Business Reporting Burden Slashed
Business Reporting Burden Slashed: Savings to business$795 million per annum.
Business owners: close your eyes for a moment and dream.
Imagine if Australian businesses could use a single, secure, log on and sendfinancial reports to the Australian Taxation Office, the Australian Securitiesand Investments Commission, the Australian Bureau of Statistics, theAustralian Prudential Regulation Authority, and potentially, State RevenueOffices.
What if businesses would no longer need to log in to separate systems to send financial reports to each of these agencies? Well, your dream is about to come true. The Treasurer has launched a long term initiative to cut the red tape confronting business when reporting to government.
The Australian Government’s Standard Business Reporting (SBR) program is set to save businesses time, money and frustration. First priority will be financial reporting forms like Business Activity Statements, Company Income Tax Returns, TFN Declarations and the Quarterly Business Indicators Survey.
The Treasury says:
When SBR financial reporting is fully implemented, businesses will be able touse their accounting/record keeping software to automatically pre-fillgovernment reports such as BAS statements. Businesses will no longer haveto spend hours working out how to translate their own records intogovernment reports. SBR will make e-commerce with the government more viable for business. An automated system also means less errors, saving business time and effort in re-work.
Use of SBR will be voluntary. Small and medium business will stand to benefit, with significant reductions expected in time spent preparing andsubmitting reports, and lower costs for those who assist them (such as taxagents and accountants).
Costs to business are expected to include software upgrades, as well as learning about SBR and seeking professional advice. The Australian Government will work closely with software companies to enhance products already used by business. SBR will also work closely with business and those that support them, such as accountants and tax agents, to make sure that it delivers maximum benefit for the Australian business community.
SBR will be co-ordinated by the Treasury and will bring together participatingagencies to streamline their business reporting needs. A range of pilots andtrials will commence from mid-2008. It is anticipated that the full implementation for financial reporting will be complete in mid-2010, with take-up by business escalating over the subsequent three years. The cost of the programme will be $208.1 million over the next three years. When fully implemented the SBR program will benefits business an estimated$795 million per year on an ongoing basis.
Submitted by
George Ilk, Argosy Partners www.argosypartners.com.au
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