Buying equipment or stock before 30 June with a short-term loan

Every May and June, the same conversation happens in workshops, warehouses and kitchens across the country: “If we’re going to buy it anyway, should we buy it before 30 June?” Often the answer is yes. But the tax benefit arrives later, and the invoice arrives now. That’s where a short-term loan earns its keep — funding the purchase on time, then being repaid once the season turns.

This guide covers the current instant asset write-off rules, the timing trap that catches people every year, and how to choose the right short-term structure for an end-of-year buy.

What are the instant asset write-off rules now?

The settled position, from the ATO’s small business newsroom:

• From 1 July 2026, the $20,000 instant asset write-off is permanent. The ATO’s legislation page confirms the measure, announced in the 2026–27 Budget on 12 May 2026, “is now law”.
• Who can use it: small businesses with aggregated annual turnover of less than $10 million that use the simplified depreciation rules.
• What qualifies: assets that cost less than $20,000 and are “first used, or installed ready for use, in an income year”.
• Per asset, not per year. The limit applies to each asset, so you can claim several, as long as each one comes in under $20,000.
• Bigger items: assets costing $20,000 or more can continue to go into the general small business pool and be depreciated over time.

For the year before, the ATO set the window as assets first used or installed ready for use between 1 July 2025 and 30 June 2026. For the current income year, that window closes on 30 June 2027.

What’s the 30 June trap?

Paying for something isn’t the test. Using it, or having it installed ready for use, is. Each year, owners order a machine in mid-June, pay a deposit or the full price, and then find it doesn’t arrive or isn’t commissioned until July. In most cases, that pushes the deduction into the following year.

So the real EOFY deadline isn’t 30 June — it’s the supplier’s lead time before 30 June. A few practical rules of thumb:

• Ask the supplier for a delivery and installation date in writing before you commit.
• Allow for freight, fit-out and commissioning, not just the factory’s dispatch date.
• Buy earlier in the year if the item is imported or made to order.
• Talk to your accountant first. They’ll confirm what qualifies for your business and whether buying now actually helps your tax position.

That last point matters. The write-off is a deduction, not a refund. It reduces taxable income; it doesn’t give you back the purchase price. Buying something you don’t need just to claim a deduction is still spending money.

Why fund an EOFY purchase short-term?

Most end-of-year buys have a natural payback window. A landscaper buys gear before winter and earns it back over spring. A retailer stocks up for the new financial year and sells through by the end of the quarter. The money comes back within months, so a loan measured in months, not decades, matches the shape of the purchase.

A short-term loan also handles what equipment finance doesn’t: a mix of items. One loan can cover three machines under $20,000 each, a trailer, a deposit on a larger asset, freight and some stock — without five separate finance applications. If seasonal stock is the bigger part of the spend, our seasonal stock buy page goes further.

Which short-term structure fits?

It comes down to whether you have property, where it is, and how big the purchase is.

Situation	Structure	Typical size
Victorian property with equity	Caveat loan	$20,000 to $5,000,000
Property in any other state or territory, existing bank loan	Short-term registered second mortgage	$20,000 to $5,000,000
Property with no mortgage	Short-term first mortgage	$20,000 to $5,000,000
Trading business without property	Unsecured or cash-flow funding, sized on turnover	Typically $5,000 to $500,000

Second mortgages outside Victoria are usually arranged just as quickly as a Victorian caveat. Property-secured loans of $20,000 to $250,000 can be possible the same day, and larger loans up to $5 million can be possible within 24 to 48 hours once paperwork is in order. Our caveat loans and second mortgage pages explain both.

Want to know which one suits your purchase? Tell us about the buy — it’s a short form with no credit check to enquire.

Short-term loan or equipment finance — which suits the purchase?

Both have a place, and plenty of businesses use both in the same year. The difference is mostly about how long you need the money and how many things you’re buying.

Question	Short-term property-secured loan	Equipment finance
What does it cover?	Anything for the business — several assets, stock, freight, deposits	Usually one asset, or a defined list from a supplier
How long does it run?	Months, matched to a known repayment source	Typically years, matched to the asset’s working life
What’s the security?	Property — residential or commercial	The equipment itself
How fast?	$20,000 to $250,000 can be possible the same day	Depends on the financier and the supplier
Best when…	The money comes back within the season	You’d rather pay for the asset as it earns

A common pattern is to fund the whole end-of-year buy with one short-term loan, so suppliers are paid on time, and later move a single large item onto longer-term finance if that suits the cash flow better. Ask your accountant how each option fits your tax position before you choose.

How do you time the loan around 30 June?

Work back from the date the equipment has to be installed:

1. Eight to ten weeks out: get quotes with delivery and installation dates. Talk to your accountant about which items qualify.
2. Six weeks out: decide the structure and gather documents — recent bank statements, ID, property details and supplier quotes.
3. Four weeks out: enquire and complete the valuation and title checks, so funds are ready when the supplier needs them.
4. When the supplier confirms the order: settle the loan and pay deposits directly to suppliers.
5. Before 30 June: confirm delivery and installation, and keep the paperwork your accountant will want.

Starting early also helps the loan. A purchase made under pressure in the last week of June leaves no margin if a valuer is booked out or a co-owner is away.

An illustrative example

Invented scenario, round numbers.

A Perth landscaping company with turnover well under $10 million plans its end-of-year buy in early May. The list: a ride-on mower at $18,000, a plate compactor at $9,000, a trailer at $12,000 and a mini-excavator at $68,000, plus about $25,000 of irrigation stock for the spring season. Total: roughly $132,000.

The three smaller items each come in under $20,000. The excavator goes into the small business pool, and the stock is treated as trading stock — the accountant confirms all of this before anything is ordered.

The directors own their home in Perth, worth about $1,100,000, with a bank loan of $520,000. A short-term registered second mortgage of $135,000 takes total borrowing to about 60% of the home’s value. Funds settle in mid-May, the suppliers are paid, and everything is delivered and working by early June. The company repays the loan from spring and early summer receipts, with the business tax refund as a buffer.

What should you watch for?

• The deduction doesn’t repay the loan. Plan repayment from trading, a contract, a sale or a refinance — not from the tax return alone.
• Lead times blow out in June. Order earlier than feels necessary.
• BAS still lands. The June quarter BAS arrives a month or so later; keep enough aside.
• Total cost in dollars. Ask for establishment, legal, valuation and interest costs as a dollar total for the expected term, then compare that to the benefit you expect.

If you’re weighing up a broader short-term facility rather than just an EOFY purchase, our short-term business finance page covers the full menu, and fast short-term business loans explains what makes quick funding possible.

Get the timing right this year

The write-off is now a permanent fixture, which means every year has the same deadline and the same choice. The owners who do it well plan in April and May, not in the last week of June. If you’ve got a list of equipment or stock you’d like on site before 30 June, let’s look at how to fund it while there’s still time.

The enquiry takes about a minute, and there’s no credit check when you first reach out. We don’t forward your details to a crowd of lenders. A real person reviews your purchase list and gives you a call. Please answer the form accurately — especially the property address, the state it’s in and the date your supplier needs paying.

Plan your EOFY purchase →