The ATO knows that business taxpayers can make errors when lodging their business activity statement (BAS) and reporting their GST transactions, even with the best intentions of getting it right.
Research the ATO has carried out in the past has indicated that more than 80% of GST errors are unintentional and can be made by any business in any industry. However it found that some of the industries where GST errors are commonly seen include property and construction, professional services, retail and wholesale trade, rental, hiring and logistics businesses.
To help businesses avoid making mistakes when completing their BAS, the ATO has provided some helpful tips, including:
check each invoice is only entered oncecheck that expenses and sales are for the current tax periodcheck that amounts on the BAS are filled in as whole dollars (cents are left out)remember not to claim GST on private expensesbefore lodging, check that the amount calculated on the BAS equals what the taxpayer expects to pay or receive as a refund
It also says that some of the most common errors made on a BAS can be easily avoided by good record keeping practices. This includes making sure the business gets a valid tax invoice for purchases that include GST, keeping records of all sales and purchases, and keeping records electronically.
Unless there is evidence of carelessness, recklessness or intentional disregard of the law, the ATO should generally accept that businesses are trying to be honest in their tax affairs and that the information provided is as accurate as possible.
It helps to get it right the first time, but businesses may need to make corrections where they have:
made clerical mistakes, for example, double counted some creditable purchases or excluded some taxable salesincorrectly recorded a taxable sale as GST-free, ormistakenly classified a GST-free sale as taxable.
For guidance on how to complete a BAS correctly, you could show clients this ATO video.
Avoiding the more common BAS mistakes Avoiding the more common BAS mistakes Avoiding the more common BAS mistakes Avoiding the more common BAS mistakes
#[bas], [business activity statements], [gst], [small business], [tax]
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