Case Overview

The client has paid income tax instalments quarterly in FY24, 


However, these instalments are not appearing in the tax return and therefore are not being credited in the tax calculation.


Why This Happens

The Company Tax Return (CTR) only pulls PAYG instalments from specific activity statement fields:

  • PAYG instalments must be reported at CTR field: “PAYG instalments raised”

  • This field is populated only from activity statements that include:

    • Field 5A (PAYG instalment amount payable), or

    • Field 5B (Credit from PAYG instalment)

If these fields do not exist on the lodged activity statements, the instalments will not flow through to the tax return automatically.


Key Finding in This Case

For Bread of Life Co, all lodged activity statements are:

  • Type F – GST only

  • Type P – PAYG Withholding (PAYG-W)

These activity statement types are not used to report PAYG income tax instalments.
They do not contain fields 5A or 5B, so no PAYG instalment amounts are available to be pulled into the CTR. Learn more from the ATO

Resulting Impact

  • PAYG instalments paid during FY24 are not reflected in the tax return

  • The tax payable appears higher than expected, as credits are missing

  • This is not a system error, but a reporting limitation based on the activity statement types lodged

Recommended Next Steps

  • If PAYG instalments were not reported via Instalment Activity Statements (IAS):

    • They cannot auto-populate into the CTR

  • Advise the client to:

    • Confirm instalments with the ATO (via Running Balance Account), or

    • Seek ATO guidance on how the payments were allocated

  • If required, manually account for the instalments once confirmed with ATO

Key Takeaway

PAYG instalments will only appear in the tax return if they are reported through activity statements that include 5A or 5B.
GST (F) and PAYG-W (P) statements alone are not sufficient. Learn more from the ATO