In April 2016 we rolled out the GST Calculations for the Business Activity Statement in Australia. While the functionality is the same as the other Sales Tax / GST modules around the world, some of the tax codes must be correct. For users who were on Actionstep Prior to the Rollout, adjustments will need to be made.

Below is the full description of the functionality for Australia - which is pretty much the same as these three pages in the user guide:

Business activity statements (BAS)

The Business Activity Statement (BAS) is a tax reporting requirement which businesses in Australia need to file to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) on a regular basis.

When you register for an Australian Business Number (ABN) and GST, the ATO will automatically send you a BAS when it is time to lodge.

Actionstep helps you complete this document by providing a report which does the calculations and locks any affected general ledger (GL) transactions to prevent them from being modified (since you have reported them to the ATO it is important they are not modified).

Disclaimer

Actionstep provides the BAS report as a shortcut to calculating your BAS data. We can only calculate the data we have been given and your business is ultimately responsible for any data given to the ATO. Actionstep does not provide advice for tax matters and if you have any concerns or if you are unsure on how to file your BAS or the content of your BAS we recommend you speak to an accountant or other expert in Australian tax law. This user guide content is purely to explain how to use the BAS report in Actionstep.

Installing the BAS report in Actionstep

All Australian Actionstep systems should have the BAS report installed automatically, however if this is not the case for your system, please follow the following steps to install the BAS report.

If you are using an external accounting system (like Xero) you do not need to use Actionstep to calculate your BAS.

Login to your actionstep system with a user which is an Administrator (Administrator System Role)
Go to Admin > Accounting > Tax Return Plugins
If you have a record in this list with the identifier of “Au_Ato_BusinessActivityStatement” then skip this step, otherwise…
1. Click “+Install Plugin” at the top-right of the list view
2. Select “Au_Ato_BusinessActivityStatement” for the Plugin Identifier and enter a display name of “Business Activity Statement (BAS)” then press the Submit button.
Go to Admin > Accounting > Tax Return Settings
If you have a record in this list with the identifier of “Au_Ato_BusinessActivityStatement” then skip this step, otherwise…
1. Click “+Install Plugin” at the top right of the list
2. Select “Au_Ato_BusinessActivityStatement” for the Plugin Identifier and enter a display name of “Business Activity Statement (BAS)” then press the Submit button.
After installed, click the Identifier (Au_Ato_BusinessActivityStatement) on the list view to edit the properties.
1. Ensure your Calculation Method and GST Accounting Basis are set correctly.
2. Select a GST Payment/Refund allocation method.
  1. “Leave Payments/refund in the GST Payments Account” will keep accruing values in your GST system accounts so the balance of those accounts will keep growing over time.
  2. “Reverse payments/refunds back into GST Paid/Collections Accounts (Zero out balances)” will create GL entries to offset any amounts used in the BAS against any GST system accounts so that the running balance of the GST accounts would be your outstanding liability for any future BAS return. Most people chose this option as it allows you to look at the GST accounts to approximate your liability for future returns.
3. Review your settings to ensure they are correct and save the form.
Go to Admin > Accounting > System Accounts
Ensure you have ALL of the GST system accounts mapped to their correct GL accounts for the AUD currency. If they are mapped incorrectly and you have been using GST in actionstep, you may need to contact Actionstep to get the historic data corrected to allow the BAS to calculate properly. These accounts are usually all Liability accounts:
1. “GST Collected” - this is where Sales Invoice tax component is posted to.
2. “GST Paid” – this is where Purchase/Supplier Invoice tax component is posted to
3. “GST Input Tax Adjustment” – this is where any Sales Invoice tax adjustments are posted to. Use this in General Journal (GJ) transactions if you need to make a manual adjustment to cope with an error in previous returns or to account for data that is not a regular Sale or Withdrawal.
4. “GST Output Tax Adjustment” – this is where any Purchase/Supplier invoice tax adjustments are posted to. Use this in General Journal (GJ) transactions if you need to make a manual adjustment to cope with an error in previous returns or to account for data that is not a regular Purchase or Deposit.
5. “GST Payments/Refunds” – this is where the system posts payments or refunds to (this is not a bank account!!)
Go to Admin > Accounting > Tax Codes & Rates
Ensure that your system has all the tax codes configured that are applicable to your business. The actionstep BAS calculations use the text inside the “CODE” field to determine where entries with this tax code should appear on the BAS so it is critical that you follow our naming conventions if you customize your tax codes. Below is our Ruleset (logic is run in this order and the first applicable rule applies). Please refer to the list of good tax codes for examples of what we recommend using. Our logic is based off the “PERCENT” values and the key words in the “CODE” field – for example a code with 0% tax and “Capital” in the code would be associated with "Capital GST Free” but a tax code with “Capital” and “Import” in the code would be associated with “Capital on Import GST Free”. See our List of recommended Tax Codes below for examples of what we recommend using.

List of recommended Tax Codes BAS

This list is an example of a good set of tax codes to use in Actionstep for various scenarios to ensure your BAS calculates correctly. They can be configured in Admin > Accounting >

Code: “BAS Excluded”, Description: “BAS Excluded / Non-Taxable”, Percent: 0%. This is for items which should be excluded from your BAS like General Journal entries moving amounts between GL accounts. This is also commonly used with code “N-T” – either will work fine.
Code: “S 10.0”, Description: “Standard 10%”, Percent: 10.00%. This is for the majority of Sales & Purchases which use the 10% GST rate. Most companies will use this code for the vast majority of their day-to-day transactions.
Code: “GST on Capital”, Description: “GST on Capital”, Percent: 10.00%. This is for transactions which are for capital sale/purchases which are applicable to GST
Code: “Export GST Free”, Description: “Export GST Free”, Percent: 0%. This is for export sales which are not applicable to GST.
Code: “Capital GST Free”, Description: “Capital GST Free”, Percent: 0%. This is for transactions (other than imports) that are not applicable to GST
Code: “Capital Import GST Free”, Description: “Capital Import GST Free”, Percent: 0%. This is for import transactions that are not applicable to GST.
Code: “Input Taxed”, Description: “Input Taxed”, Percent: 0%. This is for transactions which are applicable to Input Taxation.
Code: “Other GST Free”, Description: “Other GST Free”, Percent: 0%. This is for transactions which are not applicable to GST but do not fit in the other tax codes listed above.

Please check with your accountant or the ATO for up-to-date Tax Percentages as these may have changed since the time of writing this document.

Using the BAS Report in Actionstep

You can access the BAS report via Accounting > Accounts > GST

Here you will see a list of all previous BAS returns with a summary of their configuration, values and status.

To create a new return click the “+NEW Business Activity Statement” link on the top right (note: this label may change depending on what you called the plugin when setting up the BAS)

The “New Business Activity Statement” dialog will allow you to select the “GST Period Ending” which requires manual entry for the first BAS generated in actionstep, but future returns should set the correct date automatically based on your BAS settings.

The other settings are not editable via this screen. To edit these, go to Admin > Accounting > Tax Return Settings and edit the “Au_Ato_BusinessActivityStatement” record.

After saving, you will be presented with a dialog window which has details of the BAS data.

You will need to review these values and it is your responsibility to ensure they are correct. In the event of an error, you can click the “Delete Return” button then make any adjustments to your system as needed then re-create the BAS and it will recalculate everything.

If you have filed and paid your BAS then you discover an error, simply create a General Journal and add the correction amount to your “GST Input Tax Adjustment” or “GST Output Tax Adjustment” System Accounts (See Admin > Accounting > System Accounts to see which GL accounts these are).

These adjustments will then appear on your next BAS.

Using BAS for the first time when you have data from previous manual BAS in actionstep

The Actionstep BAS code will include ANY historic transactions not already included in a BAS inside actionstep, so if you have been using Actionstep PRIOR to installing the BAS report then you may need to run a “Dummy” return to clear historic data. In that case create a BAS with the period end set to your previous BAS return, mark it as filed but leave it unpaid. Then when you create the first real BAS, make sure to manually check the numbers are correct and make adjustments where needed to ensure the report is correct (as you may have back-dated transactions which you had not filed in your previous BAS but were picked-up by the “Dummy” BAS etc). After this, your subsequent BAS should work as expected.

You may want to talk to your accountant when filing the first return in Actionstep to make sure your numbers are correct. Any significant difference from your regular payment/refund amount may indicate issues with your data or tax code setup which need to be addressed before you can submit your BAS.

Reviewing your BAS data

After generating, you should review the data on the first summary tab. You can also get more information by going to the “Breakdown” tab which has a list of information that was used in each of the calculation areas of the BAS report. Clicking on the “Description” of each row will bring up a PDF which has a detailed list of all the General Ledger transactions that were used to get that number. If there is an item in that group which shouldn’t be there, you may want to review the transaction and/or the tax code used. To fix any errors, simply delete the BAS and make the changes then re-create it.

You can also click the “Print Summary” button on the footer of the dialog, this will open a printable view of the BAS and will also include a “GST calculation worksheet for BAS” which can be useful for cross-checking the BAS numbers.

As a best practice for accounting, we recommend you ALWAYS review your BAS data before filing with the ATO. Simple checks like comparing the numbers to your previous returns to check for inconsistencies can save you a lot of hassle later on. While adjustments can be made, it is always better to ensure your BAS is correct when you file it.

Marking the BAS as Filed

Once you have reviewed your data and filed your BAS with the ATO (currently you must do this manually) you should open the BAS in actionstep and click the “Mark as Filed” button. This locks in the data so that it is not accidentally changed. Once locked, you can “Unlock” the BAS if needed, but generally clicking “Mark as Filed” implies that you have actually filed the BAS with ATO so there should be no reason to “Unlock” it again.

Making a Payment/Refund

System Accounts

If you are new to using the return, please ensure you have linked the system account for the GST Payments/Refunds. This will have been previously unlinked to allow for Manual Payments.

Once filed, you can click on the “Payment” tab to create a payment (or refund) for this BAS. This will automatically set the amount and allow you to select the payment method etc. This will then allocate the payment against the BAS so you can determine which returns have been paid.

GST For the Australian BAS return