MYOB · Business Activity Statement

How to Fix MYOB BAS Error

Your BAS figures do not match your accounts, GST totals look wrong, the statement will not lodge, or the ATO rejects it after submission.

At QuickFix Bookkeeping, the rule that prevents most BAS errors: the BAS is only as good as your tax codes. MYOB builds the statement from the tax code on every transaction. One supplier consistently coded to the wrong code will produce a plausible-looking BAS that is quietly wrong every single quarter.

What Causes This

Wrong tax codes

A transaction coded GST when it should be FRE, or vice versa, distorts the totals invisibly.

Unreconciled period

Transactions missing from the period because the bank feed was not reconciled before lodging.

Cash versus accrual

Reporting on the wrong basis for your registration produces figures that will not match.

Period already lodged

Amending a period that has been lodged requires a revision, not an edit.

How to Fix It

METHOD 1Reconcile Before You Prepare the BASFigures do not match
1

Reconcile every bank and credit card account for the full period before you even open the BAS. A transaction not yet in MYOB cannot appear on the statement.

2

Review the transaction list for anything uncoded. An uncoded transaction is excluded from the BAS entirely, which understates both your GST collected and your GST paid.

3

Only once the period is fully reconciled should you prepare the statement.

METHOD 2Audit Your Tax CodesGST totals look wrong
1

Run the GST report for the period and review it by tax code rather than by total.

2

Look for suppliers or customers where the code looks wrong. Bank fees, insurance, government charges, and residential rent are the usual offenders, commonly coded GST when they should be FRE or N-T.

3

Fix the transactions, then set the correct default tax code on the supplier or customer card so it stops recurring. Fixing the symptom without fixing the default guarantees you do this again next quarter.

METHOD 3Check Your Reporting BasisConsistently out by a pattern
1

Confirm whether you are registered to report GST on a cash or an accrual basis, and that MYOB is set to match.

2

On a cash basis, GST is reported when money moves. On accrual, when the invoice is raised. A business reporting on the wrong basis produces figures that never reconcile to the ATO expectation, and the discrepancy grows with your receivables.

METHOD 4Amend a Lodged PeriodError found after lodging
1

Do not simply edit transactions in a period you have already lodged. That leaves your books disagreeing with what the ATO holds.

2

Correct the transactions, then lodge a revision with the ATO for that period, or adjust in the next BAS if the amount falls within the ATO correction thresholds. Confirm the current thresholds before choosing, since they change.

A Plausible BAS Is Not a Correct One

The dangerous BAS error is not the one that fails to lodge. It is the one that lodges cleanly, quarter after quarter, built on a supplier coded to the wrong tax code since the day the file was created. Audit your tax codes properly once, and the recurring error disappears. Chasing the totals each quarter never finds it.

Related Guides

BAS Figures You Cannot Reconcile?

Let QuickFix Bookkeeping Check It Before You Lodge.

Wrong tax codes produce a BAS that looks right and is not, quarter after quarter. We audit your coding, reconcile the period, and get your statement correct before it reaches the ATO.

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