Accounting and tax guides
Plain English answers to common accounting and tax questions, with the sources behind each one.
3 guides
BAS and lodgements
ATO Payment Plans: How They Work and What Happens If You Miss One
An ATO payment plan lets you clear a tax debt in instalments if the ATO accepts it. The debt keeps accruing general interest charge, which compounds daily, and future tax debts must be paid on time or put on a separate plan.
How BAS Works: What Goes On It and How to Lodge
A business activity statement is the form a business uses to report and pay GST, PAYG withholding, PAYG instalments and some other taxes to the ATO. A business registered for GST needs to lodge one, including a nil BAS when there is nothing to report.
Overdue tax returns: what happens and how to catch up
Overdue tax returns can still be lodged, and the ATO says getting up to date as soon as possible reduces the risk of penalties and interest. The ATO generally doesn't apply penalties in isolated cases of late lodgement, and says it will warn you before applying a failure to lodge penalty.
3 guides
Business structures
How a Family Trust Works: Tax, Distributions and Running Costs
In tax law, a family trust is a trust whose trustee has made a family trust election, not simply a trust with those words in its name. Family trusts and discretionary trusts overlap but are not the same thing.
How Sole Traders Pay Tax, GST and Super
A sole trader pays income tax through their individual return, at personal rates, with no separate business return. No employer collects tax on business income, so the owner sets the money aside and, in time, prepays through PAYG instalments.
Sole Trader or Company: How to Compare Them for Your Business
Neither structure is better for every business. In the worked year here, a company pays more tax than a sole trader at $80,000 of profit and less at $180,000 when all the profit stays in the company, and comes out $1,000 behind at both levels when all the profit is paid out.
1 guide
Personal tax
What You Can Claim on Tax Without Receipts, and the Limits
For a 2025-26 return, the ATO allows up to $300 of work-related expenses without full written evidence. For a 2026-27 return that exception no longer applies, and an eligible worker instead receives a standard deduction of up to $1,000.
2 guides
Self managed super funds
SMSF Borrowing After 10 August 2026: How LRBAs Work Now
A limited recourse borrowing arrangement is still open to an SMSF, but one entered into on or after 10 August 2026 to purchase real property can only be used to acquire business real property. The limit applies whether the lender is a bank, a non-bank lender or a related party.
Business Real Property in an SMSF: The Test and Why It Now Matters More
Business real property generally means land and buildings used wholly and exclusively in a business. The owner does not have to run the business: a landowner leasing commercial premises to a business can hold business real property.
3 guides
Working with an accountant
Bookkeeper vs BAS Agent vs Accountant: Who Can Do What
A bookkeeper keeps the day-to-day records. A registered BAS agent can work out and lodge business activity statements for a fee, and a registered tax agent can do that and also prepare and lodge tax returns for a fee.
What Drives a Small Business Accountant's Fee, and How to Compare Quotes
The government pages used for this guide publish no business fee schedule, so judge a small business accountant's fee by the work the quote covers. The closest official figure is about individuals: an average of $389 and a median of $205 in other expenses for managing tax affairs in 2023-24.
Xero vs MYOB: How to Decide, and What Moving Across Involves
Neither package is right for every business. Xero tends to fit a business that relies on many connected apps or wants every plan on Windows PC and Mac. MYOB tends to fit a business watching the monthly cost of a small payroll or wanting job tracking on a lower plan.
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