I AM a small business with an annual turnover of less than $50,000. I am registered for GST, but have decided that the administrative costs outweigh any benefits. Can I apply for deregistration?
Entities registered for the GST must apply to the Commissioner if they wish to have their registration cancelled. Under the present rules, the Comm-issioner will only deregister a small business that is still trading if its annual turnover is less than $50,000 and it has been registered for at least 12 months.
A new Bill has recently been introduced to Parliament that if passed, will allow the Commissioner, in certain circumstances, to cancel the GST registration of an entity where an application to cancel its registration has been made before the entity has been registered for 12 months. This measure takes effect from the date of Royal Assent and will avoid increased compliance costs for small businesses and non-profit bodies.
WHEN I registered for GST, I elected to account for GST on a monthly, rather than a quarterly basis. I’ve now decided that monthly reporting is too much of an administrative burden and I wish to switch back to quarterly reporting. Is this possible?
Under the current law, once an enterprise has elected for monthly reporting periods, it must remain a monthly reporter for at least 12 months before it is entitled to switch back to accounting for GST on a quarterly basis.
However, an Amendment Bill has recently been introduced to Parliament which, once passed, will give the Commissioner of Taxation the discretion to be able to revoke the monthly tax period election before 12 months has elapsed.
