Reporting payments for contractors
As part of the Taxable payment reporting system (TPRS), many businesses lodge a Taxable payments annual report (TPAR) to report payments made to contractors for providing the following services:
- building and construction
- cleaning
- courier
- information technology (IT)
- road freight
- security, investigation or surveillance
If you work as a contractor providing any of these services, remember to include all your income on your tax return.
To help you get it right, we can include information reported to us about contractor payments to you in our:
- pre-filling service – if you're a sole trader, you or your registered tax agent may use our pre-filling service to easily include these payments in your tax return
- reported transactions in ATO online platforms – these records give you transparency about the data that has been provided to us about your business transactions.
Why we collect this information
Collecting information about contractor payments in the TPAR helps us:
- identify contractors who do not meet their tax obligations so we can let them know and help them correctly report their income
- make sure businesses aren't disadvantaged by competitors who don't declare all their income.
What’s new for Tax Time 2026 – pre-fill for individuals in business
If you work as a contractor providing TPRS services, amounts reported to the ATO through TPAR will now be pre-filled in your tax return. Pre-fill securely imports verified data into your return and reduces manual entry, helping you get things right the first time.
Most TPAR data will only be available after 28 August each year. Lodging in July or early August means this information may not appear yet. This could lead to omissions, the need for amendments, and repayment of refunds later. Lodging after 28 August gives you the best experience and reduces risk of errors.
You can check, update and confirm any pre-filled information before you lodge. If you change a pre-filled amount, you will be asked to select a short reason code explaining why.
For more information, see:
- pre-fill availability
- what you need to report in your income tax return
- what to include in your business's assessable income
Other contractor tax obligations
See information to help you stay on top of your other tax and super obligations when working as a contractor, including:
- what you need to do when starting a business
- tax registrations you may need
- keeping records