Speed
0.75×
1×
1.25×
1.5×
2×
10 min 20 sec
0:00
Opening
0:23
Section 6: Assets and depreciation
1:24
Section 7: No owner's drawings in a company
2:05
Section 7: Director and shareholder loans
3:09
Section 8: Against last year, and what stands out
3:48
Section 8: Sensitive accounts, and mapping to the return
4:45
Section 9: Balance sheet review
5:34
Section 10: Year-end adjustments
6:23
Key dates
7:46
The year-end accounts
8:29
Example: Saltbush, from first look to locked
9:22
Locking the year, and what Step 2 inherits
10:09
Close
The Company Tax Return, Explained
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Step 1: the year-end review
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Episode 3
Step 1: reviewing the books, assets to the year-end accounts
Sections 6 to 10: assets, director loans, the profit and loss against last year, the balance sheet and year-end adjustments. Then key dates, the year-end accounts and locking the year.
year-end review
depreciation
Division 7A
balance sheet
lock date
Do it in Beeswax
Year End and Tax Return Process
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Transcript
0:00
The last film checked that the records agree with the outside world. This one tests the accounts themselves: assets, the director's loan account, the profit and loss, the balance sheet, and the year-end journals.
0:13
It ends with the year-end accounts, which are Step 1's finished product, and with locking the year. It's general information, not tax advice. Large purchases: capital or expense: bill lines at or above Beeswax's possibly-an-asset setting, 1,000 dollars by default, posted to expense accounts.
0:34
Running costs such as rent, wages and subscriptions are left out. It's amber until each one is moved to an asset account, or a person records "Reviewed: none of these are assets".
0:45
Depreciation posted: amber when equipment, vehicles or fit-out have a written-down value but no depreciation was posted this year. It lands at item 6, depreciation expenses, label X.
0:58
Beeswax has no asset register yet. These two checks catch the common misses, but they don't replace a depreciation schedule. Example: Saltbush's 3,200 dollar laptop was posted to office expenses.
1:12
It's moved to computer equipment. With the printer and the ute, depreciation of 11,300 dollars is posted under the simplified rules, which is Film 5's item 10. A company has no "drawings".
1:26
Money a director takes out is wages, a dividend, or a loan. And a loan from a private company to its shareholder falls under Division 7A. No owner's drawings in a company is red while a drawings account still has a balance at 30 June.
1:42
Once the balance is reclassified to nil, it's green, and it says how much was moved. The reclassification settles what the money was. Whether it's taxed as a dividend is the next check's job.
1:53
Example: Saltbush's director took 6,000 dollars in March, and it was booked as drawings. A 30 June journal moves it to a loan to the director. Director and shareholder loans (Division 7A): any director, shareholder or associate account that owes money to the company at 30 June is red until a person records what was done: repaid before the return is lodged; or under a written Division 7A loan agreement.
2:23
Otherwise, broadly, the amount is treated as an unfranked dividend to the shareholder. The deadline is the lodgment day: the earlier of the return's due date and the day it's lodged.
2:33
The balance lands at item 8, loans to shareholders and their associates, label N. Share capital recorded: an equity account for issued shares, in credit. Beeswax records the decision.
2:46
It can't check that the agreement complies, or that the repayment wasn't simply borrowed back. That's the reviewer's judgement. Example: Saltbush's director signs a written loan agreement before the return is lodged.
2:59
So item 8 shows 6,000 dollars at N, and from 2026–27 the loan carries the benchmark interest rate. Section 8 reviews the profit and loss. Each account against last year: amber where an account moved by more than both materiality limits.
3:18
If last year was zero, only the dollar limit applies. Unusually large expenses and journals: expense lines, and manual journals into any profit and loss account, at or above the large-transaction setting.
3:31
Check each one is in the right account and isn't capital. Accounts with an unexpected sign: income in debit, or expenses in credit, for the year. All three are amber.
3:42
They point at where to look; they don't say anything is wrong. Accounts that usually need a tax adjustment: expense accounts whose names contain a sensitive word, such as entertainment, fines, donations or legal.
3:58
The check can't tell what's deductible. It asks a person to decide, and to add back what isn't, at item 7, non-deductible expenses, label W. Accounts mapped to tax return labels: every income and expense account with activity should be mapped to an item 6 label.
4:16
An unmapped account is amber, and its total falls into "Other sales" or "All other expenses". Example: Saltbush's 3,200 dollars of client entertainment and 400 dollars of fines are flagged.
4:30
Both are added back at W. No keyword catches its 350 dollars of general interest charge, but the return pre-fills that at W from the ledger. A keyword list is a prompt, not a full search.
4:44
Balance sheet balances, retained earnings carried forward: assets less liabilities must equal posted equity plus every year's profit to date. Beeswax works out retained earnings and never posts a closing entry.
4:59
A difference of a cent or more is red. No balances on the wrong side: an asset in credit, or a liability or equity account in debit. An overdrawn bank, or more paid to a supplier than owed, shows up here.
5:13
Accumulated depreciation, provisions and goods and services tax (GST) paid are left out by design. GST owed at year end agrees to the last period: the GST accounts' closing balance should equal the GST raised in the last Business Activity Statement (BAS) period.
5:34
Section 10 is a register of the journals most years need at 30 June: prepayments, costs paid this year for next year; accrued expenses, this year's costs not yet billed; leave provisions, annual and long service leave owed; income in advance, invoiced this year for work done next year; income tax, for a company.
5:57
Each is amber until Beeswax finds a June manual journal touching an account named for it, or a person records "Posted" or "Not needed this year". Depreciation has its own check, in section 6.
6:11
Example: Saltbush posts its 4,000 dollar increase in the leave provision and its income tax payable of 20,200 dollars. The other three aren't needed this year. Section 1 opens with the year's key dates.
6:26
For the return they depend on one question, asked once for the business: is it lodged through a tax agent? The same answer decides whether checks take one sign-off or two.
6:37
Through an agent, a company like Saltbush lodges and pays by 15 May the next year. Lodging its own return, it's 28 February. Through an agent, a company whose total income was over 2 million dollars in its last return is due on 31 March instead.
6:54
When last year's return is finalised or lodged in Beeswax, the box reads that figure and gives 31 March itself. Film 7 has the full table. If last year's return is in Beeswax but isn't marked lodged, the card shows 31 October to lodge, which moves to Monday 2 November this year, and 1 December to pay.
7:15
A date that lands on a weekend or a public holiday moves to the next business day. The card doesn't cover medium or large companies; their agent will know their dates.
7:25
Example: 15 May 2027 is a Saturday, so Saltbush's return is due on Monday 17 May. Lodging its own return, 28 February 2027 is a Sunday, and Monday 1 March is a public holiday in Western Australia, so it would be Tuesday 2 March.
7:45
Step 1's output is the year-end accounts. Sections 8 and 9 each open their statement, the profit and loss and the balance sheet, with last year alongside. The PDF holds both, then every check, with its status, sign-offs and notes.
8:01
While anything is red or amber, a banner marks them as a draft. That includes amber checks that have been signed, so a company with a correct add-back, like Saltbush, keeps the banner.
8:12
They're on an accrual basis, each document counting in the year it's dated, and they say so. These are the figures Step 2 starts from. Item 6 is this profit and loss, mapped to labels, and item 8 is drawn from this balance sheet.
8:28
From first look to locked, Saltbush's review takes these steps: lock the April to June BAS, and attach the missing supplier invoice; reclassify the drawings and record the loan agreement; move the laptop to an asset, and post depreciation, the leave provision and income tax; record the finalisation declaration, the associates and the overdue debt.
8:52
Four checks stay amber, and each is correct as it stands: the June super and the entertainment, both added back; the director's 10,000 dollar monthly salary, flagged as a large expense; and the accounts that moved against last year.
9:07
The preparer and the reviewer sign them, with a note saying they've been added back. They stay amber, so the header never reads "Ready". It doesn't need to: once every check is signed and nothing red is left, the year can be locked.
9:21
When every check is reviewed, or not applicable, and nothing blocks the return, Beeswax offers Lock FY2026. It moves the books' lock date forward to 30 June. Only a change in business details moves it back.
9:36
Only an owner, Super Admin or accountant can press it. This isn't the same as the BAS page's "Mark Lodged and lock books". Locking at the last BAS period also refuses 30 June journals, such as depreciation and income tax, so post those first.
9:53
On the return, each label a check feeds shows its Step 1 status underneath and links back. Finalise stays unavailable until no red check is left unaccepted. That's where the next four films pick up, item by item.
10:09
Step 1 doesn't fill in the return. It makes sure the figures that will fill it can be trusted, and it records who checked them. Step 2 starts from the year-end accounts.