The reporting obligations for SMEs vary depending on your activities and the structure you operate under. While the Government has started to implement some initiatives designed to streamline and standardise business reporting, the onus is still very much on businesses being aware of and working to meet their compliance obligations.
Knowing them at the outset enables you to build the reporting requirements into your systems, so that it’s quicker and easier to extract and deliver accurate information required to meet statutory deadlines.
Some reporting requirements are given greater weight and enforcement. Your accountant will be able to provide more comprehensive advice on when and how you need to meet your obligations.
Just as it’s important to meet your reporting obligations, you also need to meet you tax payment obligations when they are due.
There are also a range of taxes and payments you may be liable for as a result of being an employer. The best way to ensure you do meet all these payments is to know when they are due and build them into your budgets.
Cash-strapped businesses will find it difficult to borrow or obtain external sources of cash to help meet these obligations.
The other tempting option is to delay remitting taxes as a means to managing cashflow, however the penalties to directors for doing so are several and can be severe.
Planning to have the cash available when you need it is a less stressful approach.
The buck stops with you. Ultimate responsibility for making tax payments, meeting reporting obligations and providing accurate information lies with the individual signing the annual return or in the case of a business operating under a company, all of the directors of the business.
Some of the penalties have already been outlined above, making it important that you understand the financial accounts and returns submitted by and for your business.
Starting up a business is a taxing experience, but with some comprehensive advice and a solid understanding at the outset, it shouldn’t be more draining on your cash than it need be.
For a more comprehensive discussion about tax issues that every start-up should understand, click here to register to attend Marc’s free StartupSmart-hosted webinar ‘10 Tax Commandments for Start-Ups’ being held tomorrow, Friday, May 20, at 12.30pm.
Marc Peskett is a partner of MPR Group a Melbourne based firm that provides tax, as well as business advisory and planning services, outsourced accounting, grants support and financial services to fast growing small to medium enterprises. You can follow Marc on Twitter @mpeskett
