Doug, I have been handling GST in GnuCash for more that 10 years with the ability to manually define a tax table at least that long. It has been possible to define accounts to collect GST collected and GST input tax on purchases for all that time. Not fully automatic, not specific to AUS GST, and no reports but it wasn't too hard to extract the quantities from my accounts required for a BAS statement.
Most of the discussion about setting this up was way back in the archives of the mailing list and is searchable (as early or earlier than 2010 when I began using GnuCash and preparing BAS statements using it). The more recent developments Christopher Lam mentions are more on the reporting side. As the ATO moves towards direct electronic submission, the requirements are also becoming a bit more rigid but so far not impossible. Agreed on the offset financial year. I have not really found a problem just using the custom settings in the preferences, apart from remembering to do it, but having it as the default option for a book would be nice and is planned for the next major release. The guide also has a section on setting it up under the Business features. It discusses specifically a sales tax setup but this is easily adopted for GST type taxes. The management of changes and mistakes is no problem at all. In most cases you can simply edit the transaction involved particularly if you do not formally close your accounts to equity which is not absolutely necessary given GnuCash's reporting system which calculates the necessary reports without having to use the formal procedure. The formal closure is also available if you really need to use it. If any accounts involved have been reconciled you will obviously need to re-reconcile them. If you are sure the errors are not compounded you can also use an adjustment transaction suitably notated to correct errors, at least within the same accounting period. Modifying transactions outside the current period will of necessity change the results of reports from previous accounting periods which can be a problem if you have submitted them for tax etc. Tthey can easily be regenerated and most tax and reporting authorities will generally allow you to amend previous lodgements, often, but not always without penalty, if you point it out to them and it is a genuine mistake. You can generate arbitrary adjustment transactions as needed. I admit you probably have to have some accounting knowledge to define the correct target accounts for adjusting and correcting transactions though. What specific problems have you had with exporting CSV? It is generally a follow your nose with the selection of the options. Re-importing data exported generally works but problems have been reported with foreign currency and stock transactions. Using the default GnuCash Export format data should be readily importable. I have a self imposed project to update and try to improve the documentation for the importers (mainly CSV, OFX and the matching process to existing accounts and transfer accounts) so I would be interested in any problems you have encountered, particularly from the perspective of a new user. David Cousens ----- David Cousens -- Sent from: http://gnucash.1415818.n4.nabble.com/GnuCash-User-f1415819.html _______________________________________________ gnucash-user mailing list [email protected] To update your subscription preferences or to unsubscribe: https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user If you are using Nabble or Gmane, please see https://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/Mailing_Lists for more information. ----- Please remember to CC this list on all your replies. You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All.
