Declarations > Tax management > Australia > GST report > GST groupings 

Use this function to create and manage groups for Australian tax declaration. You need to create at least one GST group to report Goods and Services taxes (GST) and manage Business Activity Statement (BAS) values through the GST reporting periods (GESGSTPER) function.

How to create groups for reporting:

For a single company, create a GST group containing that single company.

For a company with affiliated companies, create one GST group containing all affiliated companies. The Australian Tax Office (ATO) sometimes requires that affiliated companies submit their tax reporting as a group and not as individual companies. When reporting as a group, tax values are totaled across all member companies.

Note: You can create as many GST groups as needed.

Important considerations

When creating GST groups, the following rules apply regarding membership companies and reporting periods.

Member companies
  • A group can have a single member. That said, a company with no affiliates must create a group of one company before reporting.
  • One member of the group must be designated as the Head entity that is responsible for all of the group's tax obligations such as paying tax and submitting tax returns. The Head entity represents the group as a single entity for tax purposes.
  • Group members must adhere to the following conditions:
    • It is assigned Australian legislation and has an Australian Business Number (ABN).
    • It is a legal company.
  • The AUSVAT – Australian VAT (LOC group, AUS chapter) parameter is set to Yes for this company.
  • A company can only be a part of one active group at a time.
  • By default, a group is active upon creation and available for tax reporting.
  • If a company leaves the group, you need to set the group to Inactive to preserve the group structure history. You can then create a new group and set that to Active.
Reporting periods
  • You cannot delete a group if reporting periods have been created for that group.
  • Reporting frequency, monthly or quarterly, is set for the group and affects the GST reporting periods. Once you establish reporting periods, this setting cannot be changed.

    Prerequisites

    SEEREFERTTO Refer to documentation Implementation

    Screen management

    Header

    Fields

    The following fields are present on this tab :

    • GST group (field CODGSTGRP)

    Enter a unique code for the group. You will use this code when creating GST reporting periods for this group.

    • Description (field DES)

    Enter a name or description for this group.

    This field cannot be translated.

    • Short description (field SHO)

    Enter a short description for this group.

    This field cannot be translated.

    • Reporting period (field GSTPER)

    Select a reporting frequency for the group: Monthly or Quarterly.

    The default value is Monthly.

    This applies to all companies within the group.

    • Active (field ENAFLG)

    By default, this check box is selected and the group can be used in GST reporting.

    If you clear this check box, the group is inactive and cannot be used in GST reporting.

    Member companies of an inactive group can be assigned to an active group.

    • Notes (field REM)

    Use this field to enter notes about the group.

    By default, this field is hidden. Use Screen authorization to make this field available.

    • Payment day (field PAYDAY)

    Enter a numeric value between 1 and 31 if a payment is due on a specific day of the month or period to the ATO.

    This is for your reference only.

    By default, this field is hidden. Use Screen authorization to make this field available.

    Close

     

    Tab number 1

    Fields

    The following fields are present on this tab :

    Grid Member companies

    Enter the company code for an existing company that meets the following conditions:
    • It is assigned Australian legislation and has an Australian Business Number (ABN).
    • It is a legal company.
    • The AUSVAT - Australian VAT parameter (LOC group, AUS chapter) is set to Yes for this company.

    • Head entity (field GSTHEA)

    Select Yes if this company is the Head entity for the group.

    Each group must have one company designated as Head entity that is responsible for all of the group's tax obligations such as paying tax and submitting tax returns. The Head entity represents the group as a single entity for tax purposes.

    • ABN number (field ABN)

    This field displays the ABN for this company. This is required for all companies in a GST group.

    • Formation date (field DATFOR)

    Select a date to identify when this company started business operations. This is for your reference only.

    • Date of cessation (field DATCES)

    Select a date to identify when this company stopped business operations. This is for your reference only.

    Close

     

    Limits

    Creating GST groups is limited to companies assigned Australian legislation and those that have an ABN.

    One member of the group must be designated as the Head entity. Each group can only have one Head entity.

    A company can only be part of one active group at a time.

    Error messages

    In addition to the generic error messages, the following messages can appear during the entry :

    One member company of a GST group must be marked as the head entity.
    No ABN number assigned to GST member company '$1$'.

    Only companies with an ABN can be part of a GST group for reporting BAS and GST values.

    GST group '$1$' has no head entitiy assigned

    You must identify one company in the group as the Head entity that is responsible for all of the group's tax obligations such as paying tax and submitting tax returns. The Head entity represents the group as a single entity for tax purposes.

    Company '$1$' must only be assigned once in GST group '$2$'
    GST group '$1$' has duplicated members
    GST group management is active. Use "GST reporting periods" function to create the GST report.
    Member company $1$ is already assigned to the active GST group $2$.

    A company can only be part of one active group at a time.

    Tables used

    SEEREFERTTO Refer to documentation Implementation