What a registered BAS agent actually does, and why it matters

Plenty of people call themselves bookkeepers. Far fewer are registered BAS agents, and the difference matters the moment something goes wrong.

The registration is a legal thing, not a badge

To charge a fee for BAS services in Australia you have to be registered with the Tax Practitioners Board. Registration means demonstrated qualifications, relevant experience, professional indemnity insurance and an ongoing code of conduct. It is checkable, publicly, on the TPB register. Ours is 24668985.

An unregistered bookkeeper can enter your transactions. They cannot legally charge you to prepare and lodge your activity statements, and if they do, you are the one carrying the risk.

What we can do that an unregistered bookkeeper cannot

• Prepare and lodge your BAS and IAS on your behalf
• Deal with the ATO directly on the matters a BAS agent is authorised for
• Advise on GST, PAYG withholding, superannuation guarantee and fuel tax credit obligations
• Apply for a payment arrangement when a debt has built up
• Ask for penalties to be remitted when there is a genuine reason

The lodgement dates are usually better

Lodging through a registered agent generally gives you the extended agent deadlines rather than the standard ones. For a business that is habitually a fortnight behind, that alone can be the difference between on time and late.

Safe harbour is the part nobody mentions

If you gave your registered agent everything they needed on time and they lodged late or got it wrong, the law provides protection from certain penalties. That protection does not exist if the person doing your books is not registered. It is quiet, unglamorous insurance, and it is one of the strongest arguments for using an agent.

What we do not do

We are not your accountant and we will not pretend to be. Your income tax return, your business structure, whether you should be a company or a trust, Division 7A, capital gains: that is their work and they are good at it. What we do is hand them a set of books that agrees with reality, which makes their job faster and usually cheaper for you.

This is general information, not advice about your particular situation. Talk to us about your business and we will tell you where you actually stand.