[clm1982]

Hi All

My husband wants to start a small home business (as well as working fulltime elsewhere) and wants to know the ins and outs of reporting to ATO etc.

He has just come up with a new idea and has patent that idea and had the product made but need to know if there is someone we can speak to about the financial side of things. Would an accountant know? What sort of person do we need to speak too?

[PrincessPeach]

Your accountant should be able to help but the basics:

To start with he needs to register for an ABN.

You do that through www.abr.business.gov.au - it's free & as long as you provide your Tax File Number you should get one straight away.

Then just keep a tally of all his income & expenses - manual books are just as good as the expensive accounting programs & even excel is a great program.

You don't need to register for GST until your income goes over $75,000 & if possible stay out of the GST system to begin with. It will give you time to get your head around the basic paperwork you have to keep.

The income & expenses are all reported in his Individual tax return for the year. Generally any losses cannot be offset agains this salary & wage income though.