Asking for more time: which business deadlines can move, and how to ask

When a cash deadline looms, there are only two ways to meet it: find the money, or move the date. Most owners jump straight to the first. But plenty of business deadlines can move — a little, if asked properly — and moving even one or two can shrink the amount you need to find, or remove the need altogether.

This guide sorts business deadlines into those that bend and those that don’t, and sets out how to ask for more time in a way that tends to work. It’s about the process and the timing; the wording is yours.

Which deadlines can usually move?

Deadline	Can it move?	Notes
Supplier invoices on terms	Often, if asked early	Repeated requests can lead to COD
Commercial rent	Sometimes	Depends on the landlord and the lease
Equipment finance or loan repayments	Sometimes	Ask the lender before a repayment is missed
Insurance premiums	Often	Many insurers offer instalments
ATO payments	A payment plan is available; interest continues	Lodge on time and contact the ATO before the due date
Customer deposits you owe back	Rarely	Depends on the contract
Wages	No	Award, agreement or contract sets the pay day
Super under payday super	No	Fund must receive it within 7 business days of payday
Director penalty notice	No	21 days from posting
Property settlement	Rarely	Contract terms apply; penalties are common

The bottom half of that table is where funding usually comes in. The top half is where a well-timed request can make the funding smaller.

Why does timing matter so much?

Because an early request is a plan, and a late one is a problem. Compare:

• Two weeks before the due date: “We’d like to move this invoice to the 14th. A large customer payment lands on the 10th. Can you accommodate that?”
• The day after the due date: “Sorry, we can’t pay this yet.”

The first gives the creditor time to adjust their own cash flow and shows you’re in control. The second leaves them guessing. Most businesses — suppliers, landlords, lenders — will work with the first. Fewer will work with the second.

A 90-day deadline calendar is what makes early requests possible: you can’t ask two weeks ahead for a gap you haven’t seen.

What makes a request likely to succeed?

Whatever words you use, effective requests tend to share five things:

1. They’re early — before the due date, ideally well before.
2. They’re specific — a new date, not “a bit more time”.
3. They’re grounded — a reason the new date is realistic, such as a confirmed receivable.
4. They’re rare — a first request from a reliable customer is very different from the fourth this year.
5. They’re confirmed in writing — a short email recording what was agreed.

If part-payment is possible, offering it helps too. Paying half now and half on the new date shows good faith and reduces the creditor’s exposure.

How does it work with the ATO?

The ATO is clear about what it wants: lodge on time, even if you can’t pay, and contact it before the due date. From there:

• Payment plans break the debt into instalments. Businesses that owe $200,000 or less can usually set one up online; larger debts are arranged by phone.
• General interest charge keeps running. The ATO says GIC still applies to debts on a payment plan and compounds daily. Since 1 July 2025 it’s also not tax deductible — see the GIC guide.
• Engaging matters. The ATO treats businesses that engage with it differently from those that don’t, including when deciding whether to report a debt to credit bureaus.

A payment plan is a form of more time — just one with a cost attached. Compare it in dollars against other options with your accountant.

How does it work with suppliers?

Suppliers are usually the most flexible creditors — up to a point. They want to keep a good customer, but they also have their own bills. Things that help:

• Talk to the person who manages your account, not a generic accounts inbox.
• Explain the timing gap, not your whole financial situation.
• Offer a part-payment if you can.
• Keep the promise. A supplier who’s been let down once is far less likely to agree next time — and more likely to move you to cash on delivery.

How does it work with landlords and lenders?

Landlords vary enormously. Some will agree to a short delay or a split payment without fuss; others will rely strictly on the lease. Ask early, put the request in writing and keep a record of the reply. Your lease will say what happens if rent is late.

Lenders and finance companies generally prefer to hear before a repayment is missed. Many have processes for short-term changes, though fees or extra interest may apply. Missing a repayment without warning tends to limit options.

What about customers — can you ask them to pay sooner?

Yes, and it’s the other side of the same coin. If a supplier’s date can’t move, perhaps a customer’s can:

• Invoice immediately on completion rather than at month end.
• Ask a regular customer to pay early this once, with a reason.
• Request a deposit or progress payment on new work.
• Offer a small benefit for faster payment, if your margins allow.

business.gov.au’s guidance on managing debt and cash flow covers several of these approaches.

What can’t move — and what then?

Wages, payday super, director penalty notices and most settlements. For these, the realistic choices are to find the money or face consequences that are usually worse than the cost of funding. That’s where the Deadline Desk comes in: tell us the date, the amount and what it’s for, and we’ll tell you what’s realistically possible in the time left. The deadline hub sorts these by timeframe.

An illustrative mix of asks

Illustrative example only. A signage company faces $96k of payments in the last week of the month: $38k of wages and super, a $26k supplier invoice, $14k of rent and an $18k equipment loan repayment. A government customer owes it $70k, due in the second week of next month.

Two weeks out, the owner asks the supplier to move to the 12th (agreed, with half paid now), asks the landlord to take rent on the 10th (agreed in writing), and confirms the equipment lender can’t move the repayment. Wages, super and the equipment repayment — about $56k plus half the supplier invoice — are what’s left. That’s still a gap, but it’s much smaller, and the funding conversation is about a precise, well-understood amount with a clear repayment date.

How do you keep track of what you’ve agreed?

Once you start moving dates, you need a record. Add each agreed change to your 90-day deadline calendar: the creditor, the original date, the new date, the amount and a link to the email confirming it. Then treat the new date as fixed. Nothing damages a supplier relationship faster than missing a date you asked for yourself.

It also helps to keep a short note of who agreed — a name and role — in case the person you dealt with is away when the new date arrives. And if any extension carries a fee or interest, put that cost on the calendar too, so you can see what the extra time is really costing compared with other options.

Asked for time and still short? Ring the Deadline Desk

Moving the dates that can move is smart. Funding the ones that can’t is the other half. Asking what’s possible won’t run a credit check on you, your details aren’t distributed across a crowd of lenders, and a real person reviews your situation and calls you back.

When you enquire, please be clear about which dates have moved and which haven’t — accurate details let us size funding to the deadlines that are genuinely fixed. Or ring 1300 752 188.