Is your business tax-ready? – a new computer program available free from the Tax Office – can help small businesses check whether their business practices are helping them meet their tax obligations.

The program builds a profile of a business from the answers to a series of questions. It develops a printable evaluation report with information on what the business could do to improve their tax-related business practices to become tax-ready.

You can evaluate business practices at any stage of the business life-cycle — from when you’re thinking about starting a business right through to selling or closing your business down.

It can also assist tax practitioners, business advisers and bookkeepers to help clients identify where their business can make improvements to become tax-ready.

What Is your business tax-ready? can do

If you are a business operator, Is your business tax-ready? will:

  • provide information on characteristics and practices that are common in the operation of a successful business
  • identify areas of your business where improvements could be made
  • identify how you can improve your ability to meet your tax obligations
  • provide a report on how your current practices compare to recommended tax-related practices
  • outline what might happen if you’re not complying with your tax obligations
  • advise you when your business practices reach the standard required to help you meet your tax obligations.

If you run more than one business, you can set up multiple business profiles to evaluate the practices of each business.

Who can use Is your business tax-ready?

Is your business tax-ready? is for small businesses, including sole traders, with turnovers of below $2 million. It is not intended for:

  • businesses with more than $2 million turnover
  • consolidated groups; a consolidated group consists of a head company and subsidiary member(s), that are wholly owned by the head company
  • GST groups; a GST group consists of two or more business entities that operate as a single business for GST purposes.

More information

For more information and to download Is your business tax-ready?, go to www.ato.gov.au/TaxReady. You can also request a copy of Is your business tax-ready? on CD (NAT 73082) by phoning 13 72 26.