Cafe Equipment and the 30 June Installed-Ready Test
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Cafe Equipment and the 30 June Installed-Ready Test
A paid invoice is not the same as a claimable asset. For cafe equipment, the test that matters before 30 June is whether the gear is installed and ready for use, and that often comes down to how early the finance is sorted.
Quick Answer
To claim cafe equipment this financial year, the gear generally has to be installed and ready for use, not just ordered or paid for, before the deadline. A chattel mortgage can fund it so the timing of the instant asset write-off works in your favour.
What "installed and ready for use" actually means
Installed and ready for use is the test that decides whether your cafe can claim a piece of equipment this year, and it is stricter than most owners expect. Picture a cafe owner who pays the deposit on a new three-group espresso machine in mid-June, feeling sorted for tax time. If that machine is still in a warehouse, or sitting in the corner waiting for a plumber, on 30 June, it has not been installed and ready for use, and the claim usually has to wait until the next financial year.
The asset has to be in place and capable of running in the business, not just bought and paid for. From a broker's chair, that gap between paid for and ready to run is where most end of financial year equipment claims quietly fall over, and it is almost always a timing problem rather than a money problem.
The write-off threshold, and what sits above it
How much you can write off immediately depends on the cost of each asset and the rules in force for the year. For the 2025-26 income year, the instant asset write-off lets eligible small businesses with aggregated turnover under $10 million immediately deduct the cost of an eligible asset under $20,000, as long as it is installed and ready for use by 30 June 2026 (Australian Taxation Office). Each asset is tested on its own, so a run of smaller items can each qualify.
Assets costing $20,000 or more are not deducted in one hit. They go into the small business simplified depreciation pool instead and are written down over time. The instant asset write-off is indicative here, so confirm with your accountant how it applies to your cafe and your structure.
The 2026-27 Federal Budget announced that the $20,000 write-off will be made permanent from 1 July 2026, but that measure is not yet law, so for the current year the legislated $20,000 threshold still applies to assets installed and ready for use by 30 June 2026 (Australian Government, 2026-27 Budget). Where this commonly lands for a cafe is a mix: the smaller items clear the threshold one by one, while the big machine or the full fit-out runs into the pool.
Why the finance timeline decides whether you make it
The finance timeline is what turns a good intention into an asset that is genuinely installed and ready for use before 30 June. A chattel mortgage is the usual structure for cafe equipment, because you own the gear from settlement and the lender simply holds security over it, which keeps the write-off pathway clean (our small business chattel mortgage guide covers how that works in detail).
Faster to land before 30 June
- Standard, in-stock equipment with short lead times
- Quotes and supplier invoices gathered early
- Finance pre-arranged so settlement is quick
- Installation booked well before the deadline
- A chattel mortgage approved and ready to fund
Slower, and at risk of slipping
- Custom or imported gear with long lead times
- Still chasing a single quote in late June
- Finance not started until the last week
- Install relying on a fully booked trades window
- A deposit paid, but the asset not yet on site
On a clean equipment deal, approval and settlement typically run approximately 3 to 10 business days, indicative and varies by lender, but that clock only starts once the quote, the ABN details and the supplier invoice are in. Financing the purchase this way also means you can keep working capital in the business for wages, stock and rent instead of tying it all up in one machine, which protects the everyday working capital the cafe runs on. The trap I see most often is leaving the finance to the final week, when the install date rather than the lender becomes the thing that decides whether the asset is ready in time.
Lining the gear up before 30 June
If the gear matters for this year's numbers, the move is to work backwards from 30 June, not forwards from today. Start with the install date the supplier and trades can realistically commit to, then count back through delivery and finance settlement to see whether the timeline holds. Anything that has to be imported, built to order, or installed by a trade in a busy end of financial year window needs the most runway.
The cleaner the paperwork, the faster a non-bank lender or specialist funder can move, which is why having the quote and invoice ready matters as much as the approval itself. If you are weighing more than one asset, it is worth splitting the list into what can realistically be installed and ready for use in time and what is better set up cleanly for the new year.
For cafe equipment, the deadline is not when you pay, it is when the gear is installed and ready for use. The instant asset write-off rewards assets that are in place and running by 30 June, the bigger ones fall into the simplified depreciation pool, and a chattel mortgage is the structure that lets you own the asset and keep cash working in the cafe. The single thing that decides whether you make it is how early the finance and the install are locked in.
Key takeaway: Work backwards from 30 June, get quotes and finance in now, and only count on what can be installed and ready for use in time.Frequently Asked Questions
Cafe equipment generally does have to be installed and ready for use by 30 June, not simply ordered or paid for, to be claimed in the current financial year. The instant asset write-off applies to assets that are in place and capable of running in the business, so a deposit or a machine still in transit usually will not qualify until it is set up. Confirm your own position with your accountant.
The instant asset write-off limit for the 2025-26 income year is $20,000 per eligible asset, available to small businesses with aggregated turnover under $10 million (Australian Taxation Office). Each asset is tested separately, so several items under that figure can each qualify, provided they are installed and ready for use by 30 June 2026. A chattel mortgage can fund the purchase while keeping ownership with your business.
You can generally use a chattel mortgage and still claim the instant asset write-off, because with this structure your business owns the asset from settlement while the lender holds security over it. Ownership is what matters for the deduction, which is why a chattel mortgage is a common fit for cafe equipment. Some agreements include a balloon payment at the end, so it is worth checking the structure with your broker and accountant.
If a single piece of cafe equipment costs $20,000 or more, it is not immediately deductible and instead goes into the small business simplified depreciation pool, where it is written down over time rather than in one year (Australian Taxation Office). This often applies to a large oven, a full coffee setup or a fit-out item. Our look at chattel mortgage versus a car loan explains how the security and structure differ for bigger assets.
Cafe equipment finance typically settles in approximately 3 to 10 business days, indicative and varies by lender, once your quote, ABN details and supplier invoice are in. The cleaner the paperwork, the faster a non-bank lender or specialist funder can move, but the install still has to happen before 30 June for the asset to count this year. Our small business chattel mortgage guide walks through what lenders need to see.
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