BAS Reports¶
Work out the GST figures for your Business Activity Statement over any period.
What is a BAS?¶
The Business Activity Statement (BAS) is the form you lodge with the Australian Tax Office (ATO) to report the GST you have collected and the GST you have paid. FairBooks adds these figures up for you so you can transfer them to myGov or hand them to your accountant.
FairBooks works out your BAS on a cash basis: only money that has actually come in or gone out during the period is counted. When a payment landed matters, not when the invoice was raised or the bill was dated.
Generating a BAS report¶
- Go to Reports then BAS.
- Choose a Start date and an End date. The report opens on the current calendar quarter, and you can change either date to any range you like.
- Select Calculate to see your figures.
There is no quarter dropdown. You pick the two dates yourself, so you can run a full quarter, a single month, or a whole year.
What the figures mean¶
| BAS label | What it shows |
|---|---|
| G1 | Total sales for the period, including GST |
| 1A | GST collected on those sales |
| G10/G11 | Total purchases for the period, including GST, as one combined figure |
| 1B | GST paid on those purchases |
| Net GST | 1A minus 1B |
FairBooks reports purchases as a single total rather than splitting capital (G10) from non-capital (G11), so if your BAS asks for both, split the figure yourself.
What feeds the report¶
Sales (G1 and 1A) come from:
- Invoices marked Paid, counted on their paid date. Reconciling an invoice against a bank line takes that date from the bank line. Using Mark as Paid stamps today's date, so mark invoices paid on the day the money arrives if the period matters.
- Other income, such as a money-in line you coded to an income account with Create while reconciling.
Purchases (G10, G11 and 1B) come from your expenses, counted on their date. This includes:
- Expenses you enter directly.
- The expense that is created automatically when you mark a bill as Paid.
- Spending you record while reconciling your bank account.
When there is other income in the period, the summary at the bottom notes how many other income records were counted alongside your invoices and expenses.
What is left out¶
Some records never affect your BAS:
- Expenses and other income coded to an account marked BAS Excluded in your chart of accounts. Depreciation is a common example.
- Owner's funds movements (money you put into or take out of the business).
- Transfers between your own accounts, since moving your own money is not a sale or a purchase.
Note
BAS Excluded applies to expenses and other income. A paid invoice is counted in full whichever accounts its lines use, so coding invoice lines to a BAS Excluded revenue account will not keep the sale off your BAS.
Credit notes¶
A credit note reduces your figures in the period the adjustment takes effect, not the period of the invoice or bill it relates to:
- A refund counts in the period the money moved.
- Credit applied to an invoice or bill counts in the period that invoice or bill is paid in full, which may be later than the day you applied the credit.
- A note you have issued but not applied or refunded does not appear at all.
This means a BAS you have already lodged stays as it was. The adjustment belongs to the period it arises in.
Reading your net GST position¶
Net GST is your GST collected (1A) minus your GST paid (1B):
- A positive figure (shown in red) is the amount you owe the ATO.
- A negative figure (shown in green) is a refund the ATO owes you.
Round down when you lodge
The ATO wants whole dollars on your BAS. When you enter these figures into myGov, round each one down to the nearest dollar.
If you are not registered for GST¶
If your business is not registered for GST, FairBooks shows an amber notice at the top of the report. You do not need to lodge a BAS unless you are registered, but you can still run the report for your own reference, for example while you are in the middle of registering.
Exporting¶
Select Export CSV to download the report as a spreadsheet for your records or your accountant.
What's next?¶
- Profit & Loss for a view of your income and expenses.
- GST on expenses for how GST is captured on each expense.