From July 1, small businesses that use QuickBooks Online will be able to participate in pilot program with the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) which is trilling simpler business activity statements (BAS).
The aim of this pilot is to help to simplify the life of small businesses and comes off the back of the 2016-17 budget, which aims to create the right conditions for small businesses to innovate, prosper and foster new jobs.
Announced in the federal budget on 3 May, simpler BAS will be operational from 1 July 2017 following results from the 12-month pilot scheme.
The Minister for Small Business, The Hon Kelly O’Dwyer MP, said simpler BAS was intended to help small business focus on “growing their business, not form filling”
Simpler GST reporting will mean providing information on just three categories, GST on sales, GST on purchases and total sales.
For those in the pilot scheme, reporting will no longer be required on export sales, GST free sales, capital and non-capital purchases.
According to Jackie Brian, from small business financial firm Intuit Australia, collaboration with the ATO will simplify the lives of small businesses.
“Our partnership with the ATO is a great example of our commitment to small businesses and how we aim to make compliance easier for them. Our involvement provides QuickBooks Online customers an opportunity to be among the first to enjoy simpler BAS and to be able to share their feedback with the ATO on the impact of the proposed changes,” Brian said.
“The government said its 2016-17 budget was intended to create the right conditions for small businesses to innovate, prosper and create new jobs. Including cloud accounting technology as part of this push makes so much sense as it’s an enabler of simplifying compliance and running a small business,” she added.
Photo credit: Tom Compagnoni, AAP
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