TITLE: Australian Business Compliance: BAS, GST Controls, Card Surcharge Ban and ATO Enforcement
Lodge and pay your August BAS today
If your Australian business lodges monthly activity statements, your August 2026 BAS is due today, 21 September 2026.
You must lodge the activity statement and pay any amount owing by the applicable due date. The ATO’s September 2026 registered agent lodgment calendar confirms the 21 September deadline.
Before submitting, check:
- GST on sales and purchases.
- PAYG withholding.
- PAYG instalments, if applicable.
- Fuel tax credits, if claimed.
- Bank, payment gateway and marketplace reconciliations.
- Refunds, chargebacks and returned goods.
- Any adjustments from earlier BAS periods.
If you use a registered BAS agent, check the client’s activity statement in Online services for business. An agent-specific lodgment date may appear under the BAS agent lodgment program. Do not assume an extension applies. Confirm the due date shown for your business and ensure payment is made on time.
A complete reconciliation is essential. It helps you avoid incorrect GST reporting, unnecessary ATO follow-up and late payment costs.
Strengthen your GST classification controls before the next BAS
On 20 September, the ATO released findings from its GST assurance reviews of Top 1,000 public and multinational businesses for 2025–26.
The findings should interest every Australian ecommerce seller, digital business and growing SME. The ATO identified recurring classification weaknesses, particularly involving food and health products.
Around one third of food and health product issues received a low or red-flag assurance rating. The primary problem was treating taxable supplies as GST-free. The review also identified concerns involving approximately:
- 10% of financial supplies issues.
- 15% of real property issues.
The ATO’s findings were reported by Accounting Times and align with the ATO’s Top 1,000 GST assurance findings.
The root causes included:
- Weak governance when onboarding new products.
- Infrequent reviews of product master data.
- Misinterpretation of GST rules.
- Reliance on a supplier’s tax treatment without independent checks.
These weaknesses are not limited to large corporations. They can also affect an Amazon, Shopify, eBay or WooCommerce seller with hundreds of SKUs. They can affect a SaaS business with multiple billing plans. They can affect an agency selling taxable and GST-free services across different markets.
Review your product and service master data
Complete this checklist before your next BAS:
- List every product, service and SKU. Include bundles, subscriptions, gift cards, shipping charges and marketplace fees.
- Confirm the GST code for each item. Do not copy the code from a supplier invoice without checking the underlying transaction.
- Review food, supplements and health products carefully. A product that appears to be a basic food item may not qualify as GST-free.
- Check product changes. New packaging, ingredients, features or bundled components can change the correct GST treatment.
- Document your decisions. Keep the reasoning, source material and approval record for future reviews.
- Schedule periodic checks. Product tax codes should not remain unchanged for years without review.
Better master data reduces BAS corrections and gives you a stronger audit trail if the ATO asks how your GST outcomes were produced.
Keep every return and activity statement on schedule
The ATO is also increasing enforcement against businesses and individuals operating in the shadow economy.
According to the ATO’s September media release, “Out of the shadows: shadow economy prosecutions jump eighty per cent”, non-lodgement prosecutions increased by about 80% over two years. Around $2.7 million in fines were issued through court action.
The message is straightforward: failing to lodge is not a low-risk administrative issue. Businesses can face penalties, interest, debt recovery action and prosecution.
Keep a compliance calendar covering:
- Monthly BAS deadlines.
- Quarterly BAS deadlines.
- PAYG withholding reporting and payment.
- Superannuation obligations.
- Annual income tax returns.
- Payroll and employee records.
- Foreign transaction and marketplace records.
If you have overdue returns, identify them now. Bringing your records up to date is easier before the ATO issues further notices.
Prepare for the card surcharge ban from 1 October
From 1 October 2026, Australian businesses will generally need to stop charging customers separate surcharges for debit, credit and prepaid card payments on affected networks, including eftpos, Visa, Mastercard and American Express.
The change applies to in-store and online transactions. That means ecommerce businesses should review checkout settings as carefully as physical retailers review their EFTPOS terminals.
Read the official business.gov.au guidance on card payment surcharge changes, together with the RBA’s frequently asked questions and ACCC card surcharge guidance.
Before 1 October, you should:
- Disable surcharge settings in payment gateways and terminals.
- Remove card surcharge line items from invoices and checkout pages.
- Review payment provider contracts and merchant statements.
- Update pricing, terms and customer communications.
- Test Apple Pay, Google Pay and other digital wallet transactions.
- Confirm how payment fees and GST are recorded in your accounting system.
- Check whether non-card fees, booking fees or service charges are genuinely separate from card use.
A price change may affect your GST calculations. Review whether your displayed prices, transaction values and accounting codes still produce the correct BAS figures after surcharges are removed.
