Tax Return Deadline 2026: Due Monday 2 November, Not 31 October
A 2025-26 tax return you lodge yourself is due on Monday 2 November 2026. The usual date is 31 October, which falls on a Saturday this year, and the ATO says that when 31 October falls on a weekend the due date is the next business day.
Published 7 October 2026 by Wage Calculator. Every figure below is traced to the government page that announced it, with that page’s own date.
The short answer
Lodging your own 2025-26 return: due Monday 2 November 2026. 31 October 2026 is a Saturday and 1 November a Sunday, so the next business day is the Monday.
Using a registered tax agent: the ATO says you need to engage them before 31 October, and that agents generally have special lodgment schedules that let them lodge later. A tax bill on a return you lodge yourself is due by 21 November, which is also a Saturday in 2026, so under the ATO’s next business day rule it can be paid on Monday 23 November 2026.
Lodging late can attract a failure to lodge on time penalty of one penalty unit for every 28 days or part of 28 days, up to 5. At the $364 unit that applies from 1 July 2026, that is $364 to $1,820. The ATO says it generally does not issue one for a late return that results in a refund or a nil result.
Why 2 November and not 31 October.
The ATO’s page on preparing your tax return says a return you lodge yourself is due by 31 October each year, and then: “If 31 October falls on a weekend, the due date to lodge your tax return is the next business day after 31 October.”
Its page on lodgment and payment dates defines a business day for this rule as “a day other than a Saturday, a Sunday or a day that is a public holiday”, where a public holiday is one for the whole of any state or territory. Monday 2 November 2026 is not on the ATO’s 2026 list of public holidays, so it is a business day in every state and territory. The next date on that list is Melbourne Cup day on Tuesday 3 November, which comes after the deadline and does not move it.
Saturday 31 October 2026
The usual due date. A Saturday, so not a business day.
Sunday 1 November 2026
A Sunday, so not a business day either.
Monday 2 November 2026
The due date for a 2025-26 return you lodge yourself, online through myTax or on paper.
If a registered tax agent lodges for you.
What the ATO says
“If you choose to use the services of a registered tax agent, they will generally have special lodgment schedules and can lodge returns for clients later than 31 October. If you’re using a registered tax agent, you need to engage them before 31 October.”
What it does not say
The same page says “by 31 October” in its summary and “before 31 October” in the passage above. It does not publish the later dates agents work to, and it does not say whether the next business day rule moves the date to engage an agent. This page does not assume it does.
If the agent then lodges late, the ATO’s penalty page says you are not liable for the failure to lodge penalty where you can show you gave the agent all the relevant tax information to lodge by the due date, and the agent’s failure was not because they were reckless or intentionally disregarded the tax law. The ATO calls this safe harbour.
When a tax bill has to be paid.
If a return you lodge yourself between 1 July and 31 October results in a tax bill, the ATO says payment is due by 21 November. If the assessment issues after 31 October, it says payment is due 21 days after the assessment is issued. For a return lodged late, the same page says “The due date for payment when you lodge your own tax return is 21 November if you lodge late”, and that interest can apply to any amount you owe after 21 November.
21 November 2026 is a Saturday. The ATO’s weekends and public holidays page applies the same rule to “payment of a tax debt”: when the due date is not a business day, you can pay on the next business day, which is Monday 23 November 2026. That date is the ATO’s rule applied to the 2026 calendar here; the tax return page itself says only 21 November.
If paying on time is hard, the ATO says you may be eligible to set up your own payment plan, tailored to your circumstances.
What lodging late can cost.
The ATO can apply a failure to lodge on time penalty when a return is not lodged by its due date. The base penalty is one penalty unit for every 28 days, or part of 28 days, that the return is overdue, up to a maximum of 5 penalty units. The ATO says the base amount applies to individuals and small withholders, and multiplies it by 2 for a medium withholder and by 5 for a large withholder.
| Days overdue | Lodged | Penalty units | Penalty at $364 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 to 28 | 3 November to 30 November 2026 | 1 | $364 |
| 29 to 56 | 1 December to 28 December 2026 | 2 | $728 |
| 57 to 84 | 29 December 2026 to 25 January 2027 | 3 | $1,092 |
| 85 to 112 | 26 January to 22 February 2027 | 4 | $1,456 |
| 113 or more | 23 February 2027 or later | 5 | $1,820 |
The $364 figure is an inference. The ATO’s penalty units page keys the amount to when the infringement occurred: $364 on or after 1 July 2026, and $330 from 7 November 2024 to 30 June 2026. It does not name the 2025-26 return. A return due on 2 November 2026 can only be overdue from 3 November 2026, after the change, so this page applies $364. The lodged dates count calendar days from the 2 November due date and are worked out here, not printed by the ATO.
The ATO also says you can’t claim a deduction for penalties it imposes, and that a penalty notice gives a due date for payment at least 14 days after the notice.
When the ATO says it usually does not apply the penalty.
- Isolated cases. “Generally, we don’t apply penalties in isolated cases of late lodgment.”
- Not without a warning. “If you fail to lodge on time, we’ll warn you by phone or in writing before we apply an FTL penalty and issue you a notice to lodge.”
- A refund or a nil result. “Generally, we will not issue you with an FTL penalty notice for a late-lodged tax return, FBT return, annual GST return or activity statement if the lodgment results in either a refund or a nil result”, unless the penalty was applied before the return was lodged, the unlodged document is a third-party data report such as a taxable payments annual report, or you are classified as a large withholder.
A penalty that has been applied can be remitted in whole or in part, and the ATO expects the overdue return to be lodged before you ask. Among the requests it says it would likely decline are not lodging because you were on holiday, because you were busy with work, or because you did not receive a reminder. So the table above is what the formula allows, not what a late return is certain to cost.
Estimate the return before you lodge it.
The Tax Return Calculator estimates a 2025-26 refund or bill from the figures on your myGov income statement. A refund or a nil result is what the ATO says it generally does not penalise when a return is late.
The parts of the return each have their own page with a switch for 2025-26: the Medicare Levy Calculator for the 2% levy and its low income reduction, the Medicare Levy Surcharge Calculator if you had no private hospital cover, and the Low Income Tax Offset, which arrives through the return rather than your pay. A study loan repayment is raised in the same assessment, and the HECS Repayment Calculator shows what it comes to and when the debt is cleared.
For the year that started on 1 July 2026, the Income Tax Calculator works out the tax on a salary, and the Tax Withheld Calculator shows what each pay should have withheld, the figure your next return is reconciled against.
Where these figures come from.
Provenance
Verified- Self-lodged 2025-26 return due
- Monday 2 November 2026
- Usual due date
- 31 October, a Saturday in 2026
- Registered tax agent
- Engage them before 31 October
- Tax bill on a self-lodged return
- 21 November, payable Monday 23 November 2026
- Penalty unit from 1 July 2026
- $364
- Late lodgement penalty, individual
- Up to 5 units, $1,820
- ATO due date page last updated
- 27 April 2026
- ATO, Preparing your tax returnThe page gave its own last updated date as 2026-04-27. Retrieved 2026-10-07.
- ATO, Lodgment and payment dates on weekends or public holidaysThe page gave its own last updated date as 2026-07-01. Retrieved 2026-10-07.
- ATO, Failure to lodge on time penaltyThe page gave its own last updated date as 2026-06-22. Retrieved 2026-10-07.
- ATO, Penalty unitsThe page gave its own last updated date as 2026-06-26. Retrieved 2026-10-07.
Nothing on this page is copied from another pay site, and no figure here was taken from a search result summary. How every rate on this site is sourced and checked is set out on the Methodology page.
Tax Return Deadline 2026 questions, answered.
When is the tax return deadline in 2026?
Monday 2 November 2026, for a 2025-26 tax return you lodge yourself. The ATO's usual due date is 31 October, and its page on preparing your tax return says that if 31 October falls on a weekend, the due date is the next business day after it. In 2026, 31 October is a Saturday and 1 November a Sunday, so the return is due on the Monday. A return lodged by a registered tax agent can be due later, as long as you engaged the agent before 31 October.
Do I get more time to lodge if I use a tax agent?
Generally, yes, if you engage the agent in time. The ATO says registered tax agents "will generally have special lodgment schedules and can lodge returns for clients later than 31 October", and that if you are using one, "you need to engage them before 31 October". The ATO does not publish the later dates on that page, and it does not say whether the next business day rule moves the date to engage an agent, so this page does not treat Monday 2 November 2026 as the cut-off for that.
When do I have to pay a tax bill from my 2025-26 return?
By 21 November, if you lodge your own return between 1 July and 31 October and it results in a tax bill, according to the ATO. If the assessment issues after 31 October, the ATO says payment is due 21 days after the assessment is issued, and that interest can apply to any amount you owe after 21 November. In 2026, 21 November is a Saturday. The ATO's rule for weekends and public holidays says a payment of a tax debt due on a day that is not a business day can be made on the next business day, which is Monday 23 November 2026.
What is the penalty for lodging a tax return late?
Up to $1,820 for an individual, on the figures that apply to a 2025-26 return lodged after Monday 2 November 2026. The ATO's failure to lodge on time penalty is one penalty unit for every 28 days, or part of 28 days, that the return is overdue, up to 5 penalty units. A penalty unit is $364 for an infringement on or after 1 July 2026, so a return lodged 1 to 28 days late can attract $364, and one lodged 113 or more days late can attract $1,820. That the $364 unit applies is an inference from the date the return becomes overdue. The ATO says it generally does not apply the penalty in isolated cases of late lodgement, and warns you before it does.
Is there a penalty for a late tax return if I am getting a refund?
Generally not. The ATO's words are: "Generally, we will not issue you with an FTL penalty notice for a late-lodged tax return, FBT return, annual GST return or activity statement if the lodgment results in either a refund or a nil result". The exceptions it lists are a penalty applied before the return was lodged, an unlodged third-party data report, and an entity classified as a large withholder. Whether you are owed a refund can be estimated on the Tax Return Calculator before you lodge.
Can I lodge my 2025-26 tax return after the deadline?
Yes, and the ATO says it is important to lodge as soon as you can once you have missed the due date. If you expect a tax bill, it says not to delay lodging. If you are unable to lodge on time, the ATO asks you to contact it as soon as possible, and if paying is the difficulty it says you may be eligible to set up your own payment plan.
Estimate your 2025-26 refund or bill before you lodge.
Enter the figures from your myGov income statement to see the tax, the offset, the Medicare levy and any study loan repayment, and whether the result is a refund or a bill.
Open the Tax Return Calculator