You may recall that I wrote about how the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) are abolishing paper activity statements for anyone who lodges them electronically (you can read about it here).

To lodge electronically you either need to use a registered tax agent or be registered to use the ATO Business Portal.

Some of the things you can complete via the ATO Business Portal include preparing, lodging and revising activity statements, as well as viewing your statement of account, requesting a refund or transfer between accounts and updating the registration details for your business.

I recently came across a client who was ready to take the next step and start lodging their Business Activity Statement (BAS) and Instalment Activity Statement (IAS) by electronic means and I assisted them to register for the ATO Business Portal.

Before you can register for the Business Portal, you’ll need an AUSkey…and before you apply for an AUSkey, there is some information you should have on hand to enable completion of the application process.

You’ll need to know the type of AUSkey you are applying for and:

• the legal name of your entity
• the Australian Business Number (ABN) of your entity
• your own full name
• your own date of birth
• your own Tax File Number (TFN)

After this, the process is quite simple, but the most important thing to remember is… to keep your login details and password secure!

Regards