28^th August is the end date for lodging the ATO’s Taxable Payments Annual Report.  This form requires those businesses within the building and construction industry to report all payments to contractors within the building and construction industry.

Building and constructions includes more services than one might think as evidenced by the following link – http://tinyurl.com/y7hrnfxm

You need a good accounting system to simplify the reporting of Taxable Payments Annual Report as you need to report the following for each contractor:-

• Name
• ABN
• Address
• Gross payment including GST as well as the total GST amount. It is important to note that for those who run an accrual accounting system, reporting is based not off the date of the contractor invoices, but they year in which they are paid.

If you are struggling with this reporting requirement, we would be happy to help you or refer you to a good book-keeper.

Ways you can lodge the Taxable Payments Annual Report

• The main software providers enable the Taxable Payments Annual Report to be lodged from the software.
• You can also lodge by paper.
• You may also wish to view the following YouTube clip from the ATO on how to lodge the Taxable Payments Annual Report through the Taxpayer Portal.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRhFsB-k1Uc

So what to the ATO do with all this data?

They crossmatch all payments reported to each business within the building construction industry to their reported income.  The ATO had a field day some years ago with a pilot program of plasterers within the Hunter Valley.  Obviously it is paying dividends if the ATO still requires this reporting – so much so that it has now been expanded to other industries from July 2018.