Small businesses are recognised as a major contributor to economies, and it is important to understand what can support their continued success. Viability of small business has been associated with the successful management of cash flow. This article reports the findings of a survey as to whether Australian small businesses in the service sector consider that their tax compliance activities support their business cash flow management. Findings suggest that compliance with business tax systems has advantages for cash flow management and that small business owners realise a greater benefit from taxes that have more regular compliance activities. However, it does not appear that literacy in relation business tax, financial statements and computerised accounting software is necessarily related to the cash flow management practices considered. These findings might be insightful to other jurisdictions in terms of how they might design their tax system to assist small business better manage their cash flow.