Overview
Business Activity Statements (BAS) track your GST and PAYG obligations for each reporting period. Beeswax automatically calculates the figures from your invoices, expenses, and payroll entries.
Each BAS period covers a date range (monthly or quarterly) aligned to your financial year (typically July to June for Australian businesses).
What Is Tracked
| Item | Description |
|---|---|
| GST Collected | GST charged to customers on invoices |
| GST Paid | GST paid to suppliers on expenses |
| Net GST Position | Collected minus Paid (positive means you owe the ATO) |
| PAYG Tax | Pay As You Go tax withheld from wages |
Managing Periods
Use the Manage Periods link to configure your BAS reporting schedule — monthly or quarterly.
Each period shows:
- The period name and date range
- Lodgement status (Lodged or Not Lodged)
- Due date for lodgement
- Reporting basis (Accrual or Cash)
Reporting Basis
Each BAS period uses a reporting basis that defaults from your account's GST Reporting Basis setting. You can override the basis for individual periods before lodging.
- Accrual — GST is reported when invoices and expenses are issued
- Cash — GST is reported when payment is actually received or made
Note: The BAS reporting basis is independent from your Income Tax Reporting Basis. These are governed by separate legislation and operate completely independently. It is very common for businesses to use Cash basis for BAS/GST while using Accrual basis for income tax returns and Profit & Loss reports.
Because of this, the income and expense figures on your BAS may not match those on your Profit & Loss report or tax return. This is expected and correct — the BAS should not be used as a reference for preparing your income tax figures when the two methods differ. You can configure both settings separately in Account Settings > Accounting.
The GST Act 1999 (Division 29) governs your GST reporting method, while the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 (Division 328) governs your income tax method. Businesses with under $10 million in aggregated turnover can freely choose either method for each.
VAT is governed by the VAT Act 1994 (Cash Accounting Scheme, Notice 731), while income/corporation tax is governed by ITTOIA 2005 and CTA 2009. Limited companies must use Accrual for corporation tax but can choose Cash or Accrual for VAT.
Period Locking
VAT periods can be locked after lodgement to protect the integrity of your lodged figures.
- Locked periods prevent modifications to the BAS journal entries (the summary accounting entries for that period)
- Invoices and expenses can still be created or modified within a locked period
- If a reconciled payment that applies to an expense or invoice within a locked period is deleted, the period will be automatically unlocked and an email notification will be sent to all users with the accountant role
- Periods can also be manually unlocked if corrections are needed
Note: Locking periods protects the integrity of your lodged VAT figures. If a period is automatically unlocked due to a payment deletion, review the affected transactions before re-lodging.
Filtering
| Filter | Description |
|---|---|
| Search | Filter periods by keyword |
| Status | Show Lodged, Not Lodged, or all periods |
Permissions
- Owners, Super Admins, and Accountants can manage BAS statements, lock/unlock periods, and view tax reports
- Admins, General Users, and Clients cannot access BAS statements
Note: BAS Statements are only available for accounts in the Australia region.