Tax
Australian tax functionality in Business Central: withholding tax (WHT) setup and settlement, vendors without an ABN, GST posting, GST on prepayments, GST settlement reports, and settlement exchange rate adjustment for VAT entries. It answers setup and how-to questions for Australian tax compliance.
Path: Business functionality > Local functionality > Australia > Tax · tier official · system localization · narrative reviewed (checked by Opus)
Overview
This section covers the tax features of the Australian version of Business Central. It has two main areas: withholding tax (WHT) on payments to vendors, and goods and services tax (GST) posting and reporting for the Business Activity Statement and the Australian Taxation Office.
Start with the Australian Tax overview page, which maps the topics. For WHT, read the Withholding Tax description, then set up WHT, WHT posting groups, revenue types and vendors without an ABN. Then calculate and post WHT settlements. For GST, set up GST posting, calculate GST on prepayments, adjust settlement exchange rates for VAT entries, and print the settlement reports.
Key points
- WHT is tax withheld from vendor payments; it needs WHT Business Posting Groups and WHT Product Posting Groups with calculation rules, minimum invoice amount, percentage and revenue type.
- Enabling WHT includes options such as rounding the amount used for WHT calculation, and is used for payments to vendors without an ABN, with the tax remitted to the ATO.
- Vendors without an ABN are set up using the ABN field, the Foreign Vend field and WHT Posting Setup.
- Revenue types are configured for WHT calculations for vendors without an ABN.
- WHT settlement closes open WHT entries and moves amounts to settlement accounts, with rounding adjustments, for tax authority reporting.
- GST posting setup supports reporting GST paid and received in the Business Activity Statement.
- GST on prepayments can be calculated in the Australian version.
- GST settlement reports can be printed for ATO reporting, and settlement exchange rates can be adjusted for VAT entries.
Learn pages
- Adjust Settlement Exchange Rates for VAT Entries (Australia): Use a batch job to settle VAT entries based on the government exchange rate in the Australian version of Business Central.
- Australian Tax overview: This article is an overview of articles that cover how to set up and use the tax functionality in Australia.
- Calculate and Post Withholding Tax Settlements (AU): Learn how to calculate and post the withholding tax (WHT) in the Australian version of Business Central.
- Calculate goods and services tax on prepayments (AU): Learn how to calculate Goods and Services Tax (GST) on partial payments or prepayments, using the total invoice amount rather than the partial payment amount.
- Print goods and service tax settlement reports (AU): Learn how to print a periodic goods and services tax (GST) settlement in the Australian version of Business Central.
- Set up goods and services tax posting [AU]: Learn how to apply goods and services tax (GST) to goods and services for the Australian Taxation Office (ATO).
- Set up revenue types for withholding tax [AU]: Revenue types serve to categorize withholding tax (WHT) entries and are utilized for WHT certificates in the Australian version.
- Set Up Vendors Without ABN for Calculating WHT: In Business Central, Withholding Tax (WHT) is calculated for local vendors without an Australian Business Number (ABN), as required by tax law.
- Set Up Withholding Tax [AU]: Learn how a company sets up withholding tax (WHT) for vendor payments on the General Ledger Setup page.
- Withholding Tax in the Australian version: In the Australian version, Withholding Tax (WHT) is tax withheld by a company when making a payment to a vendor.
Business Central pages and reports
The pages, reports and queries this hub’s Learn pages name (ms.search.form, API reference), joined to the code by exact object id (data/index/docs-objects.json); a page shows the table it runs on.
Learn also names 36 objects with no object page: page/11600, page/11601, page/11602, page/11603, page/11604, page/11605, page/11606, page/11607, page/11608, page/11609, page/11610, page/11611, page/11612, page/11613, page/11614, page/28040, page/28041, page/28042, page/28043, page/28044, page/28071, page/28072, page/28073, page/28074, page/28075, page/28076, page/28077, page/28078, page/28079, page/28080, page/28081, page/28082, page/28164, page/28165, page/28166, page/28167.
Source: Microsoft Learn (CC BY 4.0). Descriptions are Learn’s own.
What Learn documents here 8 of 10 Learn pages
- learnAdjust Settlement Exchange Rates for VAT Entries (Australia)2025-03-25
- learnAustralian Tax overview2025-03-27
- learnCalculate and Post Withholding Tax Settlements (AU)2025-03-25
- learnCalculate goods and services tax on prepayments (AU)2025-03-25
- learnPrint goods and service tax settlement reports (AU)2025-03-26
- learnSet up goods and services tax posting [AU]2025-03-26
- learnSet up revenue types for withholding tax [AU]2025-03-27
- learnSet Up Vendors Without ABN for Calculating WHT2025-03-27