How to integrate Xero with the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) for Business Activity Statement (BAS) lodgmen
follow these steps:
Set Up Xero for BAS Lodgement
- Before you can lodge your BAS, you need to ensure that your Xero organization is correctly set up with your GST details.
- Go to Settings > General Settings > Financial settings.
- Ensure that GST settings are filled out properly, including your GST accounting basis (cash or accrual) and GST registration date.
Enable ATO Reporting in Xero
- In the Accounting menu, select Advanced
- Under Advanced settings select Financial settings.
- Click Go to new BAS.
- (Optional) Click Learn more about Connected BAS.
- You’ll be presented with the connection setup prompt.
- Click Lodge reports directly from Xero and follow the onscreen instructions. These include the software ID (SSID) you need to give to the ATO.
- Call the ATO to authorize the connection.
- When the ATO have activated your account, click Check connection and get activity statements so Xero can confirm the connection.
Prepare Your BAS in Xero
- Xero automatically generates BAS reports based on the financial data you’ve entered.
- Go to Accounting > Reports > Activity Statements.
- Select the appropriate BAS period and check that your GST amounts are correct.
- Xero will pull in your sales and purchase information to fill in the necessary sections, such as G1 (Total Sales), G11 (Non-Capital Purchases), etc.
- Ensure that GST on sales and GST on purchases are categorized correctly.
Review and Lodge BAS via Xero
- Once your BAS is prepared:
- Go to Reports > Activity Statements.
- Click Prepare BAS.
- Review the statement to ensure all information is correct.
- If everything is accurate, click File Now to lodge it directly to the ATO.
- You’ll be prompted to authenticate with your MyGovID credentials.