Before you start a client's return: check lodgment status, prefill and due dates in one pass

Last reviewed: 24 October 2026. General information only, not advice for your clients' circumstances.

Short answer: before anyone opens a tax return or a BAS, confirm three things for the client: what the ATO says is outstanding, what pre-fill figures the ATO already holds, and when each item is due. Doing that first, in a fixed order, keeps working papers anchored to the ATO's position and stops surprises late in the cycle.

Why check the ATO's position first

Working papers are built from the ledger, client documents and whatever the ATO already holds on the client's account. If you build the paper first and compare later, you rework it. If you check lodgment status, pre-fill and due dates first, the paper starts from known ground.

This is a routine question for most practices: which clients have something outstanding, which returns are close to due, and which figures are already waiting in the ATO's systems. The steps below are the order we would work in, and where Fedix fits at each stage. For the legal detail of lodgment obligations and due dates, rely on the ATO and the legislation itself (ato.gov.au and legislation.gov.au) rather than this article.

Step one: see every client's lodgment list in one place

Start with the practice-wide view, not the individual client. In the ATO lodgment worklist in Fedix Practice Manager you see every client's ATO lodgment list, with due dates and status, in one worklist you can refresh in bulk. [ev:feature:crm-ato-lodgments]

That answers the first question of the day: what is overdue, what is due soon and what is already lodged. Sort by due date, work from the top, and leave the rest for tomorrow's refresh.

When one client needs a closer look, open their outstanding lodgements. You can see every outstanding lodgement for that client across years in one list. [ev:feature:crm-client-outstanding-lodgements] This matters when a client has fallen behind. A single missing year is easy to miss when you only look at the current one.

Step two: pull the ATO pre-fill figures before you build the paper

For individual returns, pre-fill is the ATO's own information about the client's income, such as employer, bank and other third-party data. Treat it as a starting point to be checked against client documents, not as a finished answer.

In Fedix you can look up and save a client's ATO pre-fill income tax figures so they are ready for the working papers. [ev:feature:crm-ato-iitr] Saving them means the figures are on file when preparation starts, instead of being fetched again mid-way through.

A good habit is to record, at this point, anything you already know does not match the client's own records. A note now saves a phone call later.

Step three: prepare the working paper

With status and pre-fill known, start the working paper. The working papers hub in MyLedger is one tabbed page per client for year-end schedules: checklist, GST, tax return labels, depreciation, amortisation, Division 7A, FBT, investment income, distributions, franking, dividends, SMSF and more. [ev:feature:acb-working-papers]

A few pieces are worth calling out by entity type.

Individuals and companies. The tax return label report maps the ledger to ATO tax return labels with drill-down, so return figures trace back to transactions. [ev:feature:acb-itr-report] For companies, the book-to-tax reconciliation is a working paper for each year that bridges accounting profit to taxable income. [ev:feature:acb-income-tax-recon]

Trusts. Trust distributions let you allocate trust net income to beneficiaries and post or unpost the distribution journals. [ev:feature:acb-trust-distributions] The ability to unpost matters in practice, because allocations are often revisited after review.

Return workpapers and deductions. In Fedix Practice Manager, each return can have a structured workpaper with sections, adjustments, versions you can revert to and a PDF. [ev:feature:crm-tax-return-workpaper] Deduction workings can be saved per client and financial year, and locked once reviewed. [ev:feature:crm-deduction-worksheets]

SMSFs. SMSF schedules sit in the same working papers hub as the other year-end schedules. [ev:feature:acb-working-papers]

Step four: reconcile GST to the BAS before you lodge

BAS is where the ledger and the ATO's labels have to agree. Three checks are worth making each period.

First, look at the BAS summary. It shows the BAS labels for a period, such as G1, 1A, 1B, W1 and W2, with drill-down to the transactions behind each figure. [ev:feature:acb-bas-summary] If a label looks wrong, you can go straight to the transactions rather than guessing.

Second, run the GST reconciliation. It compares the GST in the ledger with the BAS figures, lets you review the differences and keeps a history of each reconciliation. [ev:feature:acb-gst-reconciliation] The history is useful when a reviewer asks later how a difference was cleared.

Third, check wages and withholding. W1 and W2 come from the client's payroll journals rather than being retyped. [ev:feature:acb-bas-payg-ledger] Fewer retyped figures means fewer transposition errors.

If a client needs to work through the calculation by hand, there is a GST calculation worksheet with manual inputs, following the ATO worksheet. [ev:feature:acb-bas-gst-worksheet]

Step five: compare against the ATO account

Once the BAS or return is prepared, compare the ledger with what the ATO account shows. The ATO comparison panel compares ATO account activity with the ledger and prompts you to import anything missing. [ev:feature:acb-ato-recon-panel] That catches payments or adjustments that exist on the ATO side but never reached the books.

Step six: track due dates and chase outstanding items

Preparation is only half the job. The other half is making sure nothing slips.

BAS and IAS obligations can be tracked as workflow rows assigned to accountants, with a dashboard widget. [ev:feature:crm-bas-ias-workflow] Return batches can sit on a board by lodgement status, and you update a batch by dragging it to its new status. [ev:feature:crm-lodgement-tracker]

For clients who are late providing information, reminders can be generated, previewed and sent, manually or on an automatic schedule with escalation templates. [ev:feature:crm-ato-reminders] Previewing before sending keeps the tone in your hands.

A simple routine you can adopt

1. Refresh the lodgment worklist and sort by due date.
2. For each client you are about to work on, check outstanding lodgements across years.
3. Save pre-fill figures before building the paper.
4. Prepare the working paper and trace the return or BAS labels back to transactions.
5. Reconcile GST to the BAS, then compare with the ATO account.
6. Move the batch on the board and send any reminders still needed.

None of this replaces your professional judgement. It makes sure that judgement is applied to the right numbers, in the right order, with a trail behind them.

Where to see it

If you want to see how Fedix approaches working papers, the overview is at home.fedix.ai/features/ai-working-papers. The tools above help you prepare and organise the work. Lodgment itself remains your decision and your responsibility.