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Preparing for a potential tax bill

Income you earn from the sharing economy may not have tax withheld, which means you might end up with a tax bill.

Last updated 20 August 2025

Prepayments

You can choose to make a prepayment, regularly or once off, to go towards a potential tax bill. To make it easier for you to manage your tax, you can make prepayments at any time and as often as you like.

Any prepayments made towards your tax before they are due will remain on your account unless you, or your agent, request a refund.

If you have an existing tax debt, prepayments may be used to pay that debt.

Pay as you go instalments

If you're earning (or expecting to earn) more than $4,000 a year from renting out a room, whole house or unit, you can consider entering the pay as you go (PAYG) instalment system voluntarily. This will stop you getting a large tax bill at the end of the year.

You can pay amounts every 3 months (quarterly) to help cover any income tax you may need to pay on your sharing economy income.

If you pay too much during the year, you will get the money back when you do your tax return.

If you don’t pay enough during the year, you'll pay the difference when you do your tax return – but it will be less than if you didn’t pay anything at all.

Find out how to start paying instalments.

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