Businesses may report incorrect amounts of GST if their systems for capturing and recording GST information fail. We refer to these errors as integrity of business system risks.

The ATO have found that businesses going through change are most at risk of incorrectly reporting GST. For example, businesses experiencing rapid growth, restructure, mergers or de-mergers, installation of new accounting software or changes to accounting staff. Other common causes include:

  • failure of accounting systems
  • incorrect or incomplete business activity statements (BAS)
  • incorrect interpretation of the GST legislation
  • classification of taxable supplies as GST-free or non-taxable.

You can download a printable version of GST and integrity of business system risks [84 kB] in Portable Document Format (PDF).

You can also order a printed copy by noting the full title of the publication and either:

  • visit the ATO Online publications ordering service, or
  • phone the Publications Distribution Service (which operates from 8.00am to 6.00pm, Monday to Friday) on 1300 720 092.