TPAR for tradies: what it is and how to make it painless

If you pay subbies, there is a fair chance the ATO wants to hear about it once a year. That report is the Taxable Payments Annual Report, or TPAR. It is not hard, but it catches plenty of tradies out because it only comes around once a year and nobody keeps the details as they go.

Here is the plain version of what it is, who needs it, and how to make it a ten minute job instead of a weekend of digging through bank statements.

What the TPAR actually is

The TPAR is a yearly report that lists the payments your business made to contractors for certain services. The ATO uses it to match what you paid against what your contractors declared. It is part of what the ATO calls the taxable payments reporting system, and it exists to stop cash jobs and unreported income.

It is not a tax bill. You are not paying anything by lodging it. You are just telling the ATO who you paid and how much.

Who has to lodge one

The ATO lists these services as covered by taxable payments reporting:

• Building and construction
• Cleaning
• Courier and road freight
• Information technology
• Security, investigation or surveillance

If your business provides any of those services and you paid contractors to do that kind of work during the financial year, you will likely need to lodge. If those services are only part of what you do, there is a test based on how much of your business income comes from them. The ATO says the 10% test does not apply to building and construction services, so builders and building trades should assume it applies to them.

There are edge cases, so check the ATO page below for your situation, or ask your accountant. If you find you do not need to lodge, the ATO has a non-lodgment advice form so they stop expecting one.

What goes in it

For each contractor you paid during the financial year, you report their details and the total you paid them. Keep these for every subbie:

• Their name or business name
• Their ABN
• Their address
• The total amount you paid them for the year, including any GST

That is the whole job. The hard part is never the form. The hard part is having all of that in one place in August, when the payments happened over twelve months and half of them were a bank transfer done in the ute.

When it is due

The TPAR is due on 28 August each year, covering the financial year that ended on 30 June. The ATO says paper forms are no longer accepted after 28 August 2025, so plan to lodge online, through your accountant, or through software that supports it.

Want to see how a quote, invoice and payment look in a real app? Run a whole job on our website. Free, no sign up.

What happens if you leave it

Lodging late or not at all can mean penalties from the ATO, and it puts your business on their radar for the wrong reasons. More practically, it becomes a mess. If you wait until August to work out who you paid, you end up guessing, scrolling through a year of statements, and chasing subbies for ABNs they gave you months ago.

The fix is not to get better at August. The fix is to stop needing August.

Make it easy: record it as you pay

Every time you pay a subbie, record three things at the time: who it was, their ABN, and how much. That is it. Do it when you pay, while the invoice is in your hand, and the TPAR builds itself over the year.

A few habits that help:

• Get the ABN before the first payment. If a subbie cannot give you an ABN, talk to your accountant before you pay, because there are withholding rules that can apply.
• Keep their invoices. A photo of each one is fine. It is your proof if anything is ever questioned.
• Use the same name each time. "Dave", "Dave W" and "Wilson Plastering" are three different people to a spreadsheet. Pick one name per subbie and stick to it.
• Check the total each quarter. A quick look while you do your BAS means no surprises in August.

If you do this, the TPAR becomes a total per subbie that is already added up. You hand it to your accountant, or lodge it yourself, and you are done before morning smoko.

A quick word on your own subbie work

If you are the subbie, your name ends up on other people's TPARs. The ATO compares that with your tax return. Declare everything, keep your own invoices, and you have nothing to worry about.

How Its All Sorted handles it

In Its All Sorted you log a subbie payment when you make it: who, their ABN and the amount. At the end of the financial year it groups the payments by subbie and gives you a TPAR summary with one tap, ready for your accountant. No August scramble.