What is TPAR?

11 February, 2026 · 5 min read

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If you work in certain industries and pay contractors to help run your business, there’s a yearly report you might need to complete - the Taxable Payments Annual Report (TPAR) (pronounced tee‑par, if you’re interested).

It may sound technical, but it’s actually quite straightforward. This guide will walk you through what TPAR is, who needs to lodge it, and how to do it without the stress.

Quick Summary

TPAR – Taxable Payments Annual Report: A yearly report to the ATO about payments you made to contractors in certain industries.
Who needs it? Businesses that pay contractors in specific service categories (e.g., construction, cleaning, IT, freight).
Deadline: 28 August for the last financial year that ended 30 June.
What to include: Contractor details, total amounts paid (incl. GST).

What is TPAR?

The Taxable Payments Annual Report (TPAR) is a yearly report that some businesses have to submit to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO). It shows how much you paid contractors for services during the financial year.

The ATO then cross-checks your reported payments with the contractors’ tax returns, helping to make sure everyone reports their income correctly - and keeping the tax system fair.

Who needs to lodge a TPAR?

You may need to lodge a TPAR if your business:

✔ Has an Australian Business Number (ABN), and
✔ Pays contractors to provide certain services. Industries commonly required to lodge include:

🏗 Building and construction
🧼 Cleaning services
🚚 Courier and road freight
💻 Information technology (IT)
🛡 Security, investigation, or surveillance

If your business provides both TPAR services and other unrelated services, work out what percentage of your income comes from the reportable services. If it’s 10% or more, you have lodge a TPAR; if it’s less than 10%, you generally don’t need to.

Note: This 10% rule doesn’t apply to businesses providing building and construction services as these businesses usually need to report regardless of the percentage.

Full list and examples are on the ATO website. Click here to learn more details.

When is it due?

28 August each year.

For example, for contractor payments made from 1 July 2025 to 30 June 2026, you have to lodge TPAR by 28 August 2026.

What goes in the TPAR?

Payer’s details, include:

Your details: Entity name, address and contact details
Your ABN (Australian Business Number)

For each contractor, include:

Personal details: Name, address and phone number
ABN (Australian Business Number)
Total amount you paid them, including GST

You can usually find this information on the invoices your contractors provide.

See a sample TPAR report here.

**What doesn’t go in the TPAR?**

❌ Employee wages - money you pay your staff is reported through payroll, not TPAR.

❌ Materials only - if you just bought supplies and didn’t pay for services, leave it out.

❌ Incidental labour - small, one-off helper or demo work that isn’t part of the main service.

❌ Unpaid invoices after 30 June – only include payments you actually made on or before 30 June.

❌ Labour-hire workers - if a labour-hire firm provides the worker, the payment is reported by the firm, not you.

❌ Payments to foreign residents for work in Australia – most of these are reported through PAYG foreign resident withholding. Only include them in TPAR if they aren’t covered by PAYG.

❌ Contractors without an ABN - usually not reported in TPAR. If you withheld tax because they didn’t provide an ABN, report it using the PAYG payment summary – withholding where ABN not quoted instead.

❌ Private or domestic projects - work done for personal projects (not your business) should not be included.

ANNA’s tips to make TPAR less painful

📌 Keep good records all year

Upload each contractor’s invoice to the corresponding payment transaction in the ANNA app or ANNA Business Dashboard. Categorise the payment as “sub-contractor” and add any notes you need - don’t wait until June 30!
💡 If your business is registered for GST, make sure your GST settings are saved in the ANNA Business Dashboard so GST components on payments are recorded correctly.

💡You need to keep these records for at least 5 years starting from when you prepared or obtained the records or completed the transactions or acts those records relate to, whichever is later.

📌 Check ABNs before you pay

It’s much easier to confirm contractor details up front than correct them at the end of the year. You can check their ABN details via ABN lookup.

📌 Use the ATO TPAR worksheet

The ATO provides a TPAR worksheet to help you calculate and organise payments for each contractor. Use this guide to make sure nothing is missed.

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