The Australian Taxation Office has clarified which entities must submit general purpose financial statements, specifying that corporate tax entities engaged in country-by-country reporting with Australian residency or permanent establishments face mandatory lodgement requirements by their company tax return deadline.
The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has issued a notice on 28 April 2026 outlining which entities are required to lodge a general purpose financial statement.
Lodging a general purpose financial statement (GPFS) is a crucial step for various entities in Australia. Under section 3CA of the Taxation Administration Act 1953, an entity is required to submit a GPFS if it meets all of the following criteria:
- a corporate tax entity (that is, a company, corporate limited partnership, or public trading trust) for the income year
- a country-by-country reporting entity for the income year
- an Australian resident or a foreign resident operating an Australian permanent establishment (PE), at the end of the income year.
If an entity is a subsidiary member of an accounting group, but not a member of a tax consolidated or multiple entry consolidated (MEC) group, it may still have an obligation to lodge a GPFS even where the parent entity may have already lodged.
However, if a trust or partnership tax return is lodged, there is no obligation under section 3CA to lodge a GPFS.
To ensure the GPFS meets the necessary standards, the entity must prepare it in accordance with applicable accounting standards. Special purpose financial statements (SPFS) are not accepted as GPFS. The GPFS must also be in PDF format without attached objects or executables, encrypted data or active content (e.g. JavaScript, PostScript). This is because lodgments with these may affect an entity successfully meeting its GPFS obligations.
Entities must lodge their GPFS by the company tax return due date, unless they have already lodged with ASIC. To avoid penalties, statements must be lodged on time, and in the approved form. Penalties are considerably higher for significant global entities.
For more information on how to prepare and lodge in the approved form, see Guidance on providing general purpose financial statements.
