BAS PREPARATIONS AND GST ADJUSTMENTS

Course overview

This comprehensive course guides accounting and finance professionals through the end-to-end process of preparing a Business Activity Statement (BAS) focused on Goods and Services Tax (GST). Participants will learn how to accurately report GST-related sales and purchases on the BAS, calculate net GST payable or refundable, and navigate the lodgment process with the Australian Taxation Office (ATO). The course also delves into handling GST adjustments – including both adjustment events (such as discounts, returns, and bad debts) and changing-use adjustments (changes in creditable purpose) – ensuring they are properly documented and reported in the correct BAS period. Additionally, learners will gain the skills to correct GST errors from prior periods in compliance with ATO guidelines, and to determine when to revise a BAS and when to correct an error in a subsequent BAS. Real-life scenarios, examples, and case studies are used throughout to provide practical context. By the end of the course, professionals will be equipped to confidently prepare and lodge BAS reports for GST and to manage any necessary adjustments or corrections while meeting all regulatory requirements.

Course objectives

By the end of this course, participants will be able to:

• Prepare a BAS for GST – Accurately compile GST-related data and complete the BAS fields for total sales, GST on sales (output tax), total purchases, and GST credits (input tax credits).
• Calculate net GST payable or refundable – Determine the amount of GST owed to the ATO or refundable to the business for a given period, by correctly offsetting GST collected on sales against GST credits from purchases.
• Complete BAS lodgment – Understand the lodgment process, including BAS due dates (monthly and quarterly cycles), payment methods, and how to submit the BAS (electronically or by paper), while avoiding common errors that can trigger penalties.
• Identify GST adjustment events – Recognise events requiring GST adjustments (e.g. price adjustments, returned goods, bad debts written off or recovered) and correctly account for these as increasing or decreasing adjustments in the appropriate BAS period.
• Handle changing use adjustments – Apply GST “change in creditable purpose” rules when business assets or purchases change their use (such as switching from taxable business use to private use or vice versa), and calculate the required increasing or decreasing GST adjustments at the end of the adjustment period.
• Correct prior period GST errors – Determine the proper course of action for GST mistakes from earlier BAS periods, following ATO guidelines to either correct the error in a subsequent BAS (within prescribed time and value limits) or lodge a BAS revision for the affected period.
• Document and report adjustments properly – Maintain required documentation (such as adjustment notes for credit adjustments) and enter all GST adjustments and error corrections into the BAS using the correct labels and in the correct reporting period, ensuring compliance and audit readiness.

Learning outcomes

By the end of this course, participants will be able to:

• Prepare a BAS for GST – Accurately compile GST-related data and complete the BAS fields for total sales, GST on sales (output tax), total purchases, and GST credits (input tax credits).
• Calculate net GST payable or refundable – Determine the amount of GST owed to the ATO or refundable to the business for a given period, by correctly offsetting GST collected on sales against GST credits from purchases.
• Complete BAS lodgment – Understand the lodgment process, including BAS due dates (monthly and quarterly cycles), payment methods, and how to submit the BAS (electronically or by paper), while avoiding common errors that can trigger penalties.
• Identify GST adjustment events – Recognise events requiring GST adjustments (e.g. price adjustments, returned goods, bad debts written off or recovered) and correctly account for these as increasing or decreasing adjustments in the appropriate BAS period.
• Handle changing use adjustments – Apply GST “change in creditable purpose” rules when business assets or purchases change their use (such as switching from taxable business use to private use or vice versa), and calculate the required increasing or decreasing GST adjustments at the end of the adjustment period.
• Correct prior period GST errors – Determine the proper course of action for GST mistakes from earlier BAS periods, following ATO guidelines to either correct the error in a subsequent BAS (within prescribed time and value limits) or lodge a BAS revision for the affected period.
• Document and report adjustments properly – Maintain required documentation (such as adjustment notes for credit adjustments) and enter all GST adjustments and error corrections into the BAS using the correct labels and in the correct reporting period, ensuring compliance and audit readiness.