Above all talk to your accountant. Every business is different and you need to take advice from someone who understands your current position.

Having said that, there are some good ‘housekeeping tips’ that almost every business should review. Here are 7 of them.

1. If you have any loans from the company to the shareholders or related parties, make sure you meet your Division 7A obligations. This is all about minimum loan repayments and the charging of interest on the loan in line with your loan agreement. Yes there should be a loan agreement in place unless this is the first year of the loan and in which case you have still have some time post June 30 to complete the agreement.
2. If you operate through a trust structure then consider the appointment of trust income for the year. Who is the income going to? Ideally you should have a trustee resolution in place to confirm this.
3. If you are paying dividends before June 30 make sure that the resolutions have been completed declaring the dividend. These resolutions should be minuted.
4. Resolutions to approve the payment of directors’ fees or bonuses should be completed. The charge should be taken up in the accounts and it should be clear that the company is committed pre June 30 to the expense albeit that they may not be paid until the new year.
5. Make sure your superannuation payments are made before June 30. You can only claim this expense in the year that it is actually paid. Where cash flow permits calculate your June quarter SGC liability and pay this before the end of June. This will bring forward the deduction into the 2010 tax year.
6. Write off any bad debts before the end of the month. To take the tax deduction these need to be physically written off in your accounts and all recovery action discontinued.
7. If you are a small business entity, that is one with a turnover less than $2 million per annum consider making prepayments of expenses, where your cash flow permits. Ensure that you have worked through the cash flow effect first. Consider prepaying a number of expenses for say 3-4 months rather than a single expense for 12 months. This will lessen the cash flow effect.

Your tax planning needs to be a whole of year exercise. There is a limit to what you can do in the last week of the financial year and you cant effectively tax plan in only one week of the year.