EOFY document checklist for Australian accountants (2026)

End of financial year falls on 30 June. For most clients, that date means very little. For accountants, it means the next 90 days are defined by one question: did everyone send what they were supposed to send?

This guide covers what to request, when to request it, and how to make the collection process less painful than it has been in previous years.

Why EOFY document collection is harder than it looks

The challenge is not that clients don't understand what's needed. Most of them, when you explain it, get it immediately. The challenge is timing and friction.

A client who receives a detailed email with fourteen line items in early June, during a busy period of their own work year, will often do nothing. Not because they don't intend to respond — because the email feels like effort they can defer.

The firms that consistently collect everything before the deadline have typically solved this problem structurally, not by sending better emails.

Individual client document checklist (ITR)

For individual clients lodging a tax return, here is what you will typically need:

Income documents

• PAYG payment summary or income statement (from myGov / Single Touch Payroll)
• Bank interest statements (all accounts held during the year)
• Dividend statements and distribution reports
• Rental income records — rent received, property manager statements
• Capital gains / disposal records if any assets were sold
• Any foreign income received
• Government payments — Centrelink, JobSeeker, parental leave

Deduction documents

• Work-related expense receipts (tools, uniforms, professional development)
• Home office records if working from home (actual expenses method or ATO shortcut)
• Vehicle logbook or odometer records if claiming car expenses
• Professional membership and union fees
• Income protection insurance premiums
• Charitable donation receipts (must be to DGR-registered organisations)
• Tax agent fees from previous year return

Investment and super

• All contributions to superannuation (personal, salary sacrifice, employer)
• Notice of intent to claim a deduction if making personal contributions
• Investment property depreciation schedule if applicable

Health and HECS

• Private health insurance statement
• HECS-HELP loan balance (from ATO or myGov) — not always needed but useful

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Small business client document checklist (Sole trader / Trust / Company)

For business clients, the list expands. What you need depends on their structure, but for a typical small business:

Business income and expenses

• Profit and loss statement or accounting software export (Xero, MYOB, QuickBooks)
• Bank statements — all business accounts, full year
• Sales / turnover records if not using accounting software
• Purchase invoices and receipts for all expenses claimed
• Payroll records if the business has employees (STP data from the ATO portal helps here)
• Superannuation guarantee records — all payments made, confirmation from super funds

BAS and GST

• Completed BAS statements for the year (or ATO lodgement history)
• Any adjustments, amendments, or credit notes

Assets and depreciation

• Details of any assets purchased or disposed of during the year
• Existing depreciation schedule if you don't already hold it
• Vehicle purchase or disposal records

Loans and finance

• Loan statements — business loans, equipment finance, chattel mortgages
• Interest and fee breakdowns

Stock and inventory (if applicable)

• Beginning and end-of-year stock count
• Written-off stock records

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When to start asking

The instinct is often to wait until after 30 June. After all, some income documents aren't finalised until then. But this is a mistake.

The clients who submit everything smoothly are the ones who receive their requests before EOFY, have time to gather documents gradually, and aren't being chased at the same time as every other accountant's clients.

A practical timeline:

Early May: Send initial requests for documents that are already available (prior year return for context, existing depreciation schedules, any rental or investment property records).

1 June: Send full request for all items. Frame it as preparation — not urgency.

Mid-June: First follow-up for anything outstanding. Most clients respond to one prompt.

30 June: Final reminder for anything still missing.

July: Chase outstanding items individually. At this point you have specifics to ask for, which is easier than a general request.

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The document collection problem that most firms still haven't solved

The checklist is not the hard part. Most accountants have some version of it. The hard part is the collection itself: getting clients to respond, to send the right thing, in a way you can track.

The firms that have reduced their end-of-year document chasing to near-zero have generally done two things:

Moved the request out of email. When a document request arrives as an email, it competes with every other email in the client's inbox. When it arrives as a link to a dedicated page with clear line items, it's harder to ignore and easier to complete.

Automated the follow-up. Reminders sent manually require you to remember who hasn't sent what. Automated reminders — triggered by due dates, not by your memory — run consistently without your involvement.

If you're still collecting documents primarily over email, running an EOFY season with a structured portal is worth trying as an experiment. Most accountants who do it don't go back.

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*idutax includes EOFY-ready templates for individual returns, sole traders, and small businesses in Australia. Free up to 5 clients.*