Business activity statement

Last updated

The business activity statement is a form submitted to the Australian Taxation Office by registered business entities to report their tax obligations, including goods and services tax, pay as you go withholding, pay as you go instalments, fringe benefits tax, wine equalisation tax and luxury car tax. Pay as you go withholding is sometimes known as income tax withholding, pay as you go instalments is sometimes known as income tax instalments". [1]

Contents

The Australian Taxation Office forwards a business activity statement tailor made for each registered business entity before the end of each reporting period. It may be delivered to the business as a paper form, electronically, or via the business’s registered tax agent. Parts of the form may be pre-filled.

Related to the business activity statement is the instalment activity statement, which is used by taxpayers who are not registered for the goods and services tax, but have other tax obligations. An instalment activity statement is also used by entities that prepare a quarterly business activity statement but are required to remit their pay as you go withholding tax on a monthly basis.

The business activity statement reporting system was introduced in 2000 as a part of a major tax reform, which also included the introduction of the goods and services tax. The various forms and reporting methods have changed considerably since the initial introduction of the business activity statement.

Types

There are a number of different business activity statement forms which an organisation can complete. The form which a business receives depends on what tax liabilities it has, referred to as roles. Forms are usually issued quarterly, some roles can be reported at different frequencies depending on the business structure and income. Some roles such as goods and services tax can be reported annually, subject to eligibility criteria being met. The business activity statement forms are required.

Frequency

Activity statements are usually required to be submitted quarterly, but some entities may be required to report obligations on a more frequent basis.

Some entities may be required to report pay as you go withholding liabilities or goods and services tax on a monthly basis. [2]

Operations

Every activity statement carries a unique document identification number. Activity statements can be submitted to the tax office on paper (mail), by phone, electronically (via a tax agent's electronic lodgment system), or through the Australian Taxation Office business portal. [3]

Activity statements are processed by the Australian Taxation Office through its operations sub-plan. Any errors which occur with activity statements are usually handled by a department known as activity statement product (exceptions). This department operates under the operations sub-plan, client account services business service line. Errors may occur when a business client reports figures incorrectly, where a client includes cent figures (only dollar figures are allowable), where an arithmetic error occurs, when a statement is submitted when no roles are active for the client, or when the handwriting on a paper statement is illegible.

Methods of preparation

The primary methods that businesses use to prepare and submit their business activity statement include:

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Taxation in the United States</span>

The United States of America has separate federal, state, and local governments with taxes imposed at each of these levels. Taxes are levied on income, payroll, property, sales, capital gains, dividends, imports, estates and gifts, as well as various fees. In 2020, taxes collected by federal, state, and local governments amounted to 25.5% of GDP, below the OECD average of 33.5% of GDP. The United States had the seventh-lowest tax revenue-to-GDP ratio among OECD countries in 2020, with a higher ratio than Mexico, Colombia, Chile, Ireland, Costa Rica, and Turkey.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Public finance</span> Study of the role of government within the economy

Public finance is the study of the role of the government in the economy. It is the branch of economics that assesses the government revenue and government expenditure of the public authorities and the adjustment of one or the other to achieve desirable effects and avoid undesirable ones. The purview of public finance is considered to be threefold, consisting of governmental effects on:

  1. The efficient allocation of available resources;
  2. The distribution of income among citizens; and
  3. The stability of the economy.

Tax deduction is a reduction of income that is able to be taxed and is commonly a result of expenses, particularly those incurred to produce additional income. Tax deductions are a form of tax incentives, along with exemptions and tax credits. The difference between deductions, exemptions, and credits is that deductions and exemptions both reduce taxable income, while credits reduce tax.

A pay-as-you-earn tax (PAYE), or pay-as-you-go (PAYG) in Australia, is a withholding of taxes on income payments to employees. Amounts withheld are treated as advance payments of income tax due. They are refundable to the extent they exceed tax as determined on tax returns. PAYE may include withholding the employee portion of insurance contributions or similar social benefit taxes. In most countries, they are determined by employers but subject to government review. PAYE is deducted from each paycheck by the employer and must be remitted promptly to the government. Most countries refer to income tax withholding by other terms, including pay-as-you-go tax.

The Canada Revenue Agency is the revenue service of the Canadian federal government, and most provincial and territorial governments. The CRA collects taxes, administers tax law and policy, and delivers benefit programs and tax credits. Legislation administered by the CRA includes the Income Tax Act, parts of the Excise Tax Act, and parts of laws relating to the Canada Pension Plan, employment insurance (EI), tariffs and duties. The agency also oversees the registration of charities in Canada, and enforces much of the country's tax laws.

The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) is an Australian statutory agency and the principal revenue collection body for the Australian Government. The ATO has responsibility for administering the Australian federal taxation system, superannuation legislation, and other associated matters. Responsibility for the operations of the ATO are within the portfolio of the Treasurer of Australia and the Treasury.

A tax file number (TFN) is a unique identifier issued by the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) to each taxpaying entity — an individual, company, superannuation fund, partnership, or trust. Not all individuals have a TFN, and a business has both a TFN and an Australian Business Number (ABN). If a business earns income as part of carrying on its business, it may quote its ABN instead of its TFN.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Goods and services tax (Australia)</span> Type of value added tax used in Australia

Goods and Services Tax (GST) in Australia is a value added tax of 10% on most goods and services sales, with some exemptions and concessions. GST is levied on most transactions in the production process, but is in many cases refunded to all parties in the chain of production other than the final consumer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tax return (United Kingdom)</span>

In the United Kingdom, a tax return is a document that must be filed with HM Revenue & Customs declaring liability for taxation. Different bodies must file different returns with respect to various forms of taxation. The main returns currently in use are:

Tax withholding, also known as tax retention, Pay-as-You-Go, Pay-as-You-Earn, Tax deduction at source or a Prélèvement à la source, is income tax paid to the government by the payer of the income rather than by the recipient of the income. The tax is thus withheld or deducted from the income due to the recipient. In most jurisdictions, tax withholding applies to employment income. Many jurisdictions also require withholding taxes on payments of interest or dividends. In most jurisdictions, there are additional tax withholding obligations if the recipient of the income is resident in a different jurisdiction, and in those circumstances withholding tax sometimes applies to royalties, rent or even the sale of real estate. Governments use tax withholding as a means to combat tax evasion, and sometimes impose additional tax withholding requirements if the recipient has been delinquent in filing tax returns, or in industries where tax evasion is perceived to be common.

Taxation in Indonesia includes income tax, value added tax and carbon tax.

Income tax in Australia is imposed by the federal government on the taxable income of individuals and corporations. State governments have not imposed income taxes since World War II. On individuals, income tax is levied at progressive rates, and at one of two rates for corporations. The income of partnerships and trusts is not taxed directly, but is taxed on its distribution to the partners or beneficiaries. Income tax is the most important source of revenue for government within the Australian taxation system. Income tax is collected on behalf of the federal government by the Australian Taxation Office.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Taxation in Australia</span> Overview of taxation in Australia

Income taxes are the most significant form of taxation in Australia, and collected by the federal government through the Australian Taxation Office. Australian GST revenue is collected by the Federal government, and then paid to the states under a distribution formula determined by the Commonwealth Grants Commission.

Internal Revenue Service (IRS) tax forms are forms used for taxpayers and tax-exempt organizations to report financial information to the Internal Revenue Service of the United States. They are used to report income, calculate taxes to be paid to the federal government, and disclose other information as required by the Internal Revenue Code (IRC). There are over 800 various forms and schedules. Other tax forms in the United States are filed with state and local governments.

Taxation in the British Virgin Islands is relatively simple by comparative standards; photocopies of all of the tax laws of the British Virgin Islands (BVI) would together amount to about 200 pages of paper.

The Luxury Car Tax (LCT) is a tax within the Australian taxation system, collected by the Australian Taxation Office on behalf of the Australian Government. It began on 1 July 2001, having been brought in by the John Howard Coalition government.

Taxes in Germany are levied by the federal government, the states (Länder) as well as the municipalities (Städte/Gemeinden). Many direct and indirect taxes exist in Germany; income tax and VAT are the most significant.

In Slovakia, taxes are levied by the state and local governments. Tax revenue stood at 18.732% of the country's gross domestic product in 2019. The tax-to-GDP ratio in the Slovakia increased by 0.4 percentage points from 34.3% in 2018 to 34.7% in 2019. The most important revenue sources for the state government are income tax, social security, value-added tax and corporate tax.

Taxes in Bulgaria are collected on both state and local levels. The most important taxes are collected on state level, these taxes include income tax, social security, corporate taxes and value added tax. On the local level, property taxes as well as various fees are collected. All income earned in Bulgaria is taxed on a flat rate of 10%. Employment income earned in Bulgaria is also subject to various social security insurance contributions. In total the employee pays 12.9% and the employer contributes what corresponds to 17.9%. Corporate income tax is also a flat 10%. Value-Added Tax applies at a flat rate of 20% on virtually all goods and services. A lower rate of 9% applies on only hotel services.

The organization responsible for tax policy in Ukraine is the State Fiscal Service, operating under the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine. Taxation is legally regulated by the Taxation Code of Ukraine. The calendar year serves as a fiscal year in Ukraine. The most important sources of tax revenue in Ukraine are unified social security contributions, value added tax, individual income tax. In 2017 taxes collected formed 23% of GDP at 969,654 million UAH.

References

  1. ↑ "Activity Statements". Australian Taxation Office . Retrieved 25 July 2007.
  2. ↑ "GST". Taxpack.com.au. Archived from the original on 13 March 2008. Retrieved 23 October 2007.
  3. ↑ "Activity statement lodgment methods". Australian Taxation Office. Archived from the original on 21 February 2014. Retrieved 25 July 2007.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.