Overview
Each period on the Business Activity Statement list has a Books column. It compares the statement you entered for the period with what your books give for the same period, on the period's own reporting basis (cash or accrual), and shows what is still unpaid on the statement.
The same figures are available to an assistant through the Beeswax connector (the get_bas_period and get_bas_period_transactions tools), worked out by the same code, so the assistant and the screen always agree.
What the Books column shows
| Shown | Meaning |
|---|---|
| (nothing) | The statement agrees with the books. |
| Differ by $X | Goods and Services Tax on sales (label 1A) or on purchases (label 1B) on the statement is a dollar or more away from the books. Hover over it for each label's figures and the likely reason. $X adds up the two labels' differences. |
| No statement | No statement has been entered for the period yet. Hover over it for what the books give. |
| $X due | The part of the statement's total not yet paid. |
| $X refund to come | A refund statement (HMRC owes you): the part not yet received. |
| GST accounts off by $X | A separate check: a document posted a different amount to the VAT on Sales or VAT on Purchases account from what its tax codes say, or an amount was posted to those accounts directly by a manual journal. Hover over it for the documents behind it. |
Only labels 1A and 1B decide whether the statement and books agree. The Pay As You Go instalment (label 5A) is the amount HMRC asks for; the books do not work it out, so it is shown but not compared. Pay As You Go withheld from wages (label W2) comes from your posted payrolls (drafts and voided payrolls are left out), but the statement journal has no line for it, so it is not compared either.
The statement is entered in whole dollars, so a difference of less than a dollar on a label is not counted.
Cash or accrual
Each period has its own reporting basis, shown in the Reporting Basis column. It starts as your account's setting and can be changed per period.
- Accrual: a document's Goods and Services Tax counts in the period of its date.
- Cash: it counts in the period it is paid. A part-payment counts the same share of the document's tax: half paid in the period, half its tax counted there.
For example, an invoice dated in March and paid in August counts in the March quarter on an accrual basis, and in the September quarter on a cash basis.
On a cash basis a payment counts only once it is recorded against the document. A bank feed line that has not yet been allocated (Money → Bank Feed) counts for nothing until it is matched to the invoice or bill.
Refunds take their tax off: a supplier refund reduces label 1B and a customer refund reduces label 1A, in the period of the refund's date (accrual) or its payment (cash).
The VAT accounts check is always on an accrual basis whatever the period's basis, because invoices and bills post their tax to those accounts on their own date.
The statement's date
The statement journal belongs to the period it reports, whatever its date. You might enter the March quarter's statement in September, when you pay it. Its lines then sit in the September quarter's ledger, but neither the Books column nor the VAT accounts check counts a statement journal as a difference in the quarter it is dated in.
Investigating a difference
- Hover over Differ by to see which label is off. If the books match the statement on the other basis, the statement was probably worked out on that basis: check the period's Reporting Basis.
- Open the period (View Report). Its transactions are the ones counted on the period's basis.
- Look for documents dated, paid or changed in the period after the statement was entered, and for bank feed lines in the period that have not been allocated.
With an assistant connected, ask it to run get_bas_period for the period (it gives each label's statement and books figures and the reason), then get_bas_period_transactions for the label that differs. That lists every document counted, with its payment dates and the tax counted from it, the documents that would count differently on the other basis, and unmatched bank feed lines in the period.
What stays on the web
The connector reads Business Activity Statement periods; it cannot change them. Marking a period lodged, locking it or the books, entering or editing the statement, and recording its payment are done on the Business Activity Statement list. The receipt number from HMRC is kept only for periods lodged through Beeswax.
Related: Business Activity Statements