Business Activity
Statement Calculator
Stay on top of your BAS, with our free calculator
A BAS bill that comes as a shock is one of the most common cash flow headaches we see, so we’ve built a free calculator on our website to help.
Each week, fortnight or month, enter your sales, business expenses and the PAYG withheld from your staff’s wages, and it tells you exactly how much to move into a separate BAS savings account.
How much to put aside for GST and PAYG Withholding?
Enter your figures for the period. Move the total into a separate BAS savings account so the money's there when your BAS is due.
GST Example figures
Use money received and paid if you report GST on a cash basis, or invoices raised and received if you're on an accruals basis.
PAYG Withholding (from wages)
The tax taken out of your staff's pay. Your payroll software shows it on each pay run as "PAYG" or "tax withheld". Add up all pay runs in the period.
Finding your figures
Pick the software you use. The report takes a couple of minutes to run. Pick the same dates as the period you chose above.
Before you start: make sure your bank accounts are reconciled up to the end of the period you're checking. If transactions haven't been reconciled, your report will be missing sales and expenses and the figures won't be right.
- Go to Reporting → All reports → Profit and Loss.
- Set the date range to your week, fortnight, month or quarter and change the report to Cash basis, then click Update.
- Sales: use Total Trading Income, less any sales with no GST on them (see the list below).
- Business expenses: add up the expense lines that have GST on them. Skip the ones in the "Leave out" list.
- GST isn't shown on your Profit & Loss. The figures are before GST, so GST is simply 10% of your sales (and 10% of your expenses). Untick "My figures include GST" and the calculator works this out for you.
PAYG withheld: go to Payroll → Pay runs and open each pay run in the period. Add up the Tax column.
- Go to Reports and search for Profit and Loss.
- Set the date range to your week, fortnight, month or quarter and change the report to Cash basis, then click Run report.
- Sales: use Total Income, less any sales with no GST on them (see the list below).
- Business expenses: add up the expense lines that have GST on them. Skip the ones in the "Leave out" list.
- GST isn't shown on your Profit & Loss. The figures are before GST, so GST is simply 10% of your sales (and 10% of your expenses). Untick "My figures include GST" and the calculator works this out for you.
PAYG withheld: go to Payroll → Payroll reports and run the payroll summary for your period. Use the total tax withheld.
- Go to Reporting → Reports → Profit and loss.
- Set the date range to your week, fortnight, month or quarter and change the report to Cash basis, then run the report.
- Sales: use Total Income, less any sales with no GST on them (see the list below).
- Business expenses: add up the expense lines that have GST on them. Skip the ones in the "Leave out" list.
- GST isn't shown on your Profit & Loss. The figures are before GST, so GST is simply 10% of your sales (and 10% of your expenses). Untick "My figures include GST" and the calculator works this out for you.
PAYG withheld: go to Payroll → Payroll reports and run the payroll activity summary for your period. Use the total PAYG withholding.
- Open your business bank account statement or transaction list for the period.
- Sales: add up money received from customers for sales that have GST on them.
- Business expenses: add up payments to suppliers where the invoice or receipt shows GST.
- Bank amounts include GST, so leave "My figures include GST" ticked in the calculator.
PAYG withheld: check your payslips or payroll app for the tax taken out of each pay in the period and add them up. Don't use the net wages paid from the bank.
Include (usually has GST)
- Sales of your products and services in Australia
- Stock, materials and supplies
- Fuel, vehicle repairs and tools
- Commercial rent, phone, internet and software
- Advertising, contractors and professional fees
- Equipment you buy for the business
Leave out (no GST)
- Wages and super
- Bank fees, interest and loan repayments
- Payments to the ATO
- Money you put in or take out yourself
- GST-free sales, e.g. exports, basic food, some medical or education services
- Anything bought from suppliers that aren't registered for GST
Not sure whether something has GST? Check the invoice. If it doesn't show GST, leave it out.
Need help managing this, or have questions on how to use it?
Get in touch. We can help you work out your figures, set up a BAS savings account, or look after your BAS for you.
About this calculator
This calculator gives an estimate of the GST and PAYG withholding to put aside, based on the figures you enter. It doesn't include income tax, PAYG instalments, superannuation, FBT or payroll tax, so put money aside separately for those.
It assumes your business is registered for GST at 10%. Your actual BAS may be different, for example if you have GST-free or input-taxed sales, private use, large asset purchases, fuel tax credits or adjustments from earlier periods.
If you pay GST by quarterly instalments (an amount the ATO works out for you) or report GST annually, what you pay each quarter may differ from this estimate. Keep putting aside the GST you actually collect so you're covered when it's squared up. Some businesses also report PAYG withholding monthly even when they report GST quarterly.
This is general information only and doesn't take your personal circumstances into account. Before acting on it, speak to your accountant or registered tax agent.
Nothing you enter is stored or sent anywhere. The calculation happens in your browser.