Understanding your BAS
In Australia, everyone running a business that is registered for Goods and Services Tax is required to lodge a Business Activity Statement periodically.
These declarations provide important information to the Australia Taxation Office, including your business’ revenue and the details of any wages paid to staff. Businesses of all shapes and sizes lodge BAS, from sole traders all the way up to multinational corporations.
If your business turnover is greater than $75,000 (or $150,000 for not-for profit organizations) then you are required to register for GST.
In this post, we’ll go over the basics of what goes into your BAS, how often you need to lodge and tips to make sure you can always pay your BAS bill on time.
What goes into your BAS declaration?
A BAS declaration is made up of a few different figures:
- Goods and Services Tax, or the GST, is a 10% sales tax levied on most goods and services in Australia. If your business is registered for GST, you must pay any GST collected on your invoices to the ATO, and you can claim credits for any GST that you have paid to your suppliers.
- Pay As You Go Withholding, or PAYGW, is the tax withheld from your staff on wages paid. If you are reporting your wages through Single Touch Payroll, this information should be prefilled by the ATO.
- Pay As You Go Instalments, or PAYGI, is a prepayment toward your yearly income tax bill. This is not always required by the ATO and is generally advised by your accountant.
- Fringe Benefits Tax instalments, or FBT, is a prepayment toward your yearly FBT bill. Your business is required to pay this tax on certain benefits that are extended to your employees and should be discussed with your accountant.
- Wine Equalisation Tax, or WET, and Luxury Car Tax, or LCT, are applicable to certain business types, depending on the industry that you operate in.
Each BAS submission is different depending on the size of the business and the industry that it operates in. Keeping accurate records is important for ensuring that your BAS is lodged correctly and on time.
When you should lodge your BAS?
There are two main factors that determine when your BAS lodgement is due: your annual turnover, and whether you lodge your BAS yourself or with the assistance of a BAS agent.
Your BAS is filed monthly, quarterly or annually, depending on your annual turnover:
- Monthly – businesses with a turnover of greater than $20 million are required to lodge BAS monthly. If you are registered for deferred GST in relation to import duties and taxes, you may also be required to lodge a monthly BAS, regardless of turnover.
- Quarterly – the most common reporting frequency for small businesses, this is the requirement for all businesses between $75,000 and $20 million turnover
- Yearly – if your annual turnover is less than $75,000 and you have voluntarily registered for GST, you may be allowed to report your BAS yearly.
Monthly BAS lodgements are due on the 21st day of the following month, and quarterly BAS lodgements are due 28 days after the end of quarter. If you lodge your quarterly BAS with the help of an agent, extended due dates apply.
Below are the quarterly due dates for BAS for the 2025-2026 financial year:
Quarter | BAS Period | Standard Due Date | BAS Agent Due Date |
Q1 | 1 July – 30 September | 28 October 2025 | 25 November 2025 |
Q2 | 1 October – 31 December | 28 February 2026 | 28 February 2026 |
Q3 | 1 January – 31 March | 28 April 2026 | 26 May 2026 |
Q4 | 1 April – 30 June | 28 July 2026 | 25 August 2026 |
What records should you keep?
To ensure your BAS lodgement is accurate, you should keep records of the following:
- All tax invoices issued to your customers, or detailed sales reports if you take payments through point of sale solutions.
- Payroll summaries and records of tax withheld from employees.
- Bank statements for all business accounts, including credit cards and loan facilities
- Invoices and receipts for all expenses incurred, even if you think it’s too small to worry about
Using a cloud accounting system like MYOB or Xero can help to streamline your bookkeeping requirements, ensuring that all your paperwork is ready to go for BAS time.
Tips and Tricks to stay ahead
Finally, here are just a few tips to help you keep on top of your BAS requirements.
- If you find yourself struggling to stay ahead of your BAS payments, try putting aside 10% of all money that you receive into a separate business account. This ensures that you will always have enough to pay any GST that you have collected. You can also extend this to your PAYGW obligation by using your payroll reports to determine how much tax has been withheld for your staff wages.
- If you use programs like MYOB or Xero, download their apps to your phone. These are extremely useful for keeping track of your receipts, as you can take a photo and upload the receipt straight to your file.