Some small businesses make simple mistakes; others just don’t provide the right information. Make sure your business is not caught out by filling out your business activity statement correctly. Here are five easy lodgement tips to help businesses save time and get their business activity statement right the first time around:

• Lodge all your outstanding activity statements.
  The tax office cannot process refunds until all of a business’s lodgments are up-to-date.
• Make sure the ATO has your business’s latest financial institution details. Without this information, the office cannot issue any of the business’s refunds.
• Leave your paper statements behind and begin lodging online. If your business is already lodging online, don’t send a paper copy to the ATO, as this can cause delays in processing.
• Double check all the amounts you’ve filled in i.e. make sure the right amounts are under the right labels; you’ve transferred amounts correctly to the summary section and all your additions are correct.
• Fill in the contact number and name of the person who completed the BAS. Doing so helps the ATO check any small details quickly and easily over the phone. Also, don’t forget to update your authorised contacts list. If there are any problems, the office will need to speak to an authorised contact.
• To determine the business-use percentage, taxpayers need a logbook and odometer readings for the logbook period (which is a minimum, continuous 12 week period).