Talking Cents

Quarterly BAS Tips from a Business Accountant

For any small business, lodging taxes and business statements can feel like a headache with specific lodgement requirements for GST for both companies and sole traders. Here at M.A.S Partners, we make tax preparation easy, offering expert advice on small business accounting and have a few tips to navigate your quarterly and monthly business activity statements.

What is a BAS?
A business activity statement is lodged to the Australian Taxation Office to report your business taxes and includes GST, fringe tax benefits, fuel tax credits and any other payments you pay or owe to the taxation office. Any time a business registers an Australian business number (ABN) and GST the ATO will notify you to lodge a BAS, but this is only required for small businesses who earn more than $75,000. Sole traders, partnerships and companies are all required to lodge a BAS when they reach the $75,000 threshold and can do this monthly, quarterly or annually depending on the size of the business.

GST Credit
When it comes time to lodge your business activity statement, you can receive GST credits for business expenses that have GST such as tools and equipment, uniforms, salaries and allowances, bills and anything else that falls under goods and services. This can save businesses big money, but not everything can be claimed. If your business isn’t registered for GST or purchases items with no GST in the price you won’t be eligible to receive a GST refund. To get the most from your GST refund, it’s best to consult a professional small business accountant to breakdown your business expenses.

Get Your Records in Order
When lodging any tax or business statement, it’s crucial that your financial records are accurate and up to date to avoid losing money. Keep a record of all income and expenses such as sales, wages and cash expenses with receipts and invoices to ensure your financial information matches your business bank statements. Additionally, you’ll need to track the GST received from your goods and services which is where lodging a BAS can get confusing. A small business tax professional can help guide you through this stage as you’ll need to record taxable sales, GST-free sales, mixed purchases and any other assets that collect GST in your business. If you do make a mistake on your BAS, you can revise and adjust the amounts on the next lodged statement with the ATO allowing up to four years to mix mistakes.

Ready to Lodge your BAS?
M.A.S Partners are Australia’s original accounting firm and have provided small business accounting advice in Sydney for over 55 years. With expert experience in lodging both business and personal taxes, we take the stress out of running a small business so you can focus on what really matters. To find out more about our professional business accounting services, contact our team here or call us today on (02) 9211 5000.