The petition brings to light the issue where certain entities are denied access to the cash-flow boost because of their reporting cycle — an anomaly that has been heavily campaigned against by the professional accounting bodies.
The law currently requires entities to have notified the ATO of taxable supplies made before 12 March, leaving new businesses that have made taxable supplies on or after 1 January unable to qualify if they report on a quarterly basis, but eligible if they report on a monthly basis.
The issue also affects entities seeking JobKeeper entitlement for a business participant.
The open petition on the House of Representatives website has called for the legislation to be amended to remove the “discrimination” on businesses based on their reporting cycle.
“The legislation requires a business must have made a lodgement showing ‘taxable supply’ prior to March 12th in order to access the cash-flow boost. This means a business created on or after January 1st 2020 which files their BAS quarterly is automatically deemed ineligible,” the petition reads.
“Equally, a business formed on or after 1 July 2019 which files their BAS annually is automatically deemed ineligible. If those same businesses had filed their BAS lodgements on a monthly basis, they would be deemed eligible.
“Two identical businesses with different BAS lodgement periods receive vastly different outcomes. The red tape of when a business lodges its business activity statement is creating unequal support under the current legislation.”
The petition closes on 2 September, after which it will be presented to the house and referred on to the minister responsible for the matter.
The petition can be accessed on the House of Representatives website.
Jotham Lian
Jotham Lian is the editor of Accountants Daily, the leading source of breaking news, analysis and insight for Australian accounting professionals.
Before joining the team in 2017, Jotham wrote for a range of national mastheads including the Sydney Morning Herald, and Channel NewsAsia.
You can email Jotham at: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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