Private ruling: Annual reporting
Published: June 2012

Ruling: Q1: From what date is our annual tax period election ceasing to have effect? | A1: Your annual tax period election ceases to have effect from 1 July 2011.

Relevant facts and circumstances: You are carrying on an enterprise and are registered for the goods and services tax (GST). Your annual turnover is over $75,000. You are not a non-profit body for the purpose of the GST Act. You registered for the GST in 2011. At registration you mistakenly made an annual tax period election. You appointed a tax agent to attend to your tax matters in 2012. The tax agent advised you that you should not have made an annual tax period election at registration. Based on this advice, you made an application to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) to have your election revoked and to allow you to report your GST obligations on quarterly basis from 1 July 2011. You claim that you were advised by the ATO that you cannot revoke your election for the financial year ending 30 June 2012 because it was made after 28 October 2011.


Reasons for decision: Summary: Paragraph 151-25(1)(c) of the A New Tax System (Goods and Services Tax) Act 1999 (GST Act) states that your election ceases to have effect if, on 31 July in a financial year, you are required to be registered. You state that your annual registration turnover at the time you registered for the GST was over $75,000. Subsection 23-15(1) of the GST Act states that your registration turnover threshold, if you are not a non-profit body, is $50,000 or such higher amount as the regulations specify. These regulations specify that the registration turnover threshold for a non-profit body is $75,000. Therefore you are required to be registered. Consequently, your election of annual tax period ceases to have effect because as at 31 July 2011 you were required to be registered. Subsection 151-25(5) of the GST Act states that if paragraph 151-25(1)(c) of the GST Act applies, then, your election is taken to have ceased to have effect from the start of the financial year referred to in that paragraph. The start of the financial year when your annual tax period election ceases to have effect, therefore, is 1 July 2011. Consequently, you are required to report your GST on quarterly basis commencing 1 July 2011.

Please check this edited version to be sure that there are no details remaining that you think may allow you to be identified. If you have any concerns about this ruling you wish to discuss, you will find our contact details in the fact sheet.