The 2025-26 financial year closes on 30 June 2026, and for healthcare locums working as sole traders or contractors under an ABN, the final weeks are one of the most valuable tax windows of the year. Whether you are a GP, pharmacist, nurse, dentist, physiotherapist, psychologist, occupational therapist, specialist, paramedic, or any other AHPRA-registered clinician doing locum or sessional shifts, this checklist covers every category you need to action before the clock runs out.
This article is general information only and does not constitute personal financial, tax, or legal advice. Speak with a registered tax agent or accountant for advice specific to your situation.
1. Reconcile Your Income Across All Workplaces and Agencies
Before you can lodge, you need a complete picture of gross income for the year. Locums often work across multiple agencies, direct hospital arrangements, and their own private or telehealth billing, so gaps are common.
- Pull remittances and invoices from every agency and workplace you worked with during FY2025-26.
- Cross-check against your bank statements. Timing differences (invoiced in June, paid in July) affect which year income falls in for cash-basis taxpayers.
- If you hold a Medicare provider number and bill directly, reconcile your Medicare remittances and any bulk-billing patient payments separately.
- Confirm your ABN is on every payment summary. Payments without your ABN may have had 47% tax withheld by the payer under no-ABN rules.
If your total GST turnover reached or will reach $75,000 in the year, you must be registered for GST. If you have not yet registered and are approaching that threshold, register immediately via the ATO, as you are required to do so within 21 days of crossing it.
2. Capture Every Deduction Before 30 June
Deductions reduce your taxable income dollar-for-dollar. For most locums, the largest categories are:
Professional expenses: Registration fees (AHPRA, Medical Council, Pharmacy Board, etc.), indemnity insurance premiums, college or specialist society memberships, CPD course fees, journal subscriptions, and the cost of maintaining required qualifications are all deductible when incurred for income-producing purposes.
Car travel between workplaces: If you drive between separate workplaces (not from home to your first shift), you can claim car expenses. The simplest method is cents per kilometre: the ATO rate is 91 cents per kilometre for the 2026-27 income year, up from 91 cents across 2024-25 and 2025-26, capped at 5,000 business kilometres per car per year. Keep a log of the dates, destinations, and purpose of each trip. You can calculate your claim with the Sessional cents-per-km tool.
Home office and equipment: If you do clinical administration, telehealth, or on-call work from a dedicated home space, a portion of running costs may be deductible. Equipment purchased before 30 June (laptop, stethoscope, ECG machine, telehealth peripherals) may be immediately deductible or depreciable depending on the asset cost, your business structure, and turnover. The instant asset write-off threshold and the rules around it change from year to year, so check the current ATO threshold for the income year before you claim.
Scrubs, uniforms, and laundering: Protective clothing and uniforms required at your workplace are deductible, including reasonable laundering costs.
Bank, accounting, and platform fees: Fees paid to your accountant or tax agent, as well as subscription costs for practice management or invoicing tools, are deductible.
Note: if your income is classified as Personal Services Income (PSI), which applies when more than 50% of your gross receipts are for your personal skills and efforts, the range of deductions you can claim against that income is narrowed. Rent, interest, and most non-direct expenses are disallowed under PSI rules. Most locums working through agencies or on short-term contracts will have income that is subject to PSI.
3. Lodge and Reconcile Your BAS
If you are registered for GST, your June quarter BAS (covering 1 April to 30 June 2026) is due by 28 July 2026 for quarterly lodgers. However, reconciling now, before 30 June, means you can capture any input tax credits (GST on business purchases) and avoid errors in your final lodgement.
Check that GST-free medical supplies and services are correctly coded. Most professional medical services are GST-free under the GST Act, but pharmacy retail and some allied health services have different treatment. Confirm the correct GST status of your specific service type with your accountant if you are unsure.
4. Make a Personal Super Contribution Before 30 June
This is one of the most powerful and time-sensitive actions available to locums before EOFY. As a sole trader, you are not automatically covered by an employer's superannuation guarantee. You can, however, claim a tax deduction for personal concessional (before-tax) contributions you make to a complying super fund.
For 2025-26, the concessional contributions cap is $32,500. This cap includes employer SG contributions (12% of ordinary time earnings for 2025-26, if any employer pays super on your behalf) plus any salary-sacrifice amounts. For a sole trader with no SG inflows, you may have close to the full $32,500 available.
To claim the deduction:
- Transfer the contribution to your nominated super fund before 30 June.
- Lodge a Notice of Intent to Claim a Deduction (ATO form) with your super fund before you lodge your tax return.
- Your fund must acknowledge the notice before you lodge.
If you have unused concessional cap space from the prior four years and your total super balance was below $500,000 on 30 June 2025, you may be eligible to carry forward those unused amounts and contribute more than $32,500 this year. Confirm your available carry-forward balance via myGov or with your accountant.
5. Lock In Your Records
The ATO requires you to keep records substantiating all income and deductions for five years. Before 30 June, organise the following:
- All invoices issued and payment confirmations received.
- Receipts for every deduction you intend to claim.
- A car logbook or kilometre diary if you are claiming travel.
- Bank statements for the full FY.
- Super fund statements and your Notice of Intent to Claim a Deduction.
- Your BAS lodgement history and payment receipts.
Digital copies in a single folder organised by financial year are sufficient. The ATO accepts scanned receipts.
How Sessional Helps
Sessional tracks your shifts and earnings from every workplace in one place, auto-generates GST-ready invoices, and flags overdue payments with automatic chasers. The tax reserve dashboard shows your estimated tax liability in real time so you are never caught short at EOFY, and the cents-per-km tool calculates your full-year travel deduction from your shift log. The super tracker records both employer SG receipts and personal contributions against your annual cap, so you always know how much room you have before 30 June. You can also use the invoice template to issue a compliant ABN invoice in under a minute. See pricing for plan options, or explore the GP-specific guide if you do mixed billing.