This business is not my day job and it's only ever supposed to be a very simple and easy supplement to my primary employment. I have my day job as an employee and I operate this side business as a sole trader. I have well-kept records, managed using spreadsheets. I like the simplicity and also, accounting software subscription prices just keep going up and up.
I sell a product for a specific model of car. That's all I do. It's now at the point where an estimated half of all owners of these cars in Australia already have my product and most of the other half aren't interested. The trend of the sales is that they are declining and I am 100% OK with this. It has been a handy once-off boost for me and I'm enjoying having some of my spare time back.
The catch: I did release an add-on for my product around 10 months ago, which lead to a temporary spike in sales. I knew they would decline again, and they have, so I did not register for GST because I factored the inevitable decline into my projected turnover and that was below $75k. Sales didn't quite decline as much as I expected and I have now exceeded $75k in a given 12 month period.
Referring to this article: https://www.ato.gov.au/businesses-and-organisations/gst-excise-and-indirect-taxes/gst/registering-for-gst
Even if your current GST turnover is at or above the threshold, you don't have to register for GST if your projected GST turnover will be less than the threshold.
That's rather vague. I am certain my sales are declining. The average monthly turnover of the 4 months from November to February is $5200 for example. That trend would mean a $62,000 annual turnover. I do have random occasional spikes but the overall trend is less than $75k/year.
Does somebody in my situation absolutely have to register for GST, given that my sales are declining? The section I quoted from that article says no but having said that, I do not want to be hassled by the ATO if I submit my tax return showing a turnover of more than $75,000. Is submitting ONE tax return as a sole trader showing a turnover of more than $75,000 an immediate red flag? Given the quote above from the article linked above, surely the answer should be no!
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