With just over two weeks to go before the end of the financial year, there are a slew of legislative changes taking effect on July 1, 2025 that SME owners should know about. We’ve compiled them into a quick-reference list below to help you keep track.
Tax
- ATO debt no longer tax deductible: Interest on ATO tax debts charged by the ATO on or after July 1 will not be tax deductible.
- Super guarantee increase: The superannuation guarantee will increase from 11.5 per cent to 12 per cent.
- PAYG withholding schedules: Some PAYG withholding schedules will be updated. The ATO has an information page on this here.
- Business vehicle depreciation changes: If you use your car for business purposes, the highest value you can use to calculate depreciation will now be $69,674.
- Fuel-efficient car definition: The definition of a fuel-efficient car will also change. From July 1, your vehicle cannot exceed 3.5 litres per 100 kilometres to qualify as fuel efficient.
- Tax on unrealised super gains over $3m: July 1, 2025 is the proposed start date for a new tax on unrealised super gains – but this has not yet passed the Senate.
Employee entitlements
- Minimum wage increase: The National Minimum Wage will increase by 3.5 per cent, effective from the first full pay cycle starting on or after July 1, 2025.
- Skilled visa income thresholds will rise: Salary thresholds for several employer-sponsored visa categories will rise.
- Parental leave changes: The number of Parental Leave Pay days will increase to 120 days for children born or adopted from July 1 2025. The ATO will also pay a 12 per cent superannuation contribution on this payment.
Business expenses
- Energy rebates: Every household and around one million small businesses will see $150 in rebates automatically applied to their electricity bills in quarterly instalments.
- Solar battery rebates: SMEs will have access to a new federal battery rebate scheme.
Other upcoming deadlines
- Assets must be purchased before July to be eligible for the instant asset write-off 2024-25, which is now law. Though Labor promised to reinstate the $20k write-off for the 2025-26 financial year if it won the election, it hasn’t done this yet – and the write-off is theoretically back to its $1000 baseline for assets purchased after July 1.
- The single touch payroll reporting deadline is July 14.
For a comprehensive EOFY to-do list, see this resource we put together with four tax professionals, including ATO Small Business Deputy Commissioner Will Day.
