Business Activity Statement: A Quick Guide
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If your company operates in Australia, you are liable for sending Business Activity Statements (BAS) to ATO-even if you did not do trade during the fiscal quarter! These reports are used to record and pay many different forms of taxation, such as the Goods and Services Tax (GST) you paid, Pay as You Go (PAYG) instalments or withholdings, Fuel Tax Credits (FTC) and Fringe Benefits Tax (FBT). Put it another way, if you owe a quarterly PAYG instalment, you would also need to send a BAS.
Should my company send a BAS?
Since the Goods & Services Tax began back in 2000, companies with a revenue of more than $50,000 annually needed to apply for BAS. A few years later, the cap was increased to $75,000.
All GST qualified companies are expected to file a BAS. Even if profits fall below the $75,000 mark, the company is not immediately exempted. It is the duty of the company to cancel the paperwork, to close the company or to sell the business. The company may elect to permanently delete if the turnover falls well below annual income cap.
Things like fuel tax credits eligibility and other types of taxation that fall under the BAS will depend on the type of business your company does.
Submitting your BAS
Posting the BAS is how your tax obligation is calculated, but what form of tax you are expected to pay varies on a variety of factors other than the numerical size of the business. The number of workers, as well as the incentives you get, the kind of products you purchase or sell, and the recorded position of your company are all variables that influence how much and what kind of tax you will have to pay.
If your company makes upwards of $20 million annually, you must submit a Goods & Services Tax BAS once a month, and if you’re not that large you just need to file quarterly or even yearly. FBT and PAYG instalments are sent on a quarterly basis. PAYG exemption is requested on a quarterly basis with these factors your annual responsibility is less than $25,000, and if your monthly responsibility is more than $25,000, but not less than $1 million.
What to Include
Please ensure that you use the reporting date, the Report ID, your Australian Business Number (ABN) and your signatures on the BAS document. If you ever have to reach the ATO, you’ll need a record ID and an ABN to identify your company.
As we previously mentioned, even if you’re not doing any business with your BAS during the fiscal quarter, you still need to register. Your declaration for that time will be referred to as a null report by the ATO.
How to Submit
Thankfully, the ATO makes it simple for companies to conform to their standards by offering a variety of different lodge methods. They have a digital business platform as well as a BAS platform, but this is intended for BAS agents, tax consultants and large corporations.