When you roll your eyes and think, Ugh, taxes, let me tell you why this episode could be a game changer for your business. Tax planning is not just about compliance. It’s about being strategic with your money so you can grow your business, save time, and most importantly, save money. So if you’ve ever felt like you’re leaving money on the table or stressing out over tax times as tax time season rolls around.

Grab a cup and settle in. By the end of this episode, you’ll understand exactly what tax planning really is and why it is one of the best investments you can make as a business owner.

  📍 Welcome to the business BFF, the podcast where fierce and fabulous business women come together for the kind of real talk and honest advice only your besties would give. I’m your host Emma Bowdler, founder of the Women’s Accountant, and I’m here to help you navigate the wild world of business, finance, and life.

Whether you are scaling up. Starting fresh or just need a pep talk from someone who gets it, you are in the right place. So grab your favourite bevy and get comfy. It’s time for a chat with your business BFFs.

 So tax planning in simple terms is when you and your accountant. Sit down, you get your accounts up to date to take a look at how your business is tracking. So that is generally about April or May every year. And together you’ll forecast what your profit is and more importantly, what your tax bill is likely to be at 30 June.

Now, once you’ve got those numbers in place, it’s all about building a plan. So whether it’s finding ways to reduce how much tax you’ll pay, or even in some cases, increasing your tax bill, tax planning means no surprises.

And let me tell you, as a business owner and an accountant, I freaking love it. I don’t do tax surprises, especially of the tax kind. So with tax planning, you know exactly where you stand and what’s coming. The second thing I wanna talk about is a bit of a myth and a myth buster. And that is that I’m a firm believer in paying taxes is a good thing.

So if I said that paying tax is a good thing, you’d probably roll your eyes, but stick with me here because it’s really important. Profit and tax are not the enemy. If we go into business, there should actually be the goal. If you’re paying tax, you’re making money. And if that’s one of the ways that, if that’s one of the reasons you went into business in the first place, it was to make more money with making more money comes with paying tax.

That’s just the reality of it. More profit can mean so many things for you and so many things for your business. It means you can invest back into your business for things like hiring staff, upgrading tools, or growing your brand. Making more money means that you can scale your operations and take things to the next level, and making more money can build financial security and freedom that you want for your family and your business.

The tax. It’s not something to dread, it’s an obligation that comes about from making a profit. If you’re not paying tax, you’re not making a profit. Simple as that. There’s no easy way to put it. That’s just the way it is. So if you’re paying tax, it’s because your business is profitable, it’s growing, and all your hard work is paying off.

You’re making money, and that’s a good thing. Just because paying tax is an obligation doesn’t mean you should be paying more than you need to. And that’s where tax planning comes into place. So the next thing I’ll talk to you about is some of the common tax strategies that you can put in place before 30 June to reduce whatever that tax bill might be.

So there is some really easy ways to do that. And the first one is maximising your deductions. So one of the easiest ways to reduce your tax bill is to make sure you are claiming every single one of those deductions that you are entitled to. And there’s a few clever ways to do this, and two of them are the most common strategies that we put in place.

And the first one is purchasing things on an account. So if you are a business that reports on an accruals basis, you claim the expenses as soon as they’re incurred, even if you haven’t paid for them yet. So think about a situation where you know, you might have an office works account and you might go and buy stationery and they’ll give you 30 days to pay.

On an accruals basis, you can claim that deduction as soon as you’ve got the invoice, and you don’t actually need to pay the bill until 30 June. So that can be a great way to boost your deductions, especially if you’re working on a tight cash flow. And you wanna bring some of those or bring that tax bill down.

The second way is to bring forward expenses. And so what I mean by that, it’s a strategy we use to prepay expenses that we know we’re going to use for the next financial year. So some of those might include paying your annual insurance premiums or your software premiums in advance. For me personally, IP prepay my rent in advance, so bringing that expense from the next financial year into the current financial year.

Really common is to do that with accountancy expenses as well. So by bringing those expenses forward, you can claim the deduction earlier than you normally would and reduce that tax bill now. So hopefully those things work for you. So the third thing is delaying invoices. So if you’ve had a really big year and you want to manage how much income you are showing before 30 June, delaying invoices might seem like a good idea, but here’s what you need to know.

As I mentioned with the expenses, most businesses report on an accruals basis. So what that means for your business is that as soon as you invoice a customer or a client, that is when the income is raised in your accounts. So it’s not when they’ve paid it, it’s when the invoice has been raised. So if you are trying to manage taxable income, then holding off sending some of those invoices until after 30 June can be a really effective strategy.

So by delaying those invoices, the income then falls into the next financial year and reduces your taxable income for this one. So that’s something definitely to consider. Another really common way to claim some more expenses is around superannuation. And superannuation is one of the smartest ways to reduce your tax bill.

But there’s two really important things that you need to know here. And so the first one I’ll talk about is your employee superannuation. Employee superannuation can only be claimed as a deduction if it’s actually being paid, and it has to be received by the employee’s fund before the due date. So if you have a look at the calendar for when your superannuation is due, often it’s due on the 25th or the 28th of the month.

Those funds have to be received by the fund, by the employee fund by that date. It is not the date that you pay it, so that one does catch people out. So if you are wanting to claim the June quarter superannuation for this financial year, you’ll need to pay it early. So you’ll need to pay it before 30th of June.

Keeping in mind that most clearing houses take about 10 days to allocate those employee funds, otherwise it rolls into the next year’s deduction. One other key thing that I’ll just mention with the employee superannuation is if it is not paid on time and in full, you do not get a tax deduction for it at all.

Okay. I’ll touch on this in another episode, but, if you are on our email list, you will see some correspondence about that in the lead up to 30 June. The second thing I wanna talk to you about superannuation is your personal superannuation contributions, and this is one of my favourite strategies.

Because it’s a deduction, not just for stuff, it’s a deduction that is contributing to your future self. So as a business owner and particularly I’m talking about sole traders here, if you operate in a company, chances are you are an employee. Of that company. But if you were a sole trader, you could make personal super contributions to your retirement fund and claim them as a tax deduction up to the limit.

So this is a really smart way to reduce your taxable income while boosting those retirement savings. Here are some of the things that you need to know about that. Currently for the 2025 financial year, the concessional contribution cap, so that’s how much you can put into superannuation and claim a tax deduction for is $30,000.

So the cap includes all types of contributions. So if you are an employee getting employer contributions, so let’s say you work part-time and your employers put in $10,000 of superannuation contributions, you could theoretically go and put in $20,000 and claim a deduction for that.

So with women over 55 being the fastest-growing demographic at risk of homelessness, every contribution matters. Another really effective. Easy way to reduce your taxable income is to review your debtors. Now, sometimes, no matter how hard you try, there will be clients or customers who just won’t pay.

And while that’s not ideal. If the debt isn’t collectible, you should really consider writing it off because as we’ve discussed, most of us report on an accruals basis, you’ve likely already declared that income and maybe you’ve even already paid tax on it as well. So by writing off those bad debts reverses that income, which reduces your taxable income for the year.

The next thing I wanna talk to you about is stock. So if you are a product-based business, there’s something that you really need to know about it, and that is that stock is not a tax deduction. Okay? So when you buy stock, you’re not immediately getting a deduction for that. And the reason is that stock is an asset.

The value of your stock at the end of. The financial year is actually added back to your profit, which then can theoretically increase your taxable income. So let’s say that on paper you are showing a $50,000 profit, but you are also carrying $20,000 worth of stock. What the accountant will do at the end of the year is show that $20,000 of stock on your balance sheet as an asset, and then put in a closing stock value of $20,000 on your profit loss.

So that $50,000 profit is now going to become a $70,000 profit. So that’s a really important one to understand. If you’ve got excess stock lying around, now is a good time to consider reducing those levels before 30 June. So that could mean for you, it could be running a sale, it could be clearing out some old inventory.

Whatever that looks like for you, getting rid of some old skews that are no longer relevant. Gosh knows what you’ve got sitting in the warehouse, but by lowering the stock, you are reducing the amount added back to that profit at the end of the year. So hopefully there’s some things there that you can take away for that.

The whole point of tax planning is to work smarter so it’s not just about spending money for the sake of it. And if you’re thinking about going out and buying a tax deduction, you really need to remember this. It only reduces your tax. It doesn’t help your cash flow. So here’s what I mean by that.

Let’s say if 30 June has come, you’ve done your tax plan and you decide to go out and spend $20,000 on stuff before 30 June. And if you are operating in a company that’s got a flat rate of 25%, all you’re saving is $5,000. So $20,000 worth of expenses isn’t going to reduce your tax by $20,000. It’s only going to reduce the tax by five.

And that’s where a lot of people. Get caught out from a cashflow perspective, yes, you’ve gone and spent 20 to save five, but you’re still down 15. So unless that 20 K is for something that your business genuinely needs, it’s probably not a smart move. Particularly if cash flow is tight.

You are always going to, when we think about cash at bank. Be better off just paying the tax than you are going to buy to find a tax deduction. So I know that sounds a little bit weird, that’s just the way it is. So accountants are pretty amazing, smart humans, but the reality is we are not magicians and we cannot wave a magic wand and make your tax bill disappear after 30 June.

If you come to us with a pile of receipts and a panic look asking us how we can fix your chance, your tax problem, chances are there’s not much we can do. And so that’s why planning ahead is really important. Tax planning won’t make your taxes def disappear, and it won’t fix your cash flow problems overnight.

But what it will do is give you some clarity and control and confidence around what is coming and trust me, feeling and control at tax time is a game changer. So my final message for you is don’t be that person rocking up after 30 June with a shoebox full of receipts and a help me look on your face.

Start early. Make a plan. Give yourself and your accountant the time they need to work some serious strategic magic. The earlier you start, the more options you’ll have and the better you’ll feel when tax time rules rolls around.

  📍 Thanks for tuning into The Business BFF. We hope you’ve found this episode, equal parts, big hug and kick up the bum, all the things a bestie is good for. Remember, you’ve got this and we’ve got your back like only a BFF can. If you’ve loved what you’ve heard, be sure to subscribe, leave a review and share it with your fellow business besties.

Don’t forget to follow us on social media at The Women’s Accountant for. More tips, tricks, and behind-the-scenes fun. Until next time, keep being fierce and oh, so fabulous.

 If you’ve liked what you’ve heard today and you’ve had a bit of a light bulb moment, let us know.

The best way to keep the conversation going is to come and hang with us over on Instagram at the Women’s Accountant, and if you’re serious about getting a tax plan sorted. Before 30 June, drop us a line at [email protected] au. Let us make tax time easy, stress-free, and maybe even a little bit fun.

Until next time, remember you’ve got this.