Australia / Guides / Doing your own books in Australia: when DIY works
Australia · guideDoing your own books in Australia: when DIY works
The short answer
A business owner can legally do their own bookkeeping in Australia — recording transactions, reconciling bank accounts, and running payroll is not restricted to any licensed profession, and nothing in the Tax Agent Services Act 2009 (TASA) requires a business to pay anyone to keep its own books. Cloud software with live bank feeds and Single Touch Payroll (STP) has made accurate DIY realistic in a way it was not a decade ago. What DIY does not extend to is ascertaining or advising on a BAS-related liability for a fee, which under s.90-10 of TASA is a "BAS service" reserved for someone registered with the Tax Practitioners Board — so a sole trader assessing their own GST is fine, but paying an unregistered person to work out what is owed is not. Four fixed points in the calendar are where DIY quietly stops being adequate: the $75,000 GST registration threshold, the payroll and STP obligations that start with the first employee, the Payday Super contribution deadline from 1 July 2026, and the 30 June close.
Key facts — verified dates on each
What the law actually restricts, and what it leaves alone
TASA 2009 licenses a profession; it does not impose an obligation on businesses. A sole trader or company director is free to code every transaction, reconcile every bank account, run their own payroll, and lodge their own income tax return without engaging anyone. Bookkeeping in the ordinary sense — recording what happened, categorising it, keeping the ledger current — sits entirely on the unrestricted side of that line.
The restriction sits on the provider side and only bites once money changes hands for specific work. Section 90-10 defines a "BAS service" as ascertaining, or advising about, an entity's liabilities, obligations or entitlements under a BAS provision, or representing the entity to the Commissioner about one, where the entity can reasonably be expected to rely on it. Providing that for a fee without TPB registration is a civil penalty offence under s.50-5 — but it does not touch a business owner doing the identical calculation for their own affairs.
Why software changed what DIY can actually handle
The practical ceiling on DIY bookkeeping used to be manual data entry and manual payroll calculation, both of which scale badly and fail quietly. Bank-fed cloud accounting software removed most of the transcription error that used to accumulate over a year, and Single Touch Payroll — mandatory reporting of pay, tax withheld and super to the ATO at the same time wages are paid — replaced a once-a-year payment-summary scramble with a per-pay-run obligation the software calculates and transmits directly.
That shift moved real work that used to require a professional into something a diligent owner can run correctly: reconciled accounts, STP-compliant pay runs, a running GST position instead of a year-end reconstruction. It did not remove the underlying obligations — reporting is still due at each payday regardless of who presses the button, and a software-generated number is not the same as a checked one if the coding behind it was wrong.
Inflection point one: the GST registration threshold
A business must register for GST once its GST turnover reaches $75,000 (a non-profit organisation's threshold is $150,000), tested against both current turnover (the trailing 12 months) and projected turnover (the coming 12 months) — so registration can be required before $75,000 has actually been invoiced, on a reasonable expectation of reaching it. Once that point is reached or expected, registration is due within 21 days.
DIY handles the recording side of this cleanly: revenue coded consistently, input-taxed and overseas sales separated out, a running turnover total instead of a number reconstructed from twelve months of bank statements. The judgment call for a business sitting near the line — whether projected turnover is reasonably expected to hit $75,000 — is exactly the kind of ascertaining TASA reserves for a registered agent when done for a fee on someone else's behalf, which is why most owners near the threshold use a registered tax or BAS agent as a checkpoint rather than self-assessing it alone.
Inflection point two: payroll, STP, and Payday Super
The day a business hires its first employee, DIY takes on obligations that did not exist before: PAYG withholding, superannuation guarantee (SG) at the current 12% rate, and STP reporting each payday. Software handles the mechanics — calculating withholding, generating the STP file, tracking SG accrual — but the obligations themselves do not shrink because a tool is doing the arithmetic.
From 1 July 2026, the payment clock tightened: Payday Super replaced the old quarterly SG cycle, so contributions must reach the employee's fund within 7 business days of payday, not 28 days after quarter end. Missing that window triggers the super guarantee charge, non-deductible and assessed directly by the ATO. A business running payroll DIY through this changeover needs software that actually pays super on the new schedule, since calculating the right figure without paying it on time still misses the deadline — that gap is where Payday Super turns bookkeeping into a cash-flow problem.
- PAYG withholding and STP reporting: due at each payday, software-calculated but the employer's obligation regardless.
- Super guarantee: 12% of qualifying earnings, and from 1 July 2026 must reach the fund within 7 business days of payday (Payday Super), not 28 days after quarter end.
- STP finalisation at year-end is a separate deadline from the per-pay-run reporting and is where a year of small payroll errors becomes visible all at once.
Inflection point three: the 30 June close
Nothing about the financial year end is unique to DIY bookkeeping — every business faces it — but 30 June is where the accumulated quality of a year's worth of DIY entries either compresses into a straightforward close or turns into a reconstruction project. Unreconciled accounts, misclassified transactions, and GST coded inconsistently across twelve months do not surface as problems day to day; they surface all at once at year end, when income tax and STP finalisation both depend on the ledger being right.
Records generally need to be kept for five years from when they were prepared or the transaction they relate to was completed, whichever is later. That is the ATO's own rule for tax and business records, including payroll records — a separate law, the Fair Work Act 2009, additionally requires 7 years' retention for employee records, so the longer figure some owners have heard is a workplace-law obligation layered on top of the tax rule, not the tax rule itself. A DIY setup that keeps that trail intact and reconciled as it goes reaches 30 June with a close that is mostly confirmation; one that does not reaches 30 June with a backlog — the point at which many owners bring in outside help, not because DIY was never viable but because a year of small gaps compounds faster than a single close can absorb.
Where the registered agent enters
The consistent boundary across all three inflection points is the one TASA draws generally: recording, reconciling, coding to instructions already given, and running payroll through compliant software is not a BAS service and can be done by the business itself or an unregistered bookkeeper. Ascertaining what is actually owed — the GST registration call, the correct BAS position for a quarter, representing the business to the ATO — is BAS-service work under s.90-10, and doing it for a fee requires TPB registration, checkable on its public register.
CapEasy's Australian service sits on the recording side of that line: bookkeeping, reconciliation, and payroll processing done by a named team member using CapEasy's AI-assisted systems, not lodgment or BAS assessment. A business whose books need ascertaining, advising, or lodgment needs a TPB-registered BAS or tax agent for that specific work, separately from whoever keeps the books current day to day.
The figures, and when we checked them
These numbers change by year or by notification. Each one shows the date we last verified it against the source — if that date looks old, check the source before relying on it.
Questions on this
Is it legal to do your own bookkeeping in Australia?
Yes. Recording transactions, reconciling bank accounts, and running payroll are not restricted to any licensed profession. TASA 2009 regulates who may be paid to ascertain or advise on a BAS liability for someone else — it does not require a business to outsource its own recordkeeping.
Do I need a bookkeeper or BAS agent by law?
No law requires a business to engage either. A business owner can prepare their own books and lodge their own BAS. The registration requirement in TASA applies to a person providing BAS-service work for a fee to someone else, not to a business acting for itself.
What software actually makes DIY bookkeeping realistic?
Cloud accounting software with live bank feeds removes most manual transcription, and Single Touch Payroll (STP) reports pay, withholding and super to the ATO at each payday automatically. Neither removes the underlying obligation — the employer remains responsible for the figures being correct and on time.
At what turnover do I have to register for GST?
$75,000 of GST turnover for most businesses ($150,000 for a non-profit), tested against both the last 12 months and the projected next 12 months. Registration is due within 21 days of reaching or reasonably expecting to reach that figure.
Can I run my own payroll without a registered BAS agent?
Yes — processing payroll, calculating PAYG withholding through compliant software, and meeting STP reporting deadlines is not a BAS service. It becomes BAS-service work only if someone is being paid to ascertain a BAS-related liability or represent the business to the ATO.
What is Payday Super and does it change what I can do myself?
From 1 July 2026, Payday Super requires super guarantee contributions to reach an employee's fund within 7 business days of payday, replacing the previous 28-days-after-quarter-end cycle. It does not change what DIY is legally permitted to do — it tightens the payment window, so DIY payroll needs software that actually pays super on the new schedule rather than only calculating the figure correctly.
What happens at 30 June if my books have been DIY all year?
A year of unreconciled accounts or inconsistent GST coding surfaces all at once at 30 June, when income tax and STP finalisation both depend on the ledger being accurate. Records kept reconciled as the year goes make the close mostly confirmation rather than reconstruction.
When does DIY bookkeeping cross into needing a registered BAS or tax agent?
The moment the work stops being recording and starts being ascertaining or advising — working out what GST or another BAS-related liability is actually owed, or representing the business to the ATO. Under s.90-10 of TASA, that is a BAS service, and doing it for a fee requires TPB registration.
Can I check whether someone doing BAS work for my business is actually registered?
Yes. The Tax Practitioners Board maintains a public register searchable by legal name, business name, or registration number, showing current status and any conditions or sanctions on record.
What does CapEasy do around DIY bookkeeping in Australia?
CapEasy provides Australian bookkeeping — coding transactions, reconciling accounts, and processing payroll — done by a named team member using CapEasy's AI-assisted systems, the recording side of the line described above. CapEasy does not ascertain a client's GST or BAS liability, does not advise on a BAS position, and does not lodge with the ATO; that work sits with the client's registered BAS agent or tax agent.
Primary sources
- business.gov.au — Register for goods and services tax (GST)
- Australian Taxation Office — Payday Super for employers
- Federal Register of Legislation — Tax Agent Services Act 2009, s.90-10 (Meaning of BAS service) and s.50-5 (Civil penalty)
- Australian Taxation Office — Overview of record-keeping rules for business
- Federal Register of Legislation — Fair Work Act 2009, s.535 (Employer obligations in relation to employee records)
Last reviewed 2026-08-14. Statutes and schedules change — the sources above are authoritative, this page is orientation.
Want this handled rather than read about?
A scoping call decides what fits. We are a consulting firm — lodgments and agent work run through registered BAS and tax agents. Whoever signs and files stays yours.