The end of financial year is the most important date in the Australian business calendar. Most people spend it reviewing expenses. The ones ahead of the curve are creating them, strategically.
There’s a conversation that happens every June in accountants’ offices across Australia. A business owner sits across the desk and asks some version of the same question: what can I still do before June 30? The answer is usually a list of equipment purchases, prepaid expenses, and superannuation contributions. The same list, every year.
What rarely makes that list but probably should, is a jet card.
Not because it’s a loophole. Not because it’s aggressive tax planning. But because a jet card is a legitimate, prepaid business expense that can be structured to fall in the current financial year. For business owners flying regularly, it’s one of the most defensible purchases on the P&L.
The question isn’t whether you can afford a jet card before June 30. It’s whether you can afford to keep travelling the way you have been.
What the ATO actually says
Business owners are entitled to claim deductions for expenses that are incurred in the production of assessable income. Travel is one of the most established categories in Australian tax law. The key test isn’t the mode of transport, it’s the business purpose.
If you’re flying to client meetings, site inspections, board meetings, or interstate operations, the travel expense is deductible. That applies whether you’re in seat 21B on a Qantas 737 or in the front of an Airly Mustang. The aircraft doesn’t change the deductibility. The purpose does.
A jet card purchased before June 30 is a prepaid business expense. The hours are valid for 12 months from your commencement date. The cost sits in this financial year. The flights happen across the next twelve months. Talk to your accountant, but for most business owners with a genuine travel pattern the structure is straightforward.
Important: This article is general in nature and does not constitute financial or tax advice. Always consult your accountant or tax advisor before making purchasing decisions based on tax considerations.
The real reason to move before June 30
The tax benefit is one reason. It’s not the only one.
The business owners who buy a jet card before EOFY aren’t just chasing a deduction. They’re making a decision about how the next financial year is going to run. They’re locking in their hourly rate before pricing moves. They’re securing priority access before the new financial year brings a wave of new members. And they’re starting July 1 with a block of hours already in the account, ready to use the moment the year kicks off.
Think about what that means operationally. No quote process in August when you need to be in Melbourne for a deal. No scramble for availability in September when the east coast travel season picks up. No negotiation in October when your team needs to get to a regional site and there’s no commercial option that works. The hours are there. You book and go.
Which card makes sense before June 30
The answer depends on how you travel, not how much you want to spend. Here’s how to think about it:
The 5 hour card : the right entry point if you want to test the programme before committing to a larger block. Covers three to four east coast return trips on the Mustang. A meaningful deduction. A meaningful trial.
The 10 hour card: the balanced option for business owners flying six to eight times a year. Covers a full quarter of east coast travel comfortably. The rate drops per hour, a meaningful saving over the 5 hour card across a year of use.
The 25 hour card: best value for frequent travellers and mixed business and personal use. It’s the lowest rate available. For the business owner flying weekly, this is the one. And before June 30, it’s also the largest single prepaid deduction available in the programme.
The deadline is real
June 30 is not a soft deadline. For a jet card purchase to fall in this financial year, the transaction needs to be completed and the agreement signed before midnight on the 30th.
The business owners who move in the last week of June are the ones who’ve already been thinking about this for a month. The ones who move in the last day are the ones who called their accountant on the 29th. Both get there. But one of them had a much better conversation.
If you’re flying 10 or more times a year on the east coast and you haven’t had a conversation about a jet card yet, the next three weeks are the right time to have it. Not because of the tax, because of everything that comes after June 30. A new financial year is a clean slate. Start it with your schedule under control.
Could a jet card be the smartest thing your business buys before June 30? Talk to the Airly team about which block suits your travel pattern and how to get your commencement date locked in before EOFY.