Xero works out most of your business activity statement for you, but it can only work from what's in the books. Before you lodge, a few reports show whether the figures are right: unreconciled bank lines, invoices stuck in draft, GST codes that look wrong. This is the quarterly check we'd run, report by report. Report names are as Xero uses them for Australian organisations; menus move from time to time.
When the quarterly BAS is due
For quarterly lodgers, the ATO's standard due dates for lodging and paying are:
| Quarter | Due |
|---|---|
| July to September | 28 October |
| October to December | 28 February |
| January to March | 28 April |
| April to June | 28 July |
If you lodge online you may get two extra weeks for the September, March and June quarters (not December, which already has a later date). If a due date falls on a weekend or public holiday, you have until the next business day. If a registered tax or BAS agent lodges for you, your due date can be different again, so check with them. Source: the ATO's due dates for lodging and paying your BAS and its two-week lodgment concession.
Quick checklist
| Check | Why it matters for the BAS | Xero report |
|---|---|---|
| Every bank and card account reconciled to the last day of the quarter | Unreconciled lines can be income or expenses that aren't in the books yet | Bank Reconciliation |
| No invoices or bills left in draft or awaiting approval | They don't count towards GST until they're approved | Sales and purchase lists (Draft and Awaiting Approval tabs) |
| Sales and expenses coded with the right tax rate | A wrong rate moves GST between labels or drops it | GST Reconciliation, Account Transactions |
| GST account agrees with the return | Finds journals and payments coded to the GST account by mistake | GST Reconciliation, Balance Sheet |
| Receivables and payables make sense | On the accruals basis GST is counted when you invoice, paid or not | Aged Receivables, Aged Payables |
| Wages and withholding agree with payroll | With Xero Payroll, W1 and W2 come from posted pay runs | Payroll reports, Account Transactions |
| Nothing big or odd in the quarter | A last look before the figures go to the ATO | Profit and Loss, Trial Balance |
1. Reconcile the bank first
Reconcile every bank account, credit card and payment account (PayPal, Stripe and the like) up to the last day of the quarter. Then run the Bank Reconciliation report at that date for each account and check it agrees with the statement. Anything still unreconciled may be income you haven't recorded or an expense you haven't claimed. On the cash basis, an unmatched payment against an invoice or bill also leaves its GST out of the quarter.
2. Clear out drafts
Invoices and bills in draft aren't posted, so their GST isn't in the activity statement. Look at the Draft and Awaiting Approval tabs under sales and under purchases. Approve the ones that belong in the quarter, and delete the ones that are dead. Bills sitting in draft from emailed receipts are the usual culprit: each one is GST credit you aren't claiming.
3. Check the GST coding
The GST Reconciliation report compares the GST in your transactions with the GST account and with what you've filed. Run it for the quarter before you lodge. If there's a difference, the common causes are:
- Wrong tax rate. Expenses coded GST Free or BAS Excluded that should carry GST, or the other way round. Bank fees, insurance, overseas software and wages are worth a second look.
- Manual journals. A journal with a tax rate on it, or one posted straight to the GST account, can throw the figures out.
- Changes to a lodged period. Someone edited or backdated a transaction into a quarter that's already been lodged.
Account Transactions filtered to one expense account, with the tax rate column on, is the quickest way to spot a wrongly coded supplier.
4. Look at receivables and payables
If you report GST on the accruals basis, you owe GST on invoices you've issued even if the customer hasn't paid, and you can claim it on bills you've received but not paid, as long as you hold a valid tax invoice. Run the Aged Receivables and Aged Payables at the quarter end and look for things that shouldn't be there: duplicate invoices, invoices that should have been credited, bills entered twice. If you're on the cash basis, look for payments that were received but not matched to an invoice. Our debtors report guide has more on reading the aged receivables.
5. Wages and PAYG withholding
If you pay staff, total wages (W1) and the amount withheld (W2) come from your payroll (in Xero Payroll, from posted pay runs; check that new pay items are set to report as W1). Check them against your payroll reports for the quarter, and check that the PAYG withholding liability account on the balance sheet matches what payroll says you owe. Superannuation isn't on the BAS. Since 1 July 2026 it's due with each pay run (Payday Super), so the quarter end is a good moment to check every pay run's super has actually reached the funds.
6. A last look at the whole quarter
Run the Profit and Loss for the quarter next to the previous quarter, and the Trial Balance at the quarter end. Large swings, negative expense accounts and balances in suspense accounts are worth explaining before you lodge, because fixing them after usually means revising the activity statement.
7. Lodge, then lock
Once the activity statement is lodged, set a lock date at the end of the quarter (Financial settings > Lock Dates, Adviser role needed) so nobody changes a lodged period by accident.
Making it routine
Most of this is easier if it doesn't all happen in the last week of October. Two schedules help:
- Every Monday: the unpaid invoices and draft invoices lists and the bank summary, so drafts, duplicates and unreconciled money surface during the quarter, not at the end.
- Quarterly, a few days after quarter end: the Profit and Loss for last quarter against the quarters before, the Trial Balance and the Aged Receivables Summary, sent to whoever prepares the BAS.
Reportpost can send both from Xero as PDF or Excel. Quarterly schedules run in January, April, July and October, which lines up with the BAS quarters. It doesn't prepare or lodge the BAS itself; that stays in Xero or with your agent. You can try the demo with sample data.
Related: Xero month-end checklist, Xero balance sheet reconciliation and Xero year-end checklist.