To lodge the Work Related Expenses Schedule (D1 to D5), click on the ‘Other’ tab and then mark the 'Lodge Work-Related Expenses Schedule' checkbox.

Please note, the ATO has restricted the maximum character length of the schedule to 30 characters, starting from 2019 tax return.

After a certain period, you will not be able to lodge BAS forms for a previous year using that year’s module (i.e. GA, GB, GI and GR forms). To lodge a previous year’s BAS form, create the form in a year that has PLS Activity Statement menu.

1. Change the year period in the top right-hand corner of Assistant. Starting from 2014 and onwards will have the PLS Activity Statement.
2. Select the client.
3. Click on the down arrow next to the 'New' button and select 'PLS Activity Statement' and then the Activity Statement form required. 
4. Enter the reporting period (located on the top right-hand corner of the form).
5. Enter the ABN branch number, if required
6. Go to 'Tools > Load values from PLS'. This will force the software to prefill the form for the reporting period.

Please note, the ATO has removed 1H from the electronic BAS form. They have advised tax agents will need to lodge the form on the tax agent portal to report for the GST instalments

You must have a client record present before you can create an Activity Statement or other forms for the client.

1. Click on the down arrow next to the 'New' button.
2. Select 'PLS Activity Statement'
3. Select the desired form.

If this occurs when you are trying to open Ledger:

1. Close the Ledger.
2. Select 'Tools > Repair ledger files'.
3. Try to re-open the Ledger.

If this occurs when you are trying to open a tax form:

1. Close Software Assistant.
2. Open 'Verify and backup data' via the Windows Start Menu
3. Tick only the first three boxes.
4. Click 'Proceed'.
5. Re-open Software Assistant.

There are two or more records created with the same client’s TFN. The records have to be merged or deleted.

To delete a redundant client record:

1. Untick the 'Active' checkbox on left-hand-side navigator.
2. Click on TFN column header to sort clients by TFN.
3. Locate client by TFN and find below another client record with the same TFN.
4. Delete the redundant client by selecting the client record and then selecting 'File | Delete client'.

To merge client records A and B:

1. Export client A record to the file by right-clicking on the client’s record and selecting 'Export client to file (with docs)' menu.
2. Delete client A's record by selecting 'File | Delete client'.
3. Right-click on client B's record and select 'Change client code to…'
4. Change client B's code to client A's code.
5. Import client A from the export file by selecting 'File | Import data | Import exported clients'.
6. Mark the records you wish to import (merge) in to client A (ex B).

You may be missing certain Software Assistant help files, or your keyboard is configured incorrectly.

1. If you have a Microsoft keyboard, make sure the ‘F-Lock’ key is turned ‘OFF’. Try to re-open the help files.
2. If you still cannot access the help files, navigate to 'C:\Program Files (x86)\Software Assistant\Assistant\Help'.
3. Check to see whether you have help files for the year you are working on. These will be indicated by the return name followed by the year. E.g. ITR20XX, FTR20XX, Forms20XX.
4. If you do not have these files, please re-install Software Assistant or download the full-install from our website.

In order to lodge an Individual amendment form, you must have already lodged the original form and it must be in an ‘Accepted’ state.

1. Open the original tax return.
2. Make sure the status is marked as ‘Accepted’.
3. Click on the arrow next to the ‘New’ button.
4. Select ‘Tax forms’ and then ‘AR – Amend return or activity statement’ for 2011 and newer returns or ‘AI – Amendment of individual return’ for 2010 and earlier returns.
5. Complete the amendment details, save and lodge the amendment return.

Please restart your machine and retry. If the problem persists, please contact support for assistance.

Bank feeds are available at $22 per bank account annually with no ongoing fees or restrictions on number of downloaded transactions.

Order bank feeds on our order form. Bank feeds management will be added to your user portal, under the registrations section.

Use bank feeds management to register bank details. Net banking credentials will be required. Check with your client that the net banking account has an SMS code confirmation or any other security measure to prevent unauthorized transactions before registering the net banking details.

The bank feeds ID will be generated for each registered bank account and all available transactions will be downloaded to your user portal (usually three months of transactions). We use third-party services from Yodlee to retrieve the transactions.

The transactions will be refreshed automatically every night and stored in your user portal.

1. Open ledger in Ledger Assistant and edit the appropriate bank account.
2. Enter the bank feeds ID as generated in the user portal to associate the ledger account with the bank feeds connection.
3. Select 'File > Import data > Import bank feeds' when ready to download bank transactions.
4. Select the bank account from the accounts associated with the bank feeds and a period for which you wish to retrieve transactions.

Transactions will be imported to the transaction import screen where Rules can be used to automatically allocate the account numbers to the transactions based on keywords in the transaction description, date, reference and other criteria.

Training videos:

How to use Bank Feeds as a Tax Agent, click here.

How to use Bank Feeds as a client, click here.

Negative “Interest bearing liability” accounts (accounts 3200 – 3299) will be displayed as assets in the financial report. To force an account to stay in liability section:

1. Select the account from the Accounts screen
2. Click on the edit icon on the left
3. Tick the 'Persistent category' checkbox.