Hello OZB,
Any accountant fella here? I haven't reported income on my ABN tax for the last 2-3 years as there was no earning at all, may be a couple of hundreds. One of my friends told me I still need to report it as Nill eventhough there wasn't any earnings.
If this is the case, I am considering to pay penalties and fix the mistake. What should I do now?
I would but I am not in the country at the moment.
Go to an accountant otherwise contact the ATO. You firstly have to know the requirements for your business type
https://www.business.gov.au/Finance/Taxation/How-to-lodge-an…
If you are required to lodge and report your business income through business activity statements (BAS), you need to lodge even if there is a nil lodgement, otherwise you run the risk of your ABN being cancelled if there are no business activities which have been reported.
https://www.ato.gov.au/Tax-professionals/Prepare-and-lodge/T…
Thanks.
And you can be fined too. See my post below
Honestly, don't even bother.
Not a good idea as you do get fined for failing to report.
The odds of OP getting audited are negligible.
It is auto fine so they will do it eventually 8nce you get past a certain threshold
may be a couple of hundreds
Damn you bored af
Just wait until you get back to Aus. If you barely earned anything you won't owe anything to the ATO so you won't have any penalty.
I see, thanks.
Best if you go and declare the nill earnings ASAP - if you know the document numbers for your earning declaration letters you can do it via the phone service. If you don't know the document numbers ring ATO and they will give them to you (you may also be able to extract them out of MyGov).
After a while ATO will send you a fine for not declaring - it is about $1500 per instance. So best to just do it ASAP.
I have an ABN for a failed investment from 20 years ago and had to keep it running while it was wound up. I got a bit slack doing all the nil returns as occasionally I got a liquidation cheque in the mail. Anyway, ATO hit me for $1500 - I luckily had a record of doing nil returns so I asked for the penalty to be waived and they said as long as all the GST returns were done they would do it. I did it over the phone while they were checking out penalty waiver and sorted me out there and then.
Can't I file it online or something myself?
https://www.ato.gov.au/business/business-activity-statements-(bas)/how-to-lodge-your-bas/
Thanks.
Don't waste your time unless they contact you. They won't fine you for not having any tax liability.
No they will fine you as it is an easy $1500 for them
Lol.
Nice scaremongering.
You should go and see an accountant.