Please refer to our previous article for details on the questions found in the return. 

What happens if you lodge your return late? 

If your NFP has missed the 31 March 2025 deadline, it is important to submit the return as soon as possible. The ATO has suspended penalties for late lodgement of the 2023-24 return with its transitional support for the NFP sector.  

From July 2025, the ATO will review NFPs that intentionally ignore their obligations and non-compliant NFPs may face further scrutiny and potential tax liabilities. 

Steps to take if you haven’t lodged yet 

If your NFP has not yet submitted the return, the following steps will help you fulfil your obligations and demonstrate to the ATO you’ve taken action: 

Lodge your return immediately  

NFPs can submit their self-review return using the ATO’s Online Services for Business or the self-help phone service at 13 72 26. A registered tax agent can also assist with lodgement. 

Updating your NFPs ABN details 

Accurate ABN details are essential for tax-exempt eligibility. If your organisation’s details have changed, update them via: 

• the Australian Business Register (ABR) 

• ATO’s Online Services for Business 

• submitting a Change of Registration Details form. 

If a Change of Registration Details form has already been lodged and is pending, the ATO will acknowledge this during their records review. 

Future compliance and potential reviews 

The ATO is committed to supporting NFPs that make genuine efforts to meet their obligations. However, from July 2025, organisations that ignore their self-review return requirements and fail to engage with the ATO may face: 
 

• compliance reviews  

• financial penalties and  

• loss of income tax exemption. 

How SW can help 

To avoid repercussions and maintain compliance, ensure your organisation submits the self-review return as soon as possible and keeps up with ongoing reporting requirements. 

Our NFP experts can assist with the preparation and lodgement of the return and assess your border eligibility for income tax exempt status. 

Contributors

Blake Trad  

The post Late NFP self review return lodgement: ATO suspends penalties appeared first on SW Accountants & Advisors.

For NFPs with a standard year end of 30 June, the return must be lodged by 31 October each year. However, for the 2023-24 income year, the ATO has extended the 31 October deadline to 31 March 2025.

Below is a summary on how to prepare to lodge the return and the ways it may be lodged.

For details of our previous update click here.

Preparing to lodge the NFP self-review return

To prepare for lodgement, organisation should:

• review the organisations governing documents and
• prepare answers to the questions using the NFP self-review return question guide.

In reviewing the organisation’s governing documents, it must contain the appropriate not-for-profit clause and dissolution clause and set out that the organisation is operating for its not-for-profit purpose. The return contains 3 sections with the following key questions:

• What is the estimated annual gross revenue for the organisation?
• Choose a category best reflecting the main purpose of the organisation
• Does the organisation have and follow clauses in its governing documents prohibiting the distribution of income or assets to individuals or members?
• Does the organisation exist, operate and incur its expenditure entirely in Australia?
• Does the organisation have charitable purposes?

Ways to lodge the NFP self-review return

The ATO offers several methods for lodging returns, including:

• online
• through a registered agent and
• over the phone.

Lodging online

If you are an authorised contact for your organisation with access to Online services for business, you can lodge the return online. The ATO outlines the following process for lodging the return using this method:

1. Select either:
   1. View next to the NFP self-review return in the Lodgements section of the For Action panel
   1. NFP self-review return from the Lodgements menu
2. Select Prepare next to the return (you must prepare the oldest return first)
3. Complete the mandatory details
4. Tick the acknowledgments and declaration
5. Select Submit

To note: Due to changes in office holders, many NFPs are unaware of who the authorised contact is for the NFP.  It can be harder to change the authorised contact than to complete the NFP self-review return.  We recommend completing ATO Form NAT 2943 and sending to the ATO to change the authorised contact for your NFP.

Lodging through a registered Tax Agent

If you’ve engaged a registered Tax Agent, they can prepare and lodge your organisation’s NFP self-review return through Online services for agents.

To note: Most NFPs do not have a Tax Agent as they have not had to lodge tax returns in the past. Whilst a lot of NFPs may have engaged a BAS Agent to lodge their Business Activity Statement a BAS Agent can not lodge the NFP self-review return.

Lodging over the phone

The ATO outlines the following process for those choosing to lodge over the phone:

• first review the list of self-review return questions
• prepare your responses to each question and have these with you when you call. You must refer to your governing documents to answer some of the questions
• phone the self-help service on 13 72 26 and select NFP self-review return lodgement
• enter the organisation’s ABN and a reference number listed on any letter we have posted to your organisation, such as Your annual self-review reporting obligation or the Lodge your NFP self-review return notice:
• the ABN will be listed as ‘Client ID’
• the reference number will be listed as ‘Our reference’
• follow the prompts to record your responses and submit the NFP self-review return questions.

Although these methods streamline the lodgement process, organisations with limited access to online resources may still face difficulties.

If so, lodgement of the return over the phone or through a registered agent can mitigate these difficulties.

Post-lodgement

Once the return is submitted, you’ll receive a transaction reference number to retain for your records. This will have a self-assessment outcome of either:

• income tax exempt or
• taxable.

Income tax exempt

If you successfully submitted your NFP self-review return and self-assessed as income tax exempt, the organisation has completed its reporting requirements for this income year. The NFP self-review return will need to be lodged in subsequent years.

If the return was lodged via Online services for business, the return information will be pre-filled for next year, making future lodgements easier

Taxable

If you successfully lodged your NFP self-review return and self-assessed as taxable, the organisation does not qualify for income tax exemption.

Thus, the organisation does not need to complete an annual NFP self-review return. Instead, they must lodge an income tax return or notify of a non-lodgement advice each income year.

How SW can help

We can assist with the preparation and lodgement of the return and assess your border eligibility for income tax exempt status. Please contact our Tourism, Hospitality and Gaming (THG) industry experts and not-for-profit experts.

Contributors

Blake Trad

The post NFP self-review return due 31 March 2025 – How to lodge  appeared first on SW Accountants & Advisors.