BAS Tax Return

Use the BAS Tax Return report to calculate the amounts to include in a Business Activity Statement. You can copy the amounts to the BAS return form and send it to the ATO.

Note: The BAS return is based on key points, which map to the fields that appear on the BAS Tax Return form – before you can generate a BAS return, you must make sure that the tax return key points are set up correctly in the Exo Business Configurator.

Note: Video-based Help is available for this topic on the Exo Business Education Centre.

Running the Report

Run the BAS Return report by selecting Tax Reports > BAS Tax Return from the Reports menu. This opens the BAS Tax Return window, which gathers the required information and the displays totals that you can copy to the official BAS return form supplied by the ATO:

On the Header tab, select the Frequency of the BAS return (Monthly or Quarterly). The option you select affects the date range specified below. You can either select a specific date range to source transactions from, or, if the Select transactions based on period for tax return profile setting is enabled, you can specify a range of accounting periods instead.

Enter a reference cod for the BAS returne in the Tax return code field. When the return is generated and saved, all transactions involved in the return are stamped with this code..

Click Calculate. Exo Business uses the tax codes assigned to each transaction in the selected period to total values and assign them to the correct key points on the BAS return. The Summary tab displays the overall totals for the return. All of the calculated figures display on the other tabs.

Hover your mouse pointer over an information icon to see how that field was calculated. Double click on a total field to display all of the transactions that are included in that total. You can click the Source Transactions button on the toolbar to display all transactions included in the entire BAS return.

The grey fields on each tab display read-only totals. You can enter data in the white fields. Exo Business calculates all of the GST-related data for the BAS return. You can enter other data, such as PAYG withholding tax or Fringe Benefit Tax.

Note: Entering new values updates the totals automatically. If you change the selections on the Header tab, you must to re-calculate the return.

Click Save to save a record of the return in the Exo Business database and mark all related transactions with the Tax return code you entered. You can now copy all of the totals in this window to the boxes on the BAS return form. You can also print a copy of the totals or export them to Excel.

Editing a BAS Return

If you need edit a BAS return after you’ve generated and saved it, reopen it by selecting Tax Reports > Edit BAS Tax Return. A window that displays all BAS returns that have been saved opens:

Double click on the return to re-open. All fields on the BAS Tax Return window are read only. Select Enable Edit from the Utilities menu to edit the return.

Tax Exceptions

Exo Business also tracks tax exceptions, which are transactions with an invalid tax rate. An invalid tax rate could be one that doesn’t exist in the database or one that is not valid for that transaction — for example, if a purchase tax rate number was found on an invoice. To view tax exceptions, select Tax Rate Exceptions from the Utilities menu of the BAS Tax Return window. Select a date or period range and the type of transaction, then click Search to display all tax exceptions that meet these criteria.

You can use this list to find and correct any exceptions before generating the BAS return.