Note that you are purchasing the Digital Edition of this book.You can only access this book for a period of 13 months from purchase, when you are connected to the internet. Terms and conditions, features, support, pricing, and service options subject to change without notice. Get help and links to useful resources from other small businesses using QuickBooks. If you receive a refund from the ATO learn how to record it here. Learn how to prepare and lodge your Business Activity Statement (BAS) and Instalment Activity Statement (IAS) in QuickBooks online.
- Xero Tax is free for accounting and bookkeeping practices who are members of the Xero partner program and have reached bronze, silver, gold or platinum status.
- The BAS will show how much GST was collected from customers, and how much GST was paid to suppliers.
- Data from Xero, including GST, is automatically updated into the BAS report, and adjustments can be made manually.
- Create and lodge returns for all types of return from 2014 onwards.
- When you use Xero accounting software, you get access to apps like Hubdoc, which allows your clients to snap a photo of a receipt and upload it directly to Xero.
Bookkeeping for CPA’s
Clients might be aware of business tax return deadlines, but consider giving them practice deadlines to make sure you have everything you need from them ahead of time. Communicate these deadlines regularly in multiple channels – on the phone, via email, and when your clients visit you in person. Consider creating a shared digital calendar for your clients to track deadlines, too. Scale Suite delivers finance and human resource services to support the growth of Australian businesses. Our Sydney-based team creates custom packages tailored to your needs, seamlessly integrating with your existing teams.
First you need to reconcile your accounts to ensure that all your information is accurate and up-to-date. This means taking a close look at your financial records and making sure that your bank statements match your accounting information. You also need to make sure that purchases and cash expenses are recorded, information concerning creditors is correct, and all outstanding funds are justified. Xero calculates GST as you go and prefills BAS, so preparing accurate business activity statements 9 simple steps to prepare your bas using xero is easy. Xero calculates GST and speeds up preparing business activity statements. How to complete, lodge and pay your business activity statement or GST/PAYG instalment notice.
What is the BAS statement?
The right software goes a long way towards making tax preparation less of a headache and more smooth sailing. For example, if you lack a single system for managing tasks, time could be wasted duplicating work or overlooking unassigned jobs. Using practice management software will help everyone keep on track, and make it easier to see where you’re up to. Regular reconciliation is more manageable because you’re breaking the job down into smaller, frequent tasks. You can do a little bit of reconciliation work each month or quarter for clients, instead of having to take care of it all at once. Ready to stop wasting time on finance & HR tasks and start focusing on growth?
Review and Lodge BAS via Xero
Include prepayments toward your annual tax liability if required. Free accounting tools and templates to help speed up and simplify workflows. If your BAS says that you owe GST, then you are generally required to make that payment on the same day. Laugh off the Zoom fatigue while learning the real hits to your wallet – average three hours weekly wasted on unproductive meetings for Australian small businesses. Scale Suite delivers tailored solutions to enhance your business’s financial efficiency and support sustainable growth in 2025 and beyond. Accurate BAS preparation prevents penalties, which can reach $1,650 for late lodgments in 2025, and ensures compliance with ATO standards.
Before lodging your BAS, check that the accounting data you’re using is correct. Use this to double-check that all expenses and receipts for the period have the right GST amounts entered. Perhaps, you could batch tasks together, so certain members of staff take care of specific jobs. One person could be responsible for gathering evidence, another could take care of income tax preparation, and so on.
BAS and IAS Preparation using Xero
It’s easier for clients to recall what a transaction was for when you’re reconciling them regularly, and closer to the date they occurred. It’s also easier to source evidence if clients need to find a receipt from last week, instead of one from last year. On the Xero partner programme, partners get access to Xero Practice Manager, a complete system for assigning, tracking, and delivering tasks.
Step 5: Fill out the BAS form
Repetitive, admin-intensive jobs are ripe for automation because they keep you from doing deep, strategic client work. Each quarter, GST-registered small businesses submit a business activity statement (BAS) to the Australian Tax Office (ATO). The BAS will show how much GST was collected from customers, and how much GST was paid to suppliers.
Collaborate with your peers, support your clients and boost your practice. Software can help you see who and what resourcing you have available. And, with a clear view of deadlines, deciding what works should be prioritised is easier too. Regulations change and your practice and clients need to be prepared. In the last few years, we’ve seen Companies House reform, Basis Period reform, and the introduction of Making Tax Digital.
No, valid tax invoices are required for GST credits, per ATO rules. By auto tracking GST and calculating your obligations when preparing your activity statement. We recommend that you perform pre-BAS checks before beginning any lodgements to ensure data accuracy. If you paid more GST than you collected, the ATO will owe you a refund. If you can’t afford to pay the GST you owe, you may still be able to avoid a fine by lodging your BAS on time, then working out a payment plan with the ATO.
- As Xero certified advisors we can also quickly lodge activity statements on behalf of their clients from within Xero.
- Every year, accounting and bookkeeping practices have to take care of tax preparation.
- It might also be useful to introduce preliminary reviews of client accounts a month or two before you plan to draft their returns.
- By seeing their gross and net profit laid out clearly, you can make estimations on how much their bill will be.
- Otherwise you can lodge via the Business Portal or myGov depending on your business type.
You can schedule bill payments and invoices too, so clients are getting tasks completed without you needing to do as much admin. Once a BAS is lodged, lock the period to stop changes being made to transactions. Step 4 – Check your connection is authorised with the ATO – click Check connection and get activity statements. A BAS or tax agent and online accounting software like Xero can help keep you up to date, while minimising the workload.
With Xero’s powerful tools, small businesses can stay organised and confident. It’s a little extra admin, but this guide will help you get sorted. If you see anything strange click onto the transaction and review and adjust if required. Access Xero features for 30 days, then decide which plan best suits your business. Preparing and lodging a BAS online doesn’t need to be a difficult task for a small business owner.
You could schedule some time to discuss outstanding items and any questions or concerns they might have, so everyone’s on the same page. But, if you standardise how you collect data – with a single system or process – you don’t need to spend as much time typing up transaction details or emailing clients. Start your automation journeys with something small – like automating recurring invoices on behalf of your clients. That way, you don’t need to be there to hit ‘send’ every month, and the invoice goes out automatically. From here, you can automate invoice follow-ups to help your clients get paid on time and maintain healthy cash flow.
If you need to make any changes, click on the transaction with an error to view and edit. You won’t need to submit tax invoices when you lodge your GST return, but you will need to have them on hand. You just need to go through your accounts and pick out a few key pieces of information for the ATO.
