Prepare a monthly activity statement for review

What is going on

Tarrant Freight Services is a company with 58 staff and a fleet of prime movers that lodges monthly activity statements and claims fuel tax credits. The August statement, job JB-26-2198, must be reviewed by the Tax Manager on Wednesday and lodged by 21 September. The bank is reconciled but the GST report shows a refund of 18,400 dollars, far higher than usual, the fuel tax credit calculation still uses the previous rate, a new prime mover was purchased in August with GST on the invoice, and wages in the accounting system do not match the single touch payroll figures by a few hundred dollars. The client must approve the statement through the portal before lodgement.

Your brief

Prepare the August activity statement for Tarrant Freight Services under the Activity Statement Preparation and Lodgement Procedure, with a workpaper that shows how every label was calculated, the GST coding reviewed, fuel tax credits recalculated at the current rate and the wages difference resolved, ready for the registered agent's review and client approval.

Work through it

You do not need to do it all. Doing a few of these will show you what the work is like. Your ticks and notes stay on this device.

• Read the Activity Statement Preparation and Lodgement Procedure and confirm from the Client Register that the engagement covers monthly activity statements and fuel tax credits.
• Check the reconciliations required before preparation: GST control accounts against the GST report and wages and withholding against the single touch payroll report.
• Review the GST coding of transactions over 1,000 dollars and the categories prone to error, and identify why the refund is unusually high this month.
• Recalculate the fuel tax credits for August using the current rate for the eligible litres and record the calculation on the workpaper.
• Resolve the difference between accounting system wages and the single touch payroll figures and document the cause.
• Build the workpaper showing each label, the source figures and any adjustment, and prepare a plain-language summary for the client's approval.
• Update job JB-26-2198 to In review in the Jobs and Lodgement Tracker with a note listing the items that need the Tax Manager's attention.

What someone in this role would produce

• Pre-preparation reconciliation checklist
• Activity statement workpaper with label calculations
• Fuel tax credit calculation
• Client approval summary and updated tracker entry