ATO (Australian Taxation Office)

 If you make interest, dividend or royalty payments to non-residents, you may need to pay and report withholding tax.

Published 20 May 2024

Taxpayers who have paid interest, dividends or royalties subject to withholding tax, to a non-resident, have an obligation to:

• lodge a Pay as you go (PAYG) withholding from interest, dividend and royalty payments to non-residents - annual report by 31 October each year and/or
• lodge an Annual investment income report by 31 October each year, if you're an investment body making interest payments to non-resident investors (or lodge a nil return), and
• pay withholding tax to the ATO, unless a withholding exemption or tax treaty relief applies.

If you're in our Medium public and multinational business engagement program and have made overseas payments to non-residents, we may contact you about your PAYG withholding and reporting obligations.

To prepare, you should review your records to ensure you've lodged any overdue annual reports, correctly classified and claimed deductions in your tax return, withheld the correct amount of tax, and paid that amount to us. Engage with us if you've made an error by lodging a voluntary disclosure.

We'll also be focussing on arrangements where:

• entities defer their interest to avoid or defer withholding tax, while continuing to claim income tax deductions on an accrual basis
• offshore related entities are used to facilitate the avoidance of withholding tax in relation to interest expenses deducted against Australian-sourced income and paid to non-residents.

For more information about what we focus on, see Non-resident withholding tax – interest, dividend or royalty.

Super guarantee payments were due by 28 April. Missed the deadline? There are extra obligations you need to meet.

Published 8 May 2024

As an employer, it’s important to remember that your employee’s super contribution is only considered ‘paid’ on the date it’s received by the super fund, not when it’s received by the commercial clearing house.

Remember to check the processing times required for your clearing house prior to your super guarantee (SG) payment due dates to ensure timely payments. Processing times vary, and some clearing houses may take up to 10 days to process payments.

SG payments were due by 28 April. If you didn't pay an employee's SG amount in full, on time (including delays due to processing times) and to the right fund, you’ll need to lodge a superannuation guarantee charge (SGC) statement and pay the SGC to us by 28 May, or penalties may apply.

Watch our videoExternal Link for more information about the SGC.

Reminder: The SG rate will increase to 11.5% on 1 July 2024.