At Palfreyman Chartered Accountants, we understand that you would like your tax refund as soon as possible. Unfortunately, lodging your tax return before the 21^st July can be increase your risk of an audit with the ATO. Below are some reasons why we recommend you wait:

1. Single Touch Pay Roll (STP): while most businesses are now familiar with the STP reporting systems, there are still some errors in data being recorded. Until your employer completes the finalisation process, there is a risk of you entering the wrong income into your tax return. You will know there is an issue if your myGov employment income says "tax not ready".

2. Pre-fill Data: As well as information provided by you, most accountants use the ATO prefill report to confirm that their records are correct. The ATO prefill, which lists information including wages, Centrelink, interest, dividends and private health insurance, is the ATO's record of you. If your tax return does not match this information your risk of an audit is significantly increased.

For these reasons, we strongly advise against sending your work in prior to 21^st July. In the meantime, you can get your information organised based on our checklist.

 

Source: https://www.mybusiness.com.au/finance/5887-beware-lodging-tax-return-early-this-year