Australian GST Installations

Australian GST Installations
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When you select Australia as your country during the Installation of Great Plains, the system will install a US installation of Great Plains with the following additional files.

1) AUERR.CNK - Australian Strings, Messages and Formats

This chunk file patches DYNAMICS.DIC to change terminology and formats to meet Australian Requirements, for example:

Customer Debtor
Vendor Creditor
Zip Code Post Code
Tax Registration Number Australian Business Number (or ABN)
(XXX) XXX-XXXX Ext. XXXX (XXX) XXXX-XXXX Ext. XXX

This chunk is not required to use Great Plains with an Australian Company, but would make it simpler to store phone numbers and enter Tax information into the correct fields.


2) A4.CNK - A4 sized versions of many reports

This chunk file patches DYNAMICS.DIC to alter a number of the Graphic and Text reports which were designed for US Letter paper and do not fit properly on A4 paper.

US Letter is 8.5" (216mm) wide by 11" (279mm) high.
A4 Paper is 8.27" (210mm) wide by 11.69" (297mm) high.

Most Text reports can adjust their font size to fit on A4, but Graphic reports do not adjust. This meant that when printed on A4 paper, the right hand characters were often lost and any vertical lines did not reach the bottom of the page.

This chunk is not required to use Great Plains with an Australian Company, but if you are printing to A4 paper, it would save having to manually modify many reports.


3) BAS_RPRT.CNK - Business Activity Statement (BAS) and Pay As You Go (PAYG) Reporting Tool

This chunk file is an add-on dictionary which adds the ability to report the GST (Goods and Services Tax - Sales Tax) and PAYG (Withholding) in the formats required by the Australian Taxation Office (ATO).

This dictionary adds the ability to collect data for reporting the GST collected and paid and the PAYG Withheld via the Business Activity Statement (BAS) and/or Installment Activity Statement (IAS) on a monthly, quarterly or annual basis. It also links to the Electronic Commerce Interface (ECI) software provided by the ATO for automated lodgment via a secure internet connection.

Please note that the GST reporting is on an Accrual Basis only and that Cash Basis reporting is not supported.

Finally, it adds the ability to print the PAYG Vendor Summary reports at the end of the Financial Year to summarise how much PAYG tax has been withheld during the year from Vendors. This information can be printed as well as lodged electronically via the ECI software.

Another added benefit is that when GST is activated for a company, if the BAS chunk is installed, it will offer to run the Australian Taxation Information Setup wizard which will configure your system for GST quickly, correctly and simply.

This chunk is not required to use Great Plains with an Australian Company, however, it will make the reporting to the ATO much simpler. There are no alternate windows or changes in functionality caused by triggers.


Core Great Plains Functionality
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To activate many of the Australian Taxation features you need to set the following Company Options (Tools >> Setup >> Company >> Company >> Options).

On - Enable GST for Australia (Turning this on is enough to activate the wizard and it will do the rest)
On - Enable Tax Date
Off - Allow Summary-Level Tax Edits
Off - Enable VAT Return

Enabling GST for Australia will activate features such as View Inclusive of Tax, Printing Recipient Created Tax Invoices, BAS Assignments on Tax Details and Tax Invoice Required/Received functionality.

To activate PAYG Withholding, enter the Australia Taxation Office (ATO) as the Withholding Creditor ID and then change the settings on individual creditors with the Withholding Button on the Creditor Maintenance window.


David Musgrave [MSFT]
Senior Development Consultant
MBS Services - Asia Pacific

Microsoft Business Solutions
http://www.microsoft.com/BusinessSolutions

Any views contained within are my personal views and
not necessarily Microsoft Business Solutions policy.
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties,
and confers no rights.