Business Activity Statement (BAS)

A Business Activity Statement bundles several separate tax obligations into a single periodic form rather than requiring a business to lodge them individually — GST collected and paid, PAYG withholding on employee wages, PAYG instalments toward income tax on business or investment income, and, where relevant, wine equalisation tax, luxury car tax, and fringe benefits tax instalments. Which of these sections actually apply to a given business depends on its registrations and activities, so a small GST-registered sole trader with no employees will have a much simpler BAS than a company withholding PAYG for staff and paying FBT instalments.

Lodgement frequency is set by turnover: most small businesses lodge quarterly, with due dates of 28 October, 28 February, 28 April, and 28 July, while businesses with an annual turnover of $20 million or more must lodge monthly, due on the 21st of the following month. The ATO also offers a lodgement concession that pushes some quarterly due dates back by four weeks for businesses that lodge and pay electronically, which is one of the practical reasons many small businesses use a registered BAS or tax agent — the concession only applies through certain lodgement channels.

Businesses with turnover under $10 million get a genuine choice between the cash method, reporting GST when payment is actually received or made, and the accruals method, reporting GST when an invoice is issued or received regardless of when payment happens — the cash method is usually simpler and easier on cash flow for a small business, since GST isn't owed on a sale until the money has actually come in. Choosing the wrong method, or switching inconsistently, can distort a business's reported GST position relative to its actual cash position, which is worth getting right early rather than correcting retrospectively.