Prepare Your BAS in HPLedger

If your books live in HPLedger, your BAS is mostly already done. The figures are sitting in the ledger. The job is to close the quarter, generate the report, check the labels, and publish a snapshot you can file. Here is the whole run, screen by screen.

One thing up front, because it matters. HPLedger prepares your BAS. It produces the numbers and the workpaper. It does not lodge to the ATO for you. It is beta software and not a registered STP lodger, so you take the published figures and file them through Online services for business or your registered agent. Verify before you lodge.

Figure 1. Get the ledger right, then the BAS Report walks through five steps. HPLedger prepares the BAS; lodgment happens with the ATO.

Step 1: Get the ledger right

Nothing on the BAS is trustworthy until the ledger is. Two things feed it.

Bank. Open Banking and import your bank lines for the quarter. A live bank feed is on the way; for now you import. Reconcile each account so the balance in HPLedger matches the statement.

Payroll. If you pay staff, run payroll so wages and the PAYG you withheld land in the ledger. Those become W1 and W2 on the BAS.

GST coding. Every sale and expense needs the right GST treatment. This is the part worth slowing down for, because the BAS just totals what you coded.

Figure 2. The Banking screen. Import bank lines, then reconcile each account until the balance in HPLedger matches the statement.

Step 2: Open the BAS Report

Go to Reports, then the Tax compliance tab. Under BAS workpapers you get three tools.

BAS Report: the GST summary for the period, with a detailed workpaper export.

GST Reconciliation: compares the BAS GST against the movement in your GL GST account, so the report and the ledger agree.

BAS Lodged History: snapshots of what you published before, with drift detection so you can see if anything moved after the fact.

Open BAS Report to start.

Figure 3. Reports, then Tax compliance. The three BAS workpapers: BAS Report, BAS Lodged History, and GST Reconciliation.

Step 3: Pick the period and generate

Choose the GST quarter first. There are quick-start buttons for the current or previous quarter and for each quarter by name (Jul-Sep, Oct-Dec, Jan-Mar, Apr-Jun). The date fields stay editable for edge cases. Set your basis, accrual or cash, and click Generate.

The report runs on a 5-step lifecycle, shown across the top.

1. Period close. you have picked the quarter.
2. Generate. HPLedger builds the report on your chosen basis.
3. Review. check the labels.
4. Publish. snapshot the BAS.
5. Settle. track the payment.

Figure 4. The BAS Report. Pick the quarter, set the basis, and Generate. The lifecycle runs across the top, with Publish and Settle handled against the ATO.

Step 4: Review the labels

This is the check that saves you. Switch to Review labels and read the numbers the way the ATO will.

1A and 1B, the GST you collected and the GST you are claiming back.

W1 and W2, wages and the PAYG withheld from them, if you run payroll.

Any PAYG instalment.

The GST Reconciliation report is your second pair of eyes here. If the BAS GST and the GL GST account do not move together, something is miscoded upstream. Fix it in the ledger, then regenerate.

Step 5: Publish, then lodge

When the labels are right, publish the snapshot. That freezes the figures and the workpaper for the period, and it is what the Lodged History audits later.

Publishing is not lodging. Take the published figures and file them with the ATO through Online services for business, or hand the workpaper to your registered agent. Then record the outcome so Settle shows the period as paid and closed.

That is the loop, every quarter: close, generate, review, publish, file, settle.

The technical detail

• HPLedger produces BAS workpapers and a publishable GST summary. It is beta software and is not a registered STP-enabled software product, so it does not lodge directly to the ATO. Lodgment is done externally through Online services for business or a registered tax or BAS agent. Verify figures before lodgement.
• Product calculations are cross-referenced to current ATO source publications.
• BAS labels: GST at 1A (collected) and 1B (credits); PAYG withholding at W1 (wages) and W2 (withheld); PAYG instalments at 5A or T7. Governed by the A New Tax System (Goods and Services Tax) Act 1999 and Schedule 1, Taxation Administration Act 1953; activity statements under Division 388.
• Basis: accrual or cash, selected at generation. Reporting cycle (quarterly, monthly, annual) and due dates are set by the ATO by turnover, not by the software.
• Failure to Lodge and General Interest Charge apply to the ATO lodgment, not the HPLedger step. Failure to Lodge is 1 penalty unit per 28 days late or part, capped at 5 for a small business; the penalty unit is $364 from 1 July 2026, so the cap is $1,820. GIC runs on unpaid amounts, compounds daily, about 10.65% a year for the January to March 2026 quarter, and is not deductible for periods from 1 July 2025.

Dated to 2 July 2026. HPLedger is in beta and its screens may change; confirm current behaviour in the product and current rates with the ATO or your registered agent.