Bookkeeping for Painters in Geelong

Running a painting business in Geelong means juggling quote requests, job scheduling, material purchases, and customer follow-ups. The last thing you want is bookkeeping headaches on top of everything else. Yet proper financial management separates thriving painting businesses from those constantly chasing cash flow.

Whether you're a sole trader working residential jobs across Belmont and Highton, or running a crew tackling commercial projects in the Geelong CBD, getting your bookkeeping right protects your profits and keeps the ATO happy.

Understanding Your Business Structure and Tax Obligations

Most Geelong painters start as sole traders because it's the simplest structure. You report business income in your personal tax return, and you're personally liable for business debts. As your painting business grows, you might consider registering a company (Pty Ltd) or partnership structure.

Your key tax obligations under Australian law include:

• Income tax — report all painting income in your annual tax return under ITAA 1997
• GST — mandatory registration once turnover exceeds $75,000 in a 12-month period
• PAYG withholding — if you employ apprentices or other painters
• Superannuation — under the SGA Act, you must pay 11.5% super for employees earning over $450 per month
• TPAR — report payments to subcontractor painters by 28 August annually

Getting the structure wrong from the start creates expensive problems later. If you're turning over more than $150,000 annually or considering hiring employees, have a proper conversation with a bookkeeper or accountant about whether a company structure makes sense.

Tracking Materials and Job Costs Accurately

Paint, primers, brushes, rollers, drop sheets, masking tape, sandpaper — the list of materials for any painting job adds up quickly. Without proper tracking, you'll have no idea whether individual jobs actually made money.

Set up your bookkeeping system to track costs at the job level. In Xero, you can use tracking categories to allocate expenses to specific projects. This lets you see:

• Material costs per job — did that Newtown heritage restoration actually profit after three trips to Dulux?
• Labour costs per job — including your own time and any subcontractors
• Gross margin per job — the real profit before your overheads

For Geelong painters, material costs typically run between 15-25% of job revenue on standard residential work. If you're consistently above 30%, you're either underquoting, wasting materials, or buying inefficiently. Job costing data helps you identify the problem.

Managing Subcontractor Payments and TPAR

Many Geelong painting businesses use subcontractors for larger jobs or specialist work like spray painting. This triggers specific ATO reporting requirements under the Taxable Payments Reporting System.

If you pay subcontractors more than $0 for painting services (yes, any amount), you must lodge a Taxable Payments Annual Report (TPAR) by 28 August each year. The report includes:

• Subcontractor's ABN and name
• Address
• Total gross payments for the financial year
• Total GST included in those payments

Before paying any subcontractor, always verify their ABN on the ABN Lookup website. If the ABN is invalid or cancelled, you must withhold 47% from their payment under the no-ABN withholding rules.

Also confirm whether your subbies are genuinely contractors or actually employees. The ATO scrutinises the painting industry heavily for sham contracting. Key factors include who controls when and how work is done, who provides tools and equipment, and whether the worker can delegate tasks. If someone only works for you, uses your equipment, and follows your schedule, they're probably an employee regardless of what the contract says. Check the Fair Work Ombudsman guidance on contractor versus employee distinctions.

Vehicle and Equipment Expenses

Your ute or van is essential for running a painting business — getting to jobs, transporting ladders, carrying paint stock. The ATO allows deductions for business use of vehicles under ITAA 1997, but the rules matter.

You have two main methods for claiming motor vehicle expenses:

• Cents per kilometre — claim 85 cents per business kilometre (2025-26 rate), maximum 5,000 km per year. Simple but limited.
• Logbook method — keep a logbook for 12 continuous weeks recording every trip, then apply the business percentage to actual running costs (fuel, rego, insurance, servicing, depreciation). Better for high-kilometre painters.

Important: travel from home to your first job and from your last job home is private travel, not deductible. Travel between job sites during the day is business travel.

For equipment like spray guns, sanders, scaffolding, and air compressors, items costing less than $300 can be deducted immediately. Items over $300 must be depreciated over their effective life. The ATO sets effective life guidelines — a powered spray gun, for example, has an effective life of 10 years.

Staying on Top of BAS and Cash Flow

If you're registered for GST, you'll lodge Business Activity Statements either monthly or quarterly. Most Geelong painting businesses lodge quarterly, with due dates of 28 October, 28 February, 28 April, and 28 July.

Your BAS reports GST collected on jobs, GST paid on materials and expenses, PAYG instalments (if applicable), and PAYG withholding (if you have employees). Late lodgement attracts penalties under TASA 2009, starting at $313 per statement and escalating from there.

The cash flow challenge for painters is that you often pay for materials upfront but don't receive payment until the job finishes — sometimes 30 days after invoice. Smart painters:

• Request deposits on larger jobs (30-50% upfront is standard)
• Invoice promptly on job completion, not days later
• Use accounting software with invoice reminders
• Track aged receivables weekly
• Set aside GST and tax immediately, not when it's due

Opening a separate bank account just for GST and tax provisions prevents nasty surprises. When a $15,000 job pays, immediately transfer $1,364 to your GST account (1/11th of the invoice if you're GST registered) plus another 25-30% for income tax. What remains is your actual operating cash.

Record Keeping Requirements

The ATO requires you to keep business records for five years from the date you lodge your tax return. For a painting business, that means retaining:

• All invoices issued — quotes that convert to invoices, tax invoices to customers
• Purchase receipts — materials from Haymes, Dulux, Bunnings; equipment purchases
• Bank statements — keep digital copies even if your bank retains them
• Vehicle logbooks — if using the logbook method
• Subcontractor payment records — invoices received, proof of payment, ABN verification
• BAS lodgement confirmations
• Employee records — if applicable, including pay slips, super contributions, leave records

Digital records stored in Xero or similar cloud software meet ATO requirements. The days of shoeboxes full of receipts are over — take photos of paper receipts with your phone and upload them immediately. Apps like Hubdoc (included free with Xero) make this simple.

What to Do Next

Good bookkeeping for your painting business doesn't require hours each week — it requires the right systems set up correctly from the start. Here's your action plan:

• Review your GST status — if you're approaching $75,000 turnover, register now rather than scrambling later
• Set up job tracking — start recording material and labour costs per project
• Create a subcontractor register — verify ABNs and prepare for TPAR reporting
• Open a tax savings account — transfer GST and estimated tax with every payment received
• Go digital — if you're still using paper, move to Xero and start photographing receipts

If you're a Geelong painter who'd rather spend time on the tools than wrestling with spreadsheets, we can help. True Tally Bookkeeping works with trades businesses across the region to set up efficient systems, handle BAS lodgement, and provide monthly reports that actually make sense. Give us a call on 0421 132 796 or book a free chat to see how we can help your painting business run smoother.