BAS or Business Activity Statement is required when a business is registered with the Australian Taxation Office for GST. GST registration is mandatory when the gross income for a business equals $75000 or more. You can lodge BAS monthly, yearly, or quarterly. The entire process does not involve many complications, but some work needs to be done before the final submission of BAS. And that is where a business financial advisor or a BAS agent can be of great help.
Here, we have discussed certain aspects related to hiring a BAS agent, and how these experts can catapult your business to the top.
Why Is It Important To Hire A Registered BAS Agent?
When a tax agent or BAS agent lodges the BAS on your behalf, you can get an extended deadline. An adequately processed BAS will help you grow your business, and it will be better to leave it to an experienced professional. With the advent of online accounting software, it has become easier to arrange the required information. However, a professional agent will confirm whether the filled in information is correct.
- Organized record keeping: You might be able to lodge your BAS yourself because the process is not very complicated. But if the records are not kept in an organised manner, the method may get delayed, which will further affect your business operations. Moreover, mistakes can give rise to high penalties.
The following section discusses how the BAS agent services can help you prepare the statement, thereby helping in maintaining the business finances.
How Can A BAS Agent Help You?
In four steps, the BAS agent can help you prepare and lodge the statement with the ATO.
Step 1: Preparing the information
In the first step of preparing the business information, you must ensure all the data put in the statement is up-to-date and accurate. The business bank account statements should match the accounting information. You should also see whether the cash expenses and purchases are well recorded, creditors’ information is correctly included, and all the outstanding funds are appropriately justified.
- This step requires the arrangement of every account detail that has records of business transactions. For those transactions (both online and cash), you should gather invoices and receipts.
- Accounting software like Xero has made the process smoother. By using the ‘Bank Reconciliation Summary’ feature, the general ledger can be easily checked. A top-rated business advisory service can adequately arrange the information for you.
Step 2: Enter missing transactions
This step can also be done using accounting software, and it will help you connect directly to the business bank account. Thus, if you choose to complete the step manually, it may be more time-consuming.
- Your BAS agent can help you find if there is any missing information.
- Once they find it for you, you have to look for the supporting invoices and receipts. And for each missing information, you will be required to enter the date, GST, total transaction amount, and a description.
Step 3: Total your records
Once you have correctly entered all the information, you may either run an Activity Statement using your accounting software or, if you want to go for a manual process, you have to add up every number to figure out the GST amount you have to pay for the taxation period. In this section, there should be no compromise with the accuracy. So, BAS agents advise double-checking all the information entered.
- At this step, you must also calculate the Pay As You Go (PAYG) withholding. PAYG withholding is the tax amount that is usually withheld from the wage payments of the employees.
- A review of the payroll is required, and you have to enter the number of gross wages for the employees and withheld tax. If there is no employee, zeros should be entered.
Step 4: Update Your Records And Lodge
Once the BAS has been completed, you have to update the records with new information. You should also keep copies of every relevant documentation.
- The very next step is to lodge the BAS. You can either send a hard copy of the completed BAS form to the ATO by mail, submit the filled form through the ATO portal, or ask your agent to lodge it for you.
- Whatever method you choose, you have to make sure you have cleared all the payments within time. If not cleared, you should have at least made payment arrangements with the Taxation Office.
Final Words
We have discussed four basic steps of BAS lodgement with the ATO. The process is not that tough, and you might even plan to do it independently. But, as it is directly related to business growth, it will always be a good idea to hire a professional. Experienced BAS agents can also give you valuable bookkeeping tips that help you in effective business expansion and growth.