Glossary
Business activity statement (BAS)
The GST return lodged with the ATO. Because it is a legal declaration of actual turnover, it is one of the strongest checks on claimed revenue.
In plain English
The business activity statement is the periodic return most Australian businesses lodge with the ATO, reporting turnover, GST collected and GST paid. Most lodge quarterly, larger businesses monthly.
For analysis, the BAS matters because of what it is legally: a declaration of actual turnover made to the tax office, with penalties for getting it wrong. Vendors rarely overstate revenue to the ATO. That makes lodged BAS figures a powerful independent check on the revenue a vendor claims, and unexplained gaps between the two are among the clearest red flags in any file.
Why a lender cares
Reconciling claimed revenue to BAS lodgements and bank deposits is the first serious test in both credit assessment and due diligence. Revenue that survives that reconciliation is close to bankable fact; revenue that cannot be traced to a lodgement gets discounted, sometimes to zero. It is the opening move in every earnings rebuild we do.
Where this term takes you
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