Understanding Business Activity Statements (BAS) in Actionstep (AUS)

In this article:

• Installing the BAS Report in Actionstep (Admin)
• List of Recommended BAS Tax Codes
• Using the BAS Report in Actionstep
• Using BAS for the First Time with Data from Previous Manual BAS
• Reviewing Your BAS Data 
• Marking the BAS as Filed 
• Making a Payment/Refund
• Additional Resources:

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).

Installing the BAS Report in Actionstep (Admin)

All Australian Actionstep systems should have the BAS report installed automatically; however, if this is not the case for your system, an admin user can follow these 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.

To do this:

1. In Practice Management, go to Admin > Accounting > Tax Return Settings. The Tax Return Settings page appears.
2. Click Au_Ato_BusinessActivityStatement on the list view to edit the properties.
3. Ensure your Calculation Method and GST Accounting Basis are set correctly.
4. Select a GST Payment/Refund Allocation method: 
   • 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.
   • 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.
5. Click Save to save your changes.
6. Go to Admin > Accounting > System accounts. The The System Accounts page appears.
7. 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:
   • GST Collected: This is where Sales Invoice tax component is posted to.
   • GST Paid: This is where Purchase/Supplier Invoice tax component is posted to.
   • 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.
   • 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.
   • GST Payments/Refunds: This is where the system posts payments or refunds to.  (This is not a bank account.)
8. Go to Admin > Accounting > Tax codes & rates. The Tax Codes List page appears.
9. Review the tax codes and 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 report so it is critical that you follow the existing naming conventions if you customize your tax codes. 

In the next section, List of Recommended BAS Tax Codes, you can review an example list of recommended tax codes. In Actionstep, logic is based on the Percent values and the keywords in the Code field. For example, a code with a 0% tax and capital in the code would be associated with Capital on Import GST Free. 

List of Recommended BAS Tax Codes

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

Using the BAS Report in Actionstep

You can access the BAS report to view a list of all previous BAS returns with a summary of their configuration, values, and status.

You can also create a new BAS report.

To create a new report:

1. In Practice Management, go to Accounting > Accounts > GST. 
2. Click the New Business Activity Statement link in the top-right corner of the page. The New BAS Return window appears.
   NOTE:  This label may change depending on the name you assigned the plug-in when setting up the BAS.
3. Select the GST Period Ending. This requires manual entry for the first BAS generated in Actionstep, but future returns should set the correct date automatically based on your BAS settings.
4. Review the other settings, which are not editable from this window. (If you need to make changes, go to Admin > Accounting > Tax Return Settings and edit the Au_Ato_BusinessActivityStatement record.)
5. Click Save to save your changes.

After saving, you will be shown the details of the BAS data. Review this information and verify it is correct. If there's an error, click the statement's ID and then click Delete Return on the window that appears. Then make any adjustments to your system as needed and re-create the BAS to recalculate everything.

If you have filed and paid your BAS and then 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 (Go to Admin > Accounting > System Accounts to see which GL accounts these are). These adjustments will then appear on your next statement.

Using BAS for the First Time with Data from Previous Manual BAS

The Actionstep BAS code includes any historic transactions not already included in a BAS inside Actionstep, so if you have been using Actionstep prior to installing the BAS report, 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 view the BAS in Actionstep and click Mark as Filed button. This "locks" the data so that it is not accidentally changed. Once locked, you can unlock it, 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

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 create a payment or refund for this BAS. 

To do this:

1. In Practice Management, go to Accounting > Accounts > GST. The Tax Return List page appears.
2. Click the ID link for the return you want to view. 
3. Click the Payment tab.
4. Click Pay and provide the information needed on the Create Payment window. 

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.

Additional Resources:

• ATO's Businesses and Organisations page (ATO website) 
• Completing Your Activity Statement (ATO website)
• Working with Australia BAS Tax Return Settings (Admin)