Australia's National Local Government Newspaper Online

Business Entry Point and The New Tax System

making E commerce accessible for business and government

By Barbara Grundy*

In July, legislation for A New Tax System (ANTS) Act 1999 passed into law. One of the objectives of ANTS is to make it easier for business to conduct dealings with government by establishing a system for registering businesses or 'enterprises', and issuing them with unique identifying numbers &endash; an Australian Business Number, or ABN.

The ANTS Act applies to government entities as well as business and although it will not be compulsory to register for an ABN, it will be necessary to have an ABN in order to lodge GST returns. So all Councils are likely to require an ABN.

Under the Act, businesses, and government entities, will first have to be registered with the Australian Business Register (ABR) in order to be given an ABN. Registrations for both the ABR and the ABN will be available online from November through Business Entry Point (www.business.gov.au).

Essentially, the ABR will hold basic information on each business registered, including name and address details. But if this information is already held by different government agencies at all levels of government why do we need yet another business database?

The answer lies in the unique nature of the ABN. Basic essential business information is held in many different places, and identified by many different numbers &endash; identifiers such as the Australian Company Number, Tax File Numbers and many other non unique identifiers that are held by Commonwealth, State, Territory and Local Governments.

What the ABN and ABR offer is to have just one number replace all these as a unique identifying business number, held in a single business register that is accessible by all government agencies.

Parallel to the introduction of ANTS, is the Federal Government's push to move both Australian businesses and government agencies online, taking advantage of the economic benefits that electronic commerce can offer.

To help businesses and government adopt electronic commerce as a business tool, the ANTS legislation makes provision for businesses to register with the ABR and to apply for an ABN electronically. Business Entry Point will provide this facility as well as a secure platform for businesses to browse, verify and update the information held about them in the Register.

The Act also prescribes that if information is submitted electronically to the ABR, then it must be signed electronically. To enable electronic lodgement and signing of information, the Australian Taxation Office will issue a digital certificate to entities holding an ABN that will allow businesses and government to conduct business securely over the Internet. The digital certificates will be provided to businesses upon application and will enable rigorous online authentication and secure communication.

The logical extension for government bodies looking to upgrade their existing electronic services is to offer business clients the ability to make payments or apply for licences and permits via those Internet sites. Business Entry Point has set up a standing offer panel to help government agencies adopt the most effective systems for receiving payments over the Internet.

Any government body, including local Councils, will be able to use these panelists to help implement the best solution for their specific requirements. Information about the Panel is available at www.about.business.gov.au/ipp/index.htm.

The establishment of the ABR, and the issuing of the ABN and the digital certificates are essential building blocks for the progression to electronic commerce between government and business, as well as between businesses. Business Entry Point will be the tool by which both business and government can more easily adopt electronic business practices.

Further information about ANTS, including the ABR and ABN is available at www.taxreform.ato.gov.au.

* Barbara Grundy is Marketing Officer with the Business Entry Point Branch.

Click here to visit the Business Entry Point web site

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