@dazzledayz wrote:
This is very straight forward and not too hard to do.
If handled correctly your Centrelink payments should not be unduly impacted:
1. get an ABN which costs you nothing.
2. Tell Centrelink what you are doing and they will ask you to provide them with a Profit and Loss statement on a monthly basis.
3. Set up a spreadsheet to track ALL your business inputs and income and this will allow you to print out a monthly P&L easily.
(you should probably have a chat with an accountant if you don't understand the allowable tax deductions).
4. After 6 months or a year of doing this Centrelink will no longer require the monthly P&L's but will adjust your payments based on your taxable income for the fin year (as assessed by the ATO).
This is a simplified outline but it covers the main points - the important thing is to have a chat with Centrelink and they will actually try to be helpful.
If you are on unemployment benefits you may actually have your job search requirements reduced if your business is returning some profit and you should point this out to your employment agency.
One of my sisters works for Centrelink and sees quite a bit of this so they are quite used to it and you don't have to get involved with NEIS or similar if you don't wish to though they can refer you to courses in small business, basic bookkeeping etc.
Bear in mind the fact that eBay are required to remit data to the ATO which is crossmatched with Centrelink.
Am I missing something ? Why the ABN. Does Centrelink require this ??? It may not cost anything to start with, but once you have one you are required to remit 10% of every sale to the ATO as GST, wether you have increased your prices to cover this expense or not. If you dont sell above the GST threshold ( $75,000 TO per annum from memory ) you are not required to apply for an ABN or to pay GST to the ATO, not to mention the paper work needed for compliance. The ATO also get very antsy if you are a day late with any lodgements, threatening fines and at times, changing your reporting requirements to a more onerous system. ( I had this happen once when a payment had been made on time, but paperwork was a week late )
The only benefit of an ABN is that you can claim back the GST paid on outgoings and stock ( if purchased in OZ. from a GST registered supplier ) . Its not much help if your suppliers are from OS. or you buy from small unregistered businesses or private sellers. Some business customers also require suppliers to be registered for GST purposes, but if you sell to private customers it is not likely to be a problem.
I would strongly reccommend you wait untill you are legally required, to apply for an ABN unless there is some other compelling reason to do so. Its just another large expense if your profit margins are high and makes additional paperwork responsabilities. Remember the KISS principle. ( Keep things simple stupid )
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