BAS time cash flow: three ways through

Why does BAS time sneak up on so many businesses?

Because the money looks like yours until it isn’t. GST collected from customers lands in the same account as everything else. PAYG withheld from wages sits there too. For three months it quietly pays suppliers and covers slow weeks. Then the BAS arrives and the cash has gone to work elsewhere.

It’s one of the most common reasons business owners start searching for finance, often before they’ve even framed it as a finance question. The good news is that it’s predictable, so it’s fixable.

When is BAS due?

The ATO’s due dates for quarterly BAS are:

Quarter	Period	Due
1	July – September	28 October
2	October – December	28 February
3	January – March	28 April
4	April – June	28 July

If you report monthly, the 21st of the next month is your date. If you use a registered tax agent, your lodgement dates may differ, so check with them.

Way 1: lodge on time and set up a payment plan

Even if you can’t pay, lodge. It keeps the ATO informed and keeps your options open.

Then look at a payment plan. The ATO says a debt of $200,000 or less can often go onto a plan using the ATO’s online services. A plan works well when:

• The amount is manageable over a few months
• Your income will cover the instalments plus the next BAS
• You’ll stick to it

Keep in mind that interest keeps running on the unpaid balance. The ATO notes that general interest charge incurred in income years starting on or after 1 July 2025 is no longer tax-deductible, which changes the maths compared with a few years ago.

Way 2: fund the BAS with finance

Finance can make sense when a plan doesn’t fit, instalments would clash with the next BAS, or you’d rather replace several debts with one structured repayment:

• Cash flow loan, typically $5,000 to $500,000 sized on turnover. See cash flow loans.
• Line of credit, if the squeeze returns every quarter. See business line of credit.
• Property-secured loan, from $20,000 to $5,000,000, for larger or accumulated tax debts. See tax debt business loans.

Not sure which suits? Send a 60-second enquiry and a specialist will call. Tax debt gets a case-by-case look, and asking won’t touch your credit file.

Way 3: break the cycle

Whichever way you handle this quarter, make next quarter easier. Business.gov.au recommends putting money aside in a separate bank account to pay what you owe on time, including tax and employee costs. Turn that into a routine:

1. Open a dedicated tax account.
2. Every week, transfer the GST component of sales and the PAYG withheld from wages.
3. Don’t touch it until BAS day.

Illustrative example only. A small landscaping company collects GST on every invoice and withholds PAYG from four staff. After a tight October, the owner sets up an automatic weekly transfer of a fixed percentage of deposits into a tax account. By February, the BAS money is sitting there, and the business uses a one-off cash flow loan only to clear the earlier shortfall.

What if it’s more than one quarter?

When BAS debts stack up, the stakes rise. For companies, unpaid PAYG withholding and GST can become personal liabilities for directors under the ATO’s director penalty regime, and the ATO can report certain larger overdue business tax debts to credit bureaus. If you’re carrying more than one quarter, read tax debt business loans and our guide to three ways forward with ATO debt.

Seasonal businesses and BAS

If your BAS falls due in your quiet season, the problem is timing, not profit. Our page on seasonal cash flow gaps shows how to line up a facility with your slow months.

How much should I set aside each week?

It’s the question that turns good intentions into a working habit. There’s no single percentage that suits everyone, but you can work out your own in three steps:

1. Look at your last four BAS. Add up the total GST and PAYG withholding paid across the year.
2. Divide by your total deposits for the same year. That gives a rough percentage of every dollar that really belongs to the ATO.
3. Round it up slightly and transfer that percentage of each week’s deposits into your tax account.

Your accountant can refine the number, especially if your business has large GST credits on purchases, seasonal swings or PAYG instalments for income tax as well. The important thing is that the transfer happens automatically, every week, without needing a decision.

If you’re starting from behind, with a debt from a previous quarter still unpaid, it can feel impossible to set money aside and pay off the old debt at the same time. That’s exactly when a structured solution helps: clear the old debt with an ATO payment plan or a cash flow loan, then start the weekly transfers from a clean slate. For larger accumulated amounts, the tax debt business loans page compares secured and unsecured routes.

Let’s make BAS day boring

The goal is simple: BAS day should be a non-event. Getting there might involve a plan, a loan, a new habit, or all three.

When you enquire, there’s no credit check. A real person reads your situation and calls you back, and your details aren’t sent to a crowd of lenders. Please be accurate on the form about the amount owed, your turnover and any property, so we can match the right approach on the first call. Get help with your BAS.