When you’re in business and you have to do your own BAS, it can be frustrating.
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.
This lets the business work out their GST bill or refund, what tax needs to be withheld from payroll and submitted to the ATO, and their income tax instalments if they use the pay-as-you-go-system. Any business can register for GST, but you’ll have to do it once you pass a certain income level or want to claim fuel tax credits, or provide taxi services.
If you’re using accounting software, lodging your BAS can become simple. You can even lodge it directly through your platform.
How to start lodging activity statements
Step 1: Connect Xero to the ATO
To be able to lodge activity statements directly to the ATO, small businesses need to authorise Xero to do it. To give the authorisation, call the ATO on 1300852232.
Step 2: Lodge your BAS
After Xero is authorised, activity statements can be viewed on the BAS dashboard. Data from Xero, including GST, is automatically updated into the BAS report, and adjustments can be made manually. After completing the required fields on the activity statement hit the Lodge to ATO button to submit the completed BAS to the ATO.
Get help from a Xero us as your certified advisor
As Xero certified advisors we can also quickly lodge activity statements on behalf of their clients from within Xero. Having all the information in one place eliminate double-handling of data and means they spend less time chasing data. This enhanced visibility allows advisors to collaborate more closely with their clients, and help them plan ahead and manage cash flow to meet their obligations.
For help, you can also see more help on the Xero help site.
https://central.xero.com/s/article/Lodge-activity-statements-with-Xero#ConnectyourorganisationtotheATO