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Edited version of private ruling
Authorisation Number: 1011616645405
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Ruling
Subject: GST and election to report GST annually
Question
Are you eligible to make an election under section 151 of the A New Tax System (Goods and Services Tax) (GST Act) to have annual tax periods?
Answer
No, you are not eligible to make an election to have annual tax periods.
Relevant facts and circumstances
You carry on an enterprise in the installation and maintenance of vending machines.
You have been registered for goods and services tax (GST) for the past few years.
You originally elected to report your GST obligations on a quarterly basis.
You recently wrote to the ATO requesting the Commissioner to change your GST reporting from quarterly to annually effective from a certain period.
The reason for your request to lodge your Activity Statement (AS) annually is that this reporting method will administratively make it easier for you to comply with your taxation obligations.
Your current and projected GST turnovers are respectively in excess of $75 000.You have not made an election to pay GST by instalments and are not part of a GST group.
You do not conduct any part of your enterprise overseas.
Reasons for decision
Division 151 of the A New Tax System (Goods and Services Tax) Act 1999 (GST Act) provides that you may elect to have annual tax periods. The election enables you to lodge GST returns, and pay amounts of GST or receive GST credits, on an annual basis.
However, subsection 151-5(1) of the GST Act states that you are eligible to make an *annual tax period election if:
· you are not *required to be registered; and
· you have not made any election under section 162-15 of the GST Act to pay GST by instalments (other than such an election that is no longer in effect).
You are not required to be registered for GST if you are carrying on an enterprise but your annual GST turnover is less than the registration turnover threshold, which currently is $75 000 (or $150 000 for non-profit organisations).
Section 23-5 of the GST Act provides that you are required to be registered if you are carrying on an enterprise and your annual turnover meets the registration turnover threshold.
You have advised us that you are carrying on an enterprise and your GST turnover is above the registration turnover threshold of $75,000. Accordingly, you are required to be registered for GST.
As you are required to be registered for GST, the requirements of subsection 151-5(1) of the GST Act are therefore not satisfied and you are not eligible to make an annual tax period election.
We further advise that there is no provision in the GST legislation, which gives the Commissioner power to use his discretion to take into consideration an entity's circumstances in making a decision regarding your eligibility to use annual tax periods.
For more information about annual tax periods, please refer to our Fact Sheet : Report your GST once a year. This Fact sheet is available at our website at www.ato.gov.au