Business Activity Statements BAS Checklist

What is Business Activity Statements (BAS)?

Business Activity Statements are used to report and pay to the ATO, Goods and Services Tax (GST) that has been collected and paid by your business, Pay as You Go (PAYG) instalments or withholding, Fuel Tax Credits (FTC) and Fringe Benefits Tax (FBT). You’ll also require to submit a BAS, if you’re paying a quarterly PAYG instalment.

You are liable for submitting BAS to the ATO:

If your business is operating in Australia,
Even if you did no business during the reporting period.

BAS Preparation Checklist

Make sure you are claiming & declaring the right amounts:

Buying and/or trade-in of vehicle
Buying of capital assets e.g. equipment or property
Overseas purchases and customs invoices
Insurances claims and refunds (including Workcover)
Any fuel tax credits (if applicable)
Hire purchase / financial agreements
Any special income
Payroll terminations – tax calculations
Directors/owners loans and the drawings
Government grants
Any other things which would impact on GST

Assure all data entry is complete & books are reconciled:

All banks accounts, credit cards and loans are reconciled
All purchases are entered
Cash expenses are entered relating to the month/quarter
Petty cash is reconciled
Outstanding debtors and creditors are reviewed and reconciled
Any electronic and payroll accounts cleared (if not, justify why not)
Any suspense and POS cleared (if not, justify why not)
Undeposited / cash funds (if not, justify why not)
Reconcile PAYGW (liability) and ATO Accounts
Complete data file auditing process for your software
Check different reports against each other
Check private usage journals are entered

Review audit tax codes used:

Ensure GST claimed is on items purchased from Australia and that overseas purchases, where applicable, are listed as GST Free.
Ensure all sales have the right tax codes depending on who you are selling to and what you are selling.
Have you used the GST on Capital tax code – is this correct? If so, what capital items have you bought and are they showing as assets on your Balance Sheet?

Reconcile GST with Reports:

Reconcile GST Reports with income from Profit & Loss report for cash
Reconcile GST Reports with balance sheet accounts i.e., Banks, GST collected and Paid for Accrual

Prepare BAS tips:

After creating each BAS, lock the period to ensure nothing is ever backdated and therefore causing BAS’s, which have already lodged.
Publish BAS reports or export them to PDF and save them so you always have copies of the detail you used to prepare your BAS (even if you use a BAS agent or accountant).
keep copy Print, export or publish payroll reports to confirm wages amounts.
If lodging BAS manually, always keep a copy of the form so you know what has been lodged.
If using a BAS Agent or Tax Agent to lodge, always get a copy of the BAS and keep it on file.
Once lodged, don’t forget to make payment to the ATO. If you are due a refund, the ATO should deposit the refund directly into your nominated bank account.

Enter BAS Payment:

Enter your payment using the full values from Goods and Services Tax reports and allocating the rounding to bank charges or rounding account.
Check that the remaining balances on the balance sheet are either zero if Accrual or if Cash the tax amounts on the receivables and payables summary of tax report.

Common Accronyms used in BAS :-

ATO = Australian Taxation Office
BAS = Business Activity Statement
GST = Goods and Services Tax
PAYGW = Pay as you go Withholding
FBT = Fringe Benefits Tax
LCT = Luxury Car Tax
WET = Wine Equalisation Tax
FTC = Fuel Tax Credits

Business Activity Statements BAS Checklist

BAS Preparation Checklist

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