Open centralOS

GST and BAS

A business registered for GST reports it to the ATO on a BAS, usually every quarter. centralOS works out the GST figures from the business's reconciled bank transactions, so the BAS is mostly copying numbers across. centralOS doesn't lodge the BAS itself: you lodge it with the ATO, or your BAS agent or accountant does.

The GST Summary is at the bottom of the Money page.

Turn GST on

In Settings > Business Details, turn on GST registered and set the date it started. Without it, sales and transactions have no GST.

Prepare a BAS

  1. Make sure the period's bank statements are imported and every transaction is reconciled. Money has the steps.
  2. Open Money and scroll to GST Summary.
  3. Choose how often you lodge with Periods: Monthly, Quarterly or Financial Year. Then pick the period, or set Start Date and End Date.
  4. Read off the figures:
    • G1 Total Sales
    • 1A GST on sales
    • 1B GST on purchases
    • GST payable, or GST refund when the business paid more GST than it collected.
  5. Check the Transactions list below them. It shows every allocation counted, with its category, tax code and GST.
  6. Lodge the BAS with the ATO using those figures.

The figures are whole dollars, with the cents dropped, as the ATO asks.

If it warns that Stripe payments aren't reconciled yet, match those payouts first, as Money describes.

Keep the ATO a click away

Press + Add shortcut > Web link under the GST Summary to save a link to where you lodge, such as the ATO's online services or your BAS agent's portal, and to your internet banking. The links stay there for every period, next to the figures you copy across.

Snapshot the period

After lodging, press Snapshot period statement. It records what was reported and locks those transactions' GST, so the lodged figures can't change by accident. Their category, description and date can still change.

  • A transaction found later that's dated in a snapshotted period shows in the next period instead, marked Late, so it's still reported once.
  • Override snapshot records the period again, for example after correcting a mistake before lodging.
  • Remove snapshot unlocks the period. It only changes centralOS, not what was lodged with the ATO.

Record the ATO refund or payment

When the ATO pays the refund, or the business pays the GST:

  1. Open that bank transaction in Transactions.
  2. Choose Activity statement and pick the period's statement. It's categorised as an ATO payment with no GST.
  3. Press Save Allocations.

The GST Summary then shows Received from ATO or Paid to ATO. A Difference appears if the amount doesn't match, for example when the ATO offset another debt or the BAS included PAYG. Once a statement has its refund or payment linked, it can't be overridden or removed until that link is removed.

Things to know

  • centralOS works out GST only. PAYG withholding and PAYG instalments aren't calculated, so add them on the BAS separately.
  • Ask an accountant or BAS agent about anything unusual. centralOS records the figures but can't give tax advice.
  • centralAgent can explain the figures, or find transactions that aren't reconciled yet.