The Tax module prepares your business activity statement (BAS). Marbles calculates the GST figures from the tax rates applied to your transactions, lets you add PAYG withholding and instalment amounts, and shows the amount payable to, or refundable from, the ATO. You or your registered agent lodge the statement with the ATO, then record it in Marbles as lodged.
Every line on an invoice, bill, expense claim, bank transaction or manual journal carries a tax rate. The tax rate determines how much GST is recorded and where the amount appears on the activity statement. GST itself is posted to a dedicated GST account in your chart of accounts.
When you select an account on a transaction, Marbles applies that account's default tax rate, which you can change. Each tax rate can only be used with suitable account types. For example, GST on Income applies to revenue accounts and GST on Expenses applies to expense and asset accounts.
Invoices, bills, purchase orders and manual journals also have a Tax setting that states how amounts are entered: Tax Exclusive, Tax Inclusive or No Tax. The defaults for sales and purchases are set under Settings > Financial settings.
Marbles provides the standard Australian tax rates. Settings > Tax rates lists each rate, its percentage and the accounts that use it.
| Tax rate | Rate and BAS reporting |
|---|---|
| GST on Income | 10%. Sales at G1, GST at 1A. |
| GST on Expenses | 10%. Purchases at G11, GST at 1B. |
| GST on Capital | 10%. Capital purchases at G10, GST at 1B. |
| GST on Imports | GST paid on imported goods, reported at 1B. |
| GST on Capital Imports | GST paid on imported capital goods, reported at 1B. |
| GST Free Income | 0%. Sales at G1 and G3. |
| GST Free Exports | 0%. Sales at G1 and G2. |
| GST Free Expenses | 0%. Purchases at G11. |
| GST Free Capital | 0%. Capital purchases at G10. |
| Input Taxed | 0%. Reported at G1 on revenue accounts and at G11 on expense accounts. |
| BAS Excluded | Not reported. Used for items outside the GST system, such as transfers between bank accounts, depreciation and opening balances. |
GST settings are found under Settings > Activity Statement settings.
| Setting | Options |
|---|---|
| GST accounting method | Cash basis, Accruals basis or None (not registered for GST). Activity statements cannot be created while the method is None. |
| GST calculation period | Monthly, Quarterly (Options 1, 2 or 3) or Annually. This sets the period suggested for each new statement. |
| BAS reporting method | Simpler BAS, for GST turnover under $10 million, reports G1, 1A and 1B. Full BAS also reports G2, G3, G10 and G11. |
A statement records the accounting method and reporting method in force when it is created. Changing these settings later does not alter existing statements.
Select Tax in the main menu to list your activity statements with their period and status. A statement moves through three stages.
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Draft | The GST figures are recalculated from the ledger each time the statement is opened. PAYG amounts can be edited, and the statement can be deleted. |
| Finalised | The figures are fixed and ready to lodge. The statement can be reverted to draft or marked as lodged. |
| Lodged | The statement has been lodged with the ATO and is kept as a permanent record. |
The Taxes panel on the dashboard shows how many statements are in draft and how many are waiting to be lodged.
Two statements cannot cover the same dates. If the period overlaps an existing statement, Marbles reports that an activity statement already covers part of the period.
The Goods and services tax section lists the labels for your reporting method. Amounts are GST inclusive, as the ATO requires.
| Label | Contents |
|---|---|
| G1 Total sales | All sales for the period, including GST. |
| G2 Export sales | Sales coded to GST Free Exports. |
| G3 Other GST-free sales | Sales coded to GST Free Income. |
| G10 Capital purchases | Purchases coded to the capital tax rates. |
| G11 Non-capital purchases | All other purchases. |
| 1A GST on sales | GST collected on sales. |
| 1B GST on purchases | GST paid on purchases and imports. |
Marbles shows each label in dollars and cents. The ATO asks for whole dollars, so leave out the cents when you lodge.
Three amounts are entered by hand under PAYG withholding and instalments: W1 Total salary and wages, W2 Amounts withheld from payments and T7 PAYG instalment amount. Enter the amounts and select Save amounts.
The total at the foot of the statement is 1A plus W2 plus T7, less 1B. It is labelled Amount payable to the ATO, or Refund due from the ATO when the result is negative.
Select Finalise when the figures are correct. Marbles fixes the figures and records which transactions the statement includes. Those transactions are then protected: a journal entry included in a finalised statement cannot be voided. To correct one, reverse the entry so that the adjustment is reported on your next statement, or select Revert to draft, make the correction and finalise again. PAYG amounts are kept when a statement is reverted.
Marbles prepares the figures. It does not lodge with the ATO. Lodge the statement through ATO online services or your registered tax or BAS agent, using the figures from the finalised statement.
Then select Mark as lodged. You can record the ATO's Document identification number (DIN) for reference. A lodged statement cannot be edited or reverted.
On the Accruals basis, GST is reported in the period of the transaction date: the issue date of an invoice or bill, for example.
On the Cash basis, GST is reported in the period in which money changes hands. The statement includes payments received on invoices, payments made on bills and expense claims, and bank transactions coded directly during reconciliation. A part payment reports a proportionate share of the document's GST. A manual journal is included only when Show journal on cash basis reports is selected on the journal.
A statement includes every eligible transaction dated on or before its period end that has not already been reported on a finalised statement. A transaction entered late, with a date in a period you have already finalised, is therefore reported on your next statement and is not lost.
Where an earlier statement is still in draft, a later draft begins after the earlier statement's period end, so that no transaction is counted twice.
| Role | Tax access |
|---|---|
| Reader | View activity statements. |
| Advisor | Everything a Reader can do, plus create, edit, finalise, revert, delete and mark statements as lodged. |
| Administrator | Everything an Advisor can do. |