ATO systems maintenance on 17–18 October: what Perth hairdressers should check

Abby's take

What this means for the industry — and for independents

Industry impact. The ATO publishes maintenance schedules for specific reporting connections. Business owners need to distinguish the affected technical service from unrelated booking, payment and accounting functions.

For freelancers. A Perth hairdresser who reserves Sunday for administration may still organise receipts and reconcile records, but an affected ATO-connected submission could require a different time.

What I'd do next

• Read the current ATO Software Developers API system maintenance notice before planning a time-sensitive submission.
• Ask your software provider or registered adviser whether your particular task uses the affected production SBR service.
• Move urgent affected submissions outside the Perth maintenance window and allow time for login or document problems.
• Keep a record of the actual acknowledgement rather than treating a queued item as a completed submission.

Watch-out. The schedule is indicative and can change. This notice does not establish that all ATO services or card-payment platforms are unavailable, and it does not extend tax deadlines.

The published production window in Perth time

The ATO lists SBR1 production and SBR2 production as unavailable from 10 pm AEDT Saturday 17 October to 6 pm AEDT Sunday 18 October 2026. Perth is three hours behind AEDT in October, so the scheduled local window is 7 pm Saturday to 3 pm Sunday.

The ATO warns that maintenance can change or be cancelled at short notice. Recheck the official page before relying on this window.

Check whether your submission uses SBR

SBR is a reporting connection used by some business and accounting software. Ask your software provider or registered adviser whether a specific task relies on an affected connection.

The ATO lists production and test environments separately. A technical notice does not prove that your booking calendar, bank account, payment terminal or every ATO login will be unavailable.

Separate preparation from the online submission

List the tasks you planned for the weekend. Collecting receipts, checking invoices, matching takings to records and drafting questions can often be done without making an ATO submission.

Confirm any actual due date with your ATO records or registered adviser. Scheduled maintenance does not automatically change a legal lodgement or payment obligation.

After the window, confirm the result

Check the current status and your software provider's instructions before retrying a failed or queued item. Avoid duplicating a submission because the first attempt did not immediately display a result.

Retain the receipt or acknowledgement for the completed action. If an adviser handles the submission, agree who will verify its final status.

Official source and limits

Source checked 15 October 2026: Australian Taxation Office, API system maintenance, https://softwaredevelopers.ato.gov.au/APIsm. The notice identifies production SBR1 and SBR2 services and gives indicative times.

For Online services for business status, check https://osb.status.ato.gov.au/. This article does not claim an outage of all ATO channels or any private software provider.

Common questions