Business Activity Statement

Just a few questions regarding BAS a claiming GST credits.

My primary job is PAYG and I also work regular for another company via ABN (contractor). I'm not currently registered for GST as ABN income is well below $75 000. My contracting job (started after July 2017) are wanting me to issue tax invoices as they are used to this (everyone else on the books bills for GST) and obviously will claim it back on their end.

Am I correct in assuming:

  1. Without being registered for GST, I'm not needing to complete a BAS until end of financial year (I'm told when you register for GST you must complete quarterly). I'm trying to find information about how I lodge a BAS - but through the online portals nothing appears for my account. Is this normal? Or are you normally told you must complete a BAS now and sent the relevant documents / links?

  2. Will my ABN payments be automatically totalled and linked to my account like my PAYG does in the ATO portal?

  3. Can I issue tax invoices without registering for GST to take advantage of GST frank credits on my end? Is that legal? I'm just collecting tax for the government and will declare and pay this at the EOFY

Or am I going about this wrong?

Comments

  • +3
    1. No gst registration, no BAS (bas is how you pay out GST on sales / claim back GST on expenses)

    2. No, see : https://www.ato.gov.au/Business/Reports-and-returns/Taxable-… regarding how they figure out your income, applies mostly to tradies, - (edit) should note that it won't appear on prefill either with taxable payment annual reports - though i'm sure if it comes to a review or audit they can look at your bank credits/deposits

    3. You simply issue an invoice with no GST, you never collected any GST (edit) (you are unable to claim any GST on expenses or pay GST on your income unless you're registered for GST and submit a BAS)

    just to give example:

    Gross GST Net
    $11,000 $1,000 $10,000
    $10,000 $0 $10,000

    Your invoice/their records will look like the second row against someone who is registered for GST in row 1 ; check out : https://www.ato.gov.au/Business/Managing-your-small-business…

    • Great, thats what I wanted to know.

      Given I will be eventually transitioning to mainly contracting work, I might go ahead and update my registration and get used to doing a BAS.

      • Just a correction OP, Taxable Payments do show up on a pre-filling report

  • FYI "franking credits" only relate to dividends

  • I’ve never understood businesses insisting on contractors registering for GST. Just means money tied up until they do their next BAS.

    • Same. It's no ones money and the input tax credit the purchaser makes is only to counter the inflated price from the supplier…

Login or Join to leave a comment