Get clarity around Goods & Services Tax (GST)
If you’re a self-employed creative or you have a creative business entity that is earning $75,000 (gross) a year or more, you must be registered for the GST. If you are under those thresholds you can also choose to be GST registered, but that choice is completely voluntary.
The $75,000 turnover test is not simply confined to the normal ‘financial’ year i.e. July – June. It is a ‘rolling’ test which means you are constantly required to analyse your current month’s turnover and look back over the previous 11 months and also look forward (as best you can) over the next 11 months to see if you are breaching $75,000 and need to get registered. Get in touch with us to see what course of action we recommend. Once you do register, this means the tax will become a part of your life whether you like it or not.
We can recommend appropriate accounting systems to help handle GST reporting and assist you with the preparation and lodgement of your Business Activity Statement (BAS).
BAS goes hand-in-hand with GST
Once you register for GST, you will need to lodge a BAS (quarterly, in most cases).
Your BAS will help you report and pay your:
- GST;
- Pay As You Go (PAYG) Instalments;
- PAYG Withholding (if employing staff);
- Some other taxes (but only in very rare cases).
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.
The BAS is broken up into sections, called ‘labels’, and you need to fill out different labels depending on how you choose to report and pay.
If none of this sounds very appealing to you, why put yourself through it? Our accountants are specialists in GST and BAS and can do it for you.
Creative Crunchers can:
- Register sole traders and businesses for GST
- Prepare your BAS and calculate how much GST you owe
- Lodge your BAS and advise you when you need to pay