XBert Type: Standard
Accounting Software: Xero, MYOB
Country Restriction: Australia only
Risk Type: Tax Risk
Business Function: Banking
Overview
This XBert checks whether your business has recorded GST on its bank transactions during a time when it was not registered for GST. When the business is not registered, spend-money transactions with GST claim a credit it is not entitled to, and receive-money transactions with GST charge tax it is not entitled to collect. Either way the activity statement is wrong, so it is worth catching before you lodge your BAS.
What it does
It looks at the authorised spend-money and receive-money bank transactions your business has recorded and finds those that carry a GST amount. It compares each transaction's date against the periods your own business was actually registered for GST, based on your ABN. When several transactions carry GST on dates outside every registered period, it groups them into a single alert and reports how many are affected and the total GST involved.
How it works
XBert looks up your business by its ABN in the Australian Business Register (ABR) and reads when your GST registration started and, if applicable, ended. It then checks each spend-money and receive-money transaction that carries GST and compares its date against those registered periods. Instead of one alert per transaction, it groups all the affected transactions for your business into a single alert with the total count and total GST — helpful when the same coding habit repeats across many transactions.
To keep the results accurate, it deliberately stays quiet when:
Your business has a current, open GST registration on the ABR.
There is recent sign of GST on the sales side, indicating the business is operating as registered even if the ABR record lags.
Transactions carry no GST, are transfers between your own accounts, or fall outside the checked statuses.
So it only fires when the evidence points to a business claiming or charging GST while genuinely unregistered.
Example/Use Case
Mia's business deregistered for GST last year but continued coding its bank payments with GST. Over several months, spend-money transactions for subscriptions and supplies carry a total of $940 in GST credits the business cannot claim, and a couple of receive-money transactions add GST it should not have collected. XBert groups them into one alert with the count and total GST. Mia confirms on the ABR that the business is unregistered, recodes the transactions without GST and corrects any GST wrongly collected, or re-registers for GST if that is the right outcome. The BAS is corrected before lodgement.
Accounting software
This XBert runs on Xero and MYOB, the platforms where a reliable business ABN is available to confirm GST registration.
Which countries it supports
Australia only. It relies on your ABN and the Australian Business Register, so it does not apply to businesses in other countries.
Processes
Business area: Banking. To resolve a flagged alert:
Open the alert and review the spend-money and receive-money transactions that carry GST while the business appears unregistered.
Check your GST registration dates on the Australian Business Register (ABR) to confirm whether the business was registered on those dates.
If the business is not registered, recode the affected transactions to a no-GST code so no credit is claimed and no GST is charged.
For any receive-money where GST was collected in error, refund or otherwise correct the amount as appropriate.
If the business should be registered, register it for GST with the ATO, then confirm the transactions are treated correctly.
Review your GST settings so new transactions use the right tax code, and check earlier transactions for the same coding.
If any affected transactions fall in a BAS period you have already lodged, follow the ATO's process for correcting GST on a later statement.
Once corrected, mark the XBert as resolved.