Most people think tax savings happen in June. They don’t. They happen quietly during the year, in small decisions you may not even realise are saving you at the time.
Here are the 10 small habits I see that make the biggest difference every year…
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1. Stop trying to remember things in July
Open the Notes app in your phone and start a list called “Tax 2026”.
Every time something happens during the year that will be reflected on your tax return, add one line to the list. New job. Pay rise. Side income. New investment. Sold shares. Bought equipment. Paid for a course. Moved house. Changed your email address. Started working from home more. Anything at all that has changed.
Do not trust your memory.
You can also pop these notes straight into a dedicated chat in your Freshwater Portal as they happen using the app on your phone. By July, everything is already sitting there ready to go.
2. Business owners, stop paying for work-related things from your personal account
This is one of the biggest time wasters I see every year.
When business expenses come out of random personal cards and accounts, everything becomes painful to summarise. By July, you are scrolling through months of statements, trying to work out what was business, what was personal, and what you can actually claim.
Every business owner should have a completely separate business bank account and ideally more than one. One for income. One for expenses. One for tax and GST. I also recommend a dedicated card that is only ever used for business spending.
This is where proper online bookkeeping software, such as Xero, makes a huge difference. When all of your business transactions feed directly into your software from the correct accounts, your records are clean, your summaries are easy, and your tax return becomes a simple review rather than a reconstruction exercise.
3. Salary packaging isn’t just for big companies
Many employees assume salary packaging is offered only by large corporations or government departments. That is not the case.
If your employer offers any form of salary packaging and you are not using it, there is a strong chance you are paying more tax than necessary. Most people never even ask what is available to them.
Salary packaging allows certain expenses to be paid from your pre-tax income. This can include laptops, phones, professional memberships, additional superannuation contributions, motor vehicles, or, in some cases, everyday living expenses, depending on your employer’s arrangements. Because these amounts are deducted before tax is calculated, your taxable income is reduced.
These are often costs you would be paying anyway. The difference is whether you pay for them with after-tax dollars or before tax is applied.
4. If you’re a business owner, your bookkeeping is your tax strategy
Up-to-date bookkeeping is not admin. It determines how much we can do for you before June.
When books are months behind, tax planning becomes guesswork. I regularly see errors from cheap or rushed bookkeeping, such as incorrectly claimed GST, unreconciled bank accounts, missed transactions, and expenses coded in ways that make reports meaningless.
If you are not a bookkeeper, it is worth engaging someone who is properly qualified. Good bookkeeping gives you accurate information about how your business is actually performing, not just numbers for tax.
At Freshwater, we review and reconcile the bookkeeping before preparing any business tax return. Accurate books lead to accurate tax outcomes and better planning. All Freshwater business clients also receive a complimentary monthly statistical report to see how their business is tracking year-round.
5. Superannuation is one of the easiest legal tax deductions available
Super is one of the few areas where you can deliberately move money into a lower-tax environment while claiming a deduction.
For the current year, the concessional contributions cap is $30,000. This includes employer super, salary sacrifice, and any personal deductible contributions you choose to make. If you are employed, you can contribute extra to your superannuation personally and claim a deduction. If you are a sole trader, these personal contributions are also deductible in your return. If you run a company, you can salary sacrifice additional super through your own payroll.
If your total super balance is under $500,000, you may also be able to use unused portions of your concessional cap from the previous five years. It is important to be aware of Division 293 if your income plus concessional contributions exceeds $250,000.
6. Pay attention to timing when buying assets
The timing of an asset purchase can determine which financial year the deduction falls into.
For employees, most work-related equipment must be depreciated over time. Buying a laptop or tools on 28 June often results in only a few days’ worth of depreciation in that year. For business owners, the temporary instant asset write-off has ended, and most assets must again be depreciated unless they fall within the current small business thresholds.
Buying something “before 30 June for tax” only works if you understand how the depreciation rules apply to you.
7. Don’t ignore small subscriptions and memberships
This is one of the most commonly missed areas for employees.
Cloud storage used for work files, software subscriptions, industry memberships, union fees, online learning platforms, and professional journals are all expenses directly related to earning your income.
Individually, they seem minor, but across a full year, they can add up to a meaningful deduction.
8. Use the Freshwater Portal during the year, not just at tax time
Investment paperwork is one of the biggest time drains at tax time because people go looking for documents months after the event.
If you buy or sell shares, ETFs, crypto, or property, upload the documents into your Freshwater Portal as you receive them using your browser or the app. When July arrives, everything is already there.
9. Talk to your accountant before you sell something, not after
Selling shares, ETFs, crypto, property, or a business asset can result in a tax outcome heavily influenced by timing and structure.
After the sale, the tax position is largely locked in. A quick conversation beforehand can give you options that simply do not exist afterwards.
10. Don’t mix personal and business use of assets without keeping a record
Cars, phones, the internet, and home office space are often partly for work and partly for personal use.
A simple log book, diary note, or usage record during the year allows us to calculate your claim accurately instead of relying on guesswork in July.
The pattern I see every year is very consistent. The clients who get the best tax outcomes are not the ones who rush around in June. They are the ones who build small habits during the year that make July straightforward and stress-free. Tax savings are rarely about clever tricks. They come from simple, consistent awareness throughout the year. Adopting these habits now will make all the difference in 2026.
