Your first Australian tax return: 31 October is a Saturday, and the tax agent cut-off does not move

The Australian Taxation Office puts the rule in one sentence: “If you’re lodging your own tax return, you need to lodge it by 31 October each year.” For anyone who arrived from India in the 2025-26 year and earned a wage here, that date is now weeks away, and it falls on a Saturday. The same ATO page says that “if 31 October falls on a weekend, the due date to lodge your tax return is the next business day after 31 October”, which this year is Monday 2 November. The agent cut-off does not move.

Two deadlines, one date

The first deadline is for people who lodge themselves through myTax. The second is for people who use an agent. Most registered tax agents have a special lodgment program and can lodge returns after 31 October, but only if you have engaged them before 31 October. The ATO’s wording: “If you’re using a tax agent for the first time, or using a different tax agent, you should contact them before 31 October to be part of their lodgment program.”

The office told tax professionals on 3 September 2026 that although 31 October falls on a weekend in 2026, they still need to add new clients to their client list by that date, “not the next business day”.

What missing it costs

The failure to lodge penalty is “one penalty unit for every 28 days (or part thereof) that the document is overdue, up to a maximum of 5 penalty units”. A penalty unit is $364 where the infringement occurs on or after 1 July 2026, an amount set by the Crimes (Amount of a Penalty Unit) Instrument 2026. Five units is $1,820.

The ATO says that generally it “will not issue you with an FTL penalty notice for a late-lodged tax return” where the lodgment results in a refund or a nil result, unless a penalty was already applied.

Are you a resident for tax purposes?

Holding a visa does not make you a resident for tax purposes: the ATO notes people “may have a visa to enter Australia but are not an Australian resident for tax purposes”. The ATO’s primary test is the resides test, and if that is not satisfied, three statutory tests, one of which is the 183-day test: “You will be a resident under this test if you’re actually present in Australia for more than half the income year, whether continuously or with breaks, unless it is established that your ‘usual place of abode’ is outside Australia and you have no intention of taking up residence here”. The office says a student “enrolled to study in Australia in a course that lasts for 6 months or more” may be a resident for tax purposes.

A resident “must declare all income you’ve earned in Australia and overseas”. A foreign resident declares only Australian income, has “no tax-free threshold”, and does not pay the Medicare levy.

Residents who arrived part-way through the year get part of the $18,200 tax-free threshold: “a flat amount of $13,464” plus “an additional $4,736 – apportioned for the number of months you were in Australia during the income year, including the month you arrived”. Above $18,200, 2025-26 rates start at 16 cents in the dollar.

The Medicare levy you may not owe

People not entitled to Medicare can claim an exemption from the 2 per cent levy, but only with a Medicare Entitlement Statement from Services Australia showing “the period in an income year that you were not entitled to Medicare benefits”. The statement “can take up to 8 weeks” to process, and the ATO says you “must wait until you receive your MES before lodging your tax return”, so one requested today may not return before the deadline. Two caveats apply: the statement does not automatically exempt you, and “all your dependants, including your spouse, must also be exempt from Medicare benefits”. The ATO’s worked example on that page is a woman named Priya on a subclass 482 visa.

The flat in Pune and the fixed deposit in Delhi

This is where the visa does matter. If you hold a temporary visa and neither you nor your spouse is an Australian resident under the Social Security Act 1991, the ATO treats you as a temporary resident, and temporary residents “only declare” income derived in Australia, capital gains on taxable Australian property and, in certain circumstances, income from employment or services performed overseas. Other foreign income does not have to be declared. The second condition depends on both your status and your spouse’s.

For residents who are not temporary residents, foreign income must be declared: “As an Australian resident for tax purposes, you must declare any foreign income”. The ATO names rental income, bank interest and dividends, converted to Australian dollars.

Tax paid in India may be claimable as an offset. The foreign income tax offset “provides relief from paying double tax on your foreign and worldwide income”, and the ATO’s 2026 foreign income tax offset guide says the foreign tax “includes taxes similar to Australian withholding tax that’s imposed in place of a tax on the net amount of income”. For an offset of $1,000 or less you record the actual foreign tax paid and do not need to work out the offset limit. The Australia-India double taxation agreement, in the synthesised text hosted on the ATO’s legal database, caps Indian tax on interest paid to an Australian resident at 15 per cent of the gross amount under Article 11.

Lodging: two things to check

myTax needs “a myGov account with an active link to the ATO”. Most pre-fill information reaches the ATO by late July, but “always check your pre-fill information against your own records”. On 22 June 2026 the ATO said that in 2024-25 taxpayers who lodged before pre-fill “were more than twice as likely to have their returns amended” and that it corrected more than 140,000 returns for discrepancies including Medicare levy exemptions.

The second is unregistered preparers. “Tax agents must be registered with the Tax Practitioners Board”, and the ATO says registered agents “are the only people that can charge a fee”. Check the name on the TPB public register. The ATO’s advice is to never share your myGov sign-in details with anyone, including your registered tax agent. The office “will never” send unsolicited messages containing hyperlinks or QR codes; its September 2026 alert concerns a malware email that asks the recipient to click a link.

If you owe money

If you lodge your own tax return between 1 July and 31 October and it results in a tax bill, “payment is due by 21 November”. In 2026 that date is also a Saturday, and the ATO’s rule is that when a payment due date “falls on a day that is not a business day, you can lodge or pay on the next business day”, which is Monday 23 November.

Get the residency call right, work out whether your Indian income has to be declared, claim the offset and the levy exemption you are entitled to, and lodge by 31 October, or by Monday 2 November if you lodge yourself.