable Payments Annual Report. It tells the ATO how much your business paid contractors and subcontractors for certain services during the financial year.

Not every tradie who pays a contractor automatically needs to lodge one. For building and construction businesses, the ATO generally considers you to operate primarily in the industry when 50% or more of your business income comes from building and construction services. You can check the ATO’s TPAR rules for building and construction businesses if you are unsure.

The ATO looks at the payments you actually made between 1st July 2025 and 30th June 2026. It does not use the date on the subbie’s invoice.

So, if a subbie invoiced you in June but you paid them in July, that payment goes into next year’s TPAR instead. TPAR reporting works on a cash basis.

If you have kept your bookkeeping up-to-date during the year, most of the information should already sit in your accounting software. You still need to check it before you lodge.

Xero, MYOB, or QuickBooks can only work with the information sitting in the file.

Here are five checks worth doing now.

Step 1: Get Your Full Subbie List

Start with a list of every subbie you paid during the 2025-26 financial year.

Don’t rely only on the names showing in your draft TPAR. A subbie can drop off the report if you didn’t set them up correctly or if you coded their payments somewhere unexpected.

Check your contractor accounts, supplier list, and bank transactions. Make sure you have captured everyone you actually paid.

You’re checking payments made from 1st July 2025 to 30th June 2026, not invoices dated during that period.

🔧 Quick example: A sparky sends you a $4,000 invoice on 25th June, but you pay it on 3rd July. That $4,000 belongs in the 2026-27 TPAR, not the 2025-26 report.

Step 2: Check Each Subbie’s Details

For each subbie in the report, confirm their:

• correct name or business name
• ABN
• address
• total amount you paid, including GST
• total GST included in those payments
• tax withheld if they did not quote an ABN

The ATO requires these details when you prepare your TPAR.

Use the subbie’s invoices to check what sits in your accounting software. Don’t assume the details you entered two years ago still apply today.

You can also check their ABN through ABN Lookup. It lets you check whether an ABN is active or cancelled and view its GST registration status.

Did a subbie change ABNs during the year? Check that carefully too. The ATO says you should include each ABN that applied to that contractor during the year.

Step 3: Check Which Payments Belong in the TPAR

Your TPAR covers payments to subbies for building and construction services.

If an invoice combines labour and materials, report the full amount you paid, including GST. You don’t split the labour from the materials for TPAR purposes.

On the other hand, leave out purchases that only cover materials or supplies with no service involved.

Leave employees out as well. You report their wages through payroll and Single Touch Payroll, not through TPAR.

You also leave out an invoice you hadn’t paid by 30th June because TPAR uses the payment date rather than the invoice date.

This is where the file can get messy, especially if suppliers, subbies and employees all sit in different places.

Step 4: Match the TPAR to Your Bookkeeping

Run a draft TPAR from your accounting software, then compare it with your bookkeeping records.

Check that:

• you have included every reportable subbie you paid
• no subbie appears twice under slightly different names
• the payments cover the correct financial year
• the GST figures make sense
• you have left out materials-only suppliers
• payments haven’t disappeared because they sit in the wrong account

Don’t assume the report is right just because Xero, MYOB, or QuickBooks produced it.

Accounting software can produce a very tidy report from very untidy information.

If the coding is wrong, the TPAR can also be wrong.

Fix any bookkeeping errors first. Then run the report again and check the new totals.

Step 5: Lodge It by 28th August

Once you have checked the subbie details, payments, and GST, lodge the final TPAR by 28th August 2026.

The ATO confirms that TPARs are due by 28th August each year.

You can lodge through:

• online services for business
• online services for individuals and sole traders
• compatible SBR-enabled accounting software
• your registered BAS or tax agent

The ATO no longer accepts paper TPAR lodgements.

Save the lodgement confirmation with your business records once you’re done.

If your bookkeeper, BAS agent, or accountant will lodge it for you, make sure they have everything they need before the deadline. A missing ABN or mystery payment on 27th August isn’t much fun for anyone.

Make Next Year’s TPAR Easier

TPAR shouldn’t turn into a full clean-up job every August.

The simplest approach is to get each new subbie right from the start.

Check their ABN. Save their correct business details. Keep their bills in your accounting software. Code their payments consistently and mark them correctly for TPAR where your software requires it.

Then keep those records up-to-date week-to-week.

That small routine means you aren’t digging through 12 months of bank transactions trying to remember who did what.

It also makes the rest of your bookkeeping easier. Our bookkeeping services for tradies focus on keeping those records current throughout the year, rather than waiting for a deadline to find the problems.

Paid subbies during 2025-26, but not sure whether your records are ready?

Get in touch with Tradies Bookkeeping before 28th August. We can check your subbie payments, sort out the bookkeeping, and help get your TPAR ready to lodge properly and on time.

Don’t leave it until the last smoko before the deadline.