Home topics small-business-resources accounting-tax-time Accounting Expert Industry Finance Accounting SMEs and BAS: the consequences of late lodgement Clive Barrett September 13, 2017 One of the biggest mistakes some SMEs make is putting off lodging their quarterly BAS returns. For those who do their own books, there are a number of reasons for this – they get caught up in the day-to-day running of their business or the person who has been doing their books for them is no longer available. While some business owners have a laissez-faire attitude to lodging their BAS returns, the consequences for late lodgement can be severe. We regularly see SMEs who are one, two or three BAS returns behind and in more serious cases, those who are five or more BAS returns behind. The ATO has an escalation process for late lodgement of BAS returns, with the first step being a notice to the business owner and the last step being a summons to court. SMEs should also be aware that as the process escalates, it can trigger an audit. Ultimately, the ATO wants to avoid the situation reaching the last step and the subsequent effort and costs associated with liquidating a business, should this be their only option. Therefore, throughout the process, the ATO will give SMEs every opportunity to contact them to put in place a payment plan and they will be looking at what the business owner is doing to rectify the situation. Generally the ATO doesn’t apply penalties in isolated cases