Guide · Updated 17 August 2026
TPAR: who has to lodge, and what to report
The report that tells the ATO what you paid your contractors — which industries it covers, what goes in it, and why the data-matching matters at both ends.
Who has to lodge a taxable payments annual report?
Businesses that make payments to contractors for building and construction, cleaning, courier and road freight, information technology, or security, investigation and surveillance services. Government entities and some grant-paying bodies also report. The TPAR is due 28 August each year and lists each contractor's ABN, name, address, gross amount paid (including GST) and any tax withheld. The ATO cross-matches it against contractors' own returns — which is exactly its purpose.
- Due 28 August each year
- Five industry categories plus government
- Report ABN, name, gross paid and tax withheld
- Data-matched against contractors' returns
Which industries and payments
You must lodge if you pay contractors for services in any of these categories and, for the mixed-business test, those services form a material part of what your business does:
- Building and construction — the broadest category, covering everything from carpentry and plumbing to architectural, engineering and project management services related to buildings and structures.
- Cleaning services — interior and exterior cleaning of premises, vehicles, machinery and event sites.
- Courier and road freight — delivery of parcels, packages and goods, including many gig-economy delivery arrangements.
- Information technology — writing, modifying, testing or supporting software and hardware, whether on site or remote.
- Security, investigation or surveillance — guarding, patrolling, monitoring and investigation services.
Report payments for the labour and services component, including where materials are supplied as part of the service. Payments purely for materials, payments to employees (reported through STP instead), and invoices unpaid at 30 June are excluded.
What you need from each contractor
ABN, name, address, gross amount paid during the year (GST inclusive), and any amount withheld because they didn't quote an ABN. Collect the ABN before you pay the first invoice — chasing details in August for a contractor who has disappeared is a genuinely unpleasant task, and no-ABN withholding at 47% is the fallback.
If your accounting software has contractor reporting configured, the TPAR is close to a one-click job. If contractor payments have been coded to generic expense accounts all year, it isn't. That configuration decision is worth making at setup.
Why it matters at both ends
The TPAR exists to identify contractors who under-report income. If you receive payments in these industries, assume the ATO already knows what you were paid — reported by every business you invoiced. Discrepancies between TPAR data and a contractor's return are a standard trigger for a data-matching letter.
For the payer, the report also draws attention to a second question: whether those 'contractors' are actually employees. A long list of regular, exclusive, labour-only contractors on your TPAR is exactly the pattern that prompts a superannuation guarantee review.
Penalties and getting it right
Failure to lodge attracts penalties in the same unit-based structure as other late lodgements, and lodging with incorrect or missing ABNs generates follow-up. If you've never lodged and should have, lodge the outstanding years voluntarily — the outcome is materially better than being contacted.
Frequently asked questions
Do I lodge a TPAR if I paid contractors but I'm not in those industries?
Generally no, unless a listed service forms part of what your business supplies. A café paying an IT contractor for its point-of-sale system doesn't lodge; an IT firm paying subcontract developers does. Mixed businesses need to apply the tests to their actual activities.
Are payments to labour-hire firms reportable?
Payments for the listed services are reportable regardless of whether the supplier is an individual, a company or a labour-hire business. What matters is the service, not the entity type.
What if a contractor won't give me their ABN?
Withhold 47% from the payment and remit it to the ATO, then report both the gross payment and the amount withheld. It's not optional, and it's a strong incentive for contractors to provide details.
Do I report GST-inclusive or exclusive amounts?
GST-inclusive — the gross amount paid, including any GST.
Does TPAR mean my contractors are employees?
No, but the two questions live next door to each other. Lodging a TPAR doesn't create employment, and it doesn't prevent a finding that a worker was really an employee. If your contractors work exclusively for you, on your schedule, with your tools, get the classification reviewed.
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