Key takeaways
- 11 August is the final date for quarter 4 activity statements lodged electronically. It is the nearest deadline of the month.
- 14 August is the PAYG withholding payment summary annual report, which reconciles the W1 and W2 amounts you reported all year.
- 28 August carries two obligations: the taxable payments annual report, and the quarter 4 superannuation guarantee charge statement.
- That super guarantee charge statement is the last quarterly one ever. Payday Super applies to paydays from 1 July 2026.
- For quarter 4 you cannot offset late contributions and cannot claim a deduction for the charge. Under Payday Super, both of those flip the other way.
- No August date shifts. None falls on a weekend, and the only August entry in the ATO 2026 holiday table is Picnic Day on Monday 3 August.
Every date in August 2026
| Date | Day | Obligation | Action |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11 August 2026 | Tuesday | Quarter 4 (April to June) activity statements lodged electronically | Lodgment and payment |
| 14 August 2026 | Friday | PAYG withholding payment summary annual report | Lodgment |
| 14 August 2026 | Friday | Employee Share Scheme (ESS) annual report | Lodgment |
| 21 August 2026 | Friday | July monthly activity statements | Lodgment and payment |
| 21 August 2026 | Friday | Election by monthly GST reporters to report GST annually | Election |
| 28 August 2026 | Friday | Taxable payments annual report (TPAR) | Lodgment |
| 28 August 2026 | Friday | Quarter 4 superannuation guarantee charge statement | Lodgment and payment |
| 31 August 2026 | Monday | Combined global and domestic minimum tax return and GloBE Information Return | Lodgment |
The 31 August combined global and domestic minimum tax return applies to fiscal years ending 28 February 2025 and sits outside what this site covers. It is listed for completeness only.
11 August: quarter 4 activity statements lodged electronically
This is the final date for lodgment and payment of quarter 4 activity statements, covering April to June, where they are lodged electronically. The standard quarter 4 date is 28 July. Lodging online can qualify you for this later date, and the ATO directs you to its guidance on lodging activity statements online for the eligibility conditions. Check you actually qualify rather than assuming the later date applies.
In its own words on the August page: finalising all your PAYG instalments before you lodge your tax return will ensure you receive the correct amount of credit in your income tax assessment. Your instalments for the year are credited against the tax on your return. Lodge the return with a quarter 4 instalment still outstanding and the credit will not match what you paid, which means an amended assessment later.
The quarterly ladder itself, including the dates for the rest of 2026-27 and the weekend and holiday shifts that do apply to some of them, is in BAS due dates. To work out what goes on the statement, use the BAS calculator. For the instalment side, the PAYG instalment calculator works out the amount, and PAYG instalments covers how the system fits together.
If you lodge an instalment activity statement rather than a BAS, the same 11 August date applies to a quarter 4 IAS lodged electronically. Which form you get, and why, is set out in instalment activity statement.
14 August: the PAYG withholding payment summary annual report
This is the most on-topic date of the month for anyone withholding from wages. The ATO describes it as the final date for lodgment of the PAYG withholding payment summary annual report, used to summarise all payments to your employees and other payees and the amounts withheld from salary and wages and other payments.
The ATO adds the reconciliation point directly: those amounts should have been reported at labels W1 and W2 on previous financial year activity statements. W1 is total salary, wages and other payments; W2 is the amount you withheld from them. If the annual report and the sum of your W1 and W2 figures across 2025-26 disagree, one of them is wrong, and August is when that surfaces.
What this report is, how it relates to the income statement your employees see in myGov, and what replaced the old group certificate is covered in PAYG payment summary and income statement. If you report through Single Touch Payroll, finalisation works differently, and that is in Single Touch Payroll.
The Employee Share Scheme annual report shares this date. It is the final day for lodgment, and it applies to employers who provided ESS interests to employees during the year.
21 August: July monthly activity statements
Final date for lodgment and payment of July monthly activity statements. Monthly statements run on the 21st of the following month, which is the pattern for every month of the year.
One election also closes on this date: it is the final date for eligible monthly GST reporters to elect to report GST annually. That is a GST reporting choice rather than a PAYG one, but it lands on the same statement.
28 August: TPAR and the last quarterly SGC statement
Taxable payments annual report
The TPAR is due for lodgment by businesses in six categories:
- building and construction industry
- government entities
- cleaning services
- courier or road freight services
- information technology services
- security, investigation or surveillance services.
The report covers payments made to contractors during 2025-26. It is also the reason contractor income starts appearing in ATO pre-fill from late August, which is a reason for contractors in those industries to wait rather than lodge their own return in early August. If you are on the receiving end of a TPAR, the contractor pay calculator works out what a day rate leaves after tax and super, and the sole trader tax calculator handles the annual position on business profit.
Quarter 4 superannuation guarantee charge statement
The ATO's instruction is to lodge and pay the quarter 4 (1 April to 30 June) superannuation guarantee charge statement if you did not pay your contributions on time for that quarter, to avoid additional penalties. Two conditions attach to it, both stated plainly by the ATO:
- For quarter 4, you cannot offset contributions you have paid late.
- You cannot claim an income tax deduction for the quarterly super guarantee charge.
The two super regimes, side by side
Quarter 4 of 2025-26 is the final quarter under the quarterly super guarantee system. Payday Super applies to paydays from 1 July 2026. An employer who was late in the June quarter and has missed a payday since 1 July is holding two obligations that behave in opposite ways.
| Quarterly SGC, Q4 2025-26, due 28 Aug 2026 | Payday Super SGC, paydays from 1 Jul 2026 | |
|---|---|---|
| Do you lodge a statement? | Yes, the employer lodges it | No, the ATO assesses and issues a notice |
| Can late contributions be offset? | No for quarter 4 | Yes, a late contribution reduces the final shortfall |
| Income tax deduction? | No | Yes, all four components |
| Deadline | 28 days after the quarter ends | 7 business days after each payday |
The deadline that replaced the quarter, and what the rebuilt charge costs when you miss it, is set out in Payday Super, one month in. The super guarantee rate itself is unchanged at 12.00% for 2026-27, and the super guarantee calculator works it out on any earnings.
Why no August date shifts
The ATO moves a due date to the next business day when it falls on a weekend or a public holiday. Applying that rule needs the actual holiday table, not a calendar, because the ATO treats a public holiday in the whole of any state or territory as moving the date nationally.
Checked against both limbs:
- Weekends. 11 August is a Tuesday, 14 August a Friday, 21 August a Friday, 28 August a Friday and 31 August a Monday. None falls on a weekend.
- Public holidays. The only August entry in the ATO's 2026 table is Monday 3 August, Picnic Day in the Northern Territory, with a first business day of Tuesday 4 August. No August due date coincides with it.
So every date above stands as printed. That check is stated here rather than assumed because the margin elsewhere in the calendar can be a single day: quarter 2 of 2026-27 shifts to Tuesday 2 March 2027 rather than Monday 1 March, because 1 March is Labour Day in Western Australia. The full ladder with those shifts worked through is in BAS due dates, and the PAYG side is in PAYG due dates.
One date outside August is worth flagging now because it also depends on this rule: the self-lodgement deadline for the 2025-26 tax return falls on Saturday 31 October 2026 and moves to Monday 2 November 2026. See when your tax return is due.
Frequently asked questions
What ATO deadlines fall in August 2026?
Is my quarter 4 BAS due 28 July or 11 August 2026?
What is the PAYG withholding payment summary annual report?
Why does 28 August 2026 matter for super?
Who has to lodge a taxable payments annual report by 28 August 2026?
Do any August 2026 due dates move to the next business day?
Why does the ATO say to finalise PAYG instalments before lodging my tax return?
Sources
ATO pages fetched 2 August 2026. Every date and quoted condition on this page traces to one of them.
- Due dates by month: August (QC32041, last updated 23 July 2026). All five August obligations, and the quarterly super guarantee charge wording.
- What happens if you do not pay super correctly (QC105848, last updated 21 June 2026). The Payday Super super guarantee charge, and its deductibility from 1 July 2026.
- Lodgment and payment dates on weekends or public holidays (QC34577, last updated 1 July 2026). The 2026 public holiday table used to confirm no August date shifts.
Related
BAS Due Dates 2026-27
The full quarterly ladder with holiday shifts
Open →Payday Super, One Month In
The 7 business day rule and the rebuilt charge
Open →PAYG Payment Summary
What the annual report reconciles against
Open →
Narelle Hartigan is a CPA-qualified tax accountant with over a decade of experience in Australian personal taxation and payroll. She founded PAYG Calculator Australia to make tax withholding easy for every Australian worker to understand.