View source for Alternate Australian GST setup

The following GST scheme is used by MYOB BussinessBasics.

Since GST is money you owe the government (or visa versa) you create an account called:

*'''Liabilities:GST'''

Then, to make your balance sheet more informative, you create two sub accounts:

*'''Liabilities:GST:Collected'''
*'''Liabilities:GST:Paid'''

Whenever you receive income you record the GST component in '''Liabilities:GST:Collected''' and whenever you make a purchase you record the GST component in '''Liabilities:GST:Paid'''.

At the end of each accounting period if you owe the government money then you record the amount you paid it in '''Liabilities:GST:Paid'''.  Or if the government owes you money then the amount you receive should be recorded in '''Liabilities:GST:Collected'''.

This simple scheme can easily be modified to be the same as the 3-account system.   In this scheme '''Liabilities:GST:Paid''' is exactly the same as in the 3-account system, but '''Liabilities:GST:Collected''' is given the rather confusing name of '''Liabilities:GST:Payable'''.  To move to the 3-account system all you need to do is create a new account called: 

*'''Liabilities:GST:BAS'''

This is where all of the GST money you pay the government is recorded.  In the 3-account system this account is called '''Liabilities:GST:Payments'''.