The ATO have listened to the concerns of small businesses, tax professionals, industry associations and software providers, and are working towards reducing GST compliance costs for small businesses by reducing the amount of GST information required for the business activity statement (BAS). This will simplify GST bookkeeping and reporting requirements.
A simpler BAS will give small businesses time and cost savings by simplifying account set up, GST bookkeeping and BAS preparation and businesses will be able to more easily classify transactions and prepare and lodge their BAS.
From 1 July 2017, small businesses will only need to report the following GST information on their BAS:
- GST on sales (1A)
- GST on purchases (1B)
- Total sales (G1)
The requirement to report Export sales (G2), other GST free sales (G3), Capital purchases (G10) and Non-capital purchases (G11) will be removed. A simpler BAS will support greater use of existing automation functions and potential digital solutions as they evolve.
The ATO have commenced testing the proposed changes with small businesses, tax professionals and software developers (MYOB, Intuit, Reckon and Sage) to ensure they get it right. The Phase 1 Alpha testing report outlines the findings and recommendations from the user testing. You can view the full report here.
To read more please go to the ATO web site here.
New small business offer
From 19 January 2017, the ATO are providing newly registered small businesses the option to report less GST information on a simpler BAS.
To take advantage of this option, small businesses registering from 19 January 2017 will need to do the following:
- If ‘quarterly’ GST reporting cycle is selected when registering for GST, you will need to select ‘Option 2: Calculate GST quarterly and report annually’ on your first BAS. We will not be seeking the additional GST information or lodgment of the Annual GST Information Report. This will provide you with a Simpler BAS reporting solution.
- If a ‘monthly’ GST reporting cycle was selected at registration, you can insert ‘0’ at G2, G3, G10 and G11 on your BAS.
- If an ‘annual’ GST reporting cycle was selected at registration, you can leave G2, G3, G10 and G11 blank on your Annual GST Return.
