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Australia · due 28 August

Do you have to lodge a TPAR?

The ATO’s 10% test, applied properly — including the building and construction carve-out that makes the test irrelevant, and the two services that have to be added together first.

Checked against the ATO

Checked against the legislation — how we check.

Which of these does your business provide?

What your business was paid for the relevant services — not what you paid contractors.

Use projected income if you have been trading less than twelve months.

Relevant services, as a share of income

15.0%

Ten per cent or more of your business income is from relevant services, and you pay contractors for them.

The answer

Do you lodge a TPAR?Yes
If so, it is due28 August

Your share of income against the 10% test

This answers whether you lodge, not what goes in the report. It does not cover government entities, which have their own obligations. General information, not tax advice.

The five services inside the system

The taxable payments reporting system covers payments to contractors for these services. If your business provides one of them and pays contractors to deliver it, a report may be due.

Services inside the taxable payments reporting system
ServiceSubject to the 10% test?
Building and constructionNo — you lodge regardless of the share
CleaningYes
Courier and road freightYes
Information technologyYes
Security, investigation or surveillanceYes

Two rules that reverse the answer

Building and construction is outside the 10% test. The ATO says it directly: the percentage calculation “doesn’t apply to building and construction services you provide”. So a builder who pays contractors lodges a TPAR whatever proportion of income that work represents. Run the percentage test over a building business and it will hand you a confident “no” that is wrong.

Courier and road freight are combined. If you provide both, the payments for both are added together before the test is applied. Assessed separately each might sit under ten per cent while the combination clears it — which is precisely why the ATO combines them.

Which direction the test runs

This is the part that gets inverted. The 10% test looks at the payments your business received for relevant services, against your business income. It is not about how much you paid contractors. What you paid contractors is what you report, once the test has put you inside the system.

The ATO’s own steps: add up the payments received for each relevant service during the year, including payments received where employees or contractors performed the work on your behalf; take your business income for the year, or your projected income if you have been trading under twelve months; then divide the first by the second and multiply by a hundred.

28 August, and the 2027 Saturday

A TPAR is due by 28 August each year, for the financial year that ended the previous 30 June. In 2026 that is a Friday. In 2027 it falls on a Saturday.

Lodgment dates that land on a weekend generally move to the next business day, but the ATO states that rule on its activity statement pages rather than its TPAR pages, so this site will not assert it for this form. Treat the Saturday as a reason to lodge in the week before rather than as an extra weekend you have been granted. The BAS due dates page covers the rollover rule where it is stated.

Frequently asked questions

When is the TPAR due?
By 28 August, once a year — there is no quarterly version, which is where it gets confused with a BAS. It covers the financial year that ended on the previous 30 June, so the report due 28 August 2026 is for the year to June 2026. Two dates to have in the diary: Friday 28 August 2026, and Saturday 28 August 2027. The ATO’s next-business-day wording is on its BAS pages rather than its TPAR pages, so treat that Saturday as a reason to lodge the week before, not as a free weekend.
Which industries have to lodge a TPAR?
Five sets of services are inside the taxable payments reporting system: building and construction, cleaning, courier and road freight, information technology, and security, investigation or surveillance. If your business provides any of them and pays contractors to deliver them, a TPAR may be required. Contractors here includes subcontractors, consultants and independent contractors, whether they operate as sole traders, companies, partnerships or trusts.
How does the 10% test work?
Take the payments your business received for relevant services during the year, divide by your business income for that year, and multiply by 100. At 10% or more you must lodge; below 10% you do not. Use projected income instead of actual if you have been trading less than twelve months. Note the direction of it: the test is on what you were paid for those services, not on what you paid contractors — what you paid is what gets reported once you are in.
I’m a builder. Do I still apply the 10% test?
No, and this is the trap. The ATO states plainly that the percentage test does not apply to building and construction services you provide. So a building business that pays contractors lodges a TPAR whatever proportion of its income that work represents. Running the 10% test over a building business will tell you that you do not need to lodge, and it will be wrong.
I do a bit of courier work and a bit of freight. Are they separate?
No, they are combined. The ATO says that if your business provides both courier and road freight services you must combine the payments received for both when working out whether you need to lodge. Tested separately, each might sit under 10% while the combination clears it — which is exactly why they are combined.
What goes in the report?
For each contractor you paid for a relevant service: their ABN, name and address, and the gross amount paid for the year including any GST. It is a report of what you paid out, which is why it exists — the ATO matches it against what those contractors declare.
What this page does not do
It answers whether you have to lodge, not what to put in the report or how to file it. It also does not cover government entities, which have their own reporting obligations including certain grants. If your circumstances are close to the line, the underlying figures are yours to establish and a registered tax or BAS agent is worth the fee.

Sources

Primary sources for the TPAR rules
What it decidesSourceUpdated
The five TPRS services, the 10% test and its steps, the building carve-out, and combining courier with road freightATO — Work out if you need to lodge a TPAR (QC55378)2024-04-23
The 28 August due date, and who counts as a contractorATO — Taxable payments annual report (QC32057)2022-03-14