Why “I’ll Fix It Next Year” Rarely Works for ABN Tax Returns

Many ABN holders finish tax time with the same quiet promise: I’ll clean this up next year.
Missing receipts, rushed numbers, messy categories — none of it feels fatal in the moment. The return is done, the stress fades, and business moves on.

The problem is that tax doesn’t reset each year.

When something is entered incorrectly in one year, it often becomes the starting point for the next. Income categories roll forward. Expense patterns repeat. Assumptions harden into habits. What felt like a small shortcut quietly becomes your new “normal”.

One of the biggest misconceptions is that mistakes can always be corrected later. In reality, once a year is lodged, the structure of that return influences everything that follows. Fixing issues later often means explaining why things changed, not just changing them.

There’s also the compounding effect of poor records. If documents are missing this year, they’re even harder to reconstruct next year. Bank feeds don’t get clearer with time. Memory fades. Details blur. Each delay makes the original issue harder to prove and easier to question.

Another issue is inconsistency. When figures swing sharply from one year to the next without a clear reason, it attracts attention. The ATO looks for logical progression — not sudden corrections that can’t be clearly explained.

Many ABN holders also underestimate how often past returns are revisited. Reviews, amendments, and data matching don’t stop once a return is lodged. A weak first year can surface later, especially as income grows or activity changes.

Waiting to “fix it next year” often leads to fixing multiple years at once, which is more time-consuming, more stressful, and harder to defend.

The reality is that most ABN tax problems aren’t caused by one bad decision. They’re caused by small issues left unaddressed year after year.

Getting it right early doesn’t mean being perfect. It means setting a structure that makes sense and correcting problems while they’re still small and easy to explain.

For ABN holders, the easiest year to fix mistakes is always the current one.

Learn how self-employed tax returns work here:
https://www.gotax.com.au/self-employed-tax-return