The ATO has introduced legislation affecting bookkeepers who provide BAS related services to clients. How do you make sure that your bookkeeper Melbourne is ATO approved? At Nobel Thomas, you work with  BAS agents from compliance to consultancy.

As a result of a recent change in Australian legislation, all bookkeepers at Nobel Thomas Bookkeeper Melbourne that currently provide BAS services for your and charge a fee for that service must consequently be registered as BAS Agents.

BAS services include:

• Preparing or lodging an approved form for a client that relates to GST, PAYG Withholding, PAYG Instalment or FBT;
• Giving advice about these obligations; Or
• Dealing with the ATO on behalf of a client in relation to these obligations.

A BAS Agent is legally able to process and lodge your BAS (and other BAS related forms). You are not able to engage a bookkeeper who is not a registered BAS Agent to do these things for you and your business – this is law now! By engaging a BAS Agent, you can also avail yourself of the “safe harbour provisions” which remove penalties for any misstatement or late lodgement due to mistakes an agent may make in the course of his work. These safe harbour provisions are not available to you if you are not using a BAS Agent to process your BAS – think about it – is it really worth it?

A BAS Agent is also a bookkeeper Melbourne and can/will provide general bookkeeping services to you as well as BAS Services. But remember, not all bookkeepers are BAS Agents – they may possess the skills and knowledge to process BAS etc but it is now not legal to engage their services – only those who have registered with the Tax Practitioners Board can call themselves BAS Agents and can provide BAS services legally.