Introducing the GST AI Agent: Confidence in Compliance

Learn how QuickBooks AI agents** simplify BAS lodgement and reconciliation, helping your firm deliver accurate, compliant, and timely results for clients.

Every accountant knows that the final review before lodging a Business Activity Statement (BAS) is a high-stakes, time-consuming check. Manually cross-referencing GST figures against the Profit & Loss statement to find those small, crucial discrepancies can take hours, draining capacity from advisory work. That’s where the QuickBooks GST AI Agent (BETA) comes in.

Built specifically for the Australian market and its compliance needs, the GST AI Agent uses AI to automate this tedious reconciliation step. By performing pre-lodgement checks, it helps you identify and resolve differences between your client's books and their BAS report, all while keeping you in full control.

Let’s dive into what the GST AI Agent does and how it can empower your firm to Lodge BAS with confidence.

What is the GST AI Agent?

The GST AI Agent (BETA^) is your dedicated AI agent for GST compliance. Available on all QuickBooks plans (Simple Start, Essentials, Plus, and Advanced), it simplifies the critical pre-lodgement review process, helping to ensure activity statements for the ATO are accurate and ready to file. It works proactively to safeguard your clients' compliance and your firm's reputation.

Here’s what it does:

1. AI-Powered Pre-Lodgement Checks:

• Identify Discrepancies: The agent automatically identifies transactions or reporting methods that cause differences between your client’s P&L statement income and their GST reportable income.
• Flag Inconsistencies: It flags potential anomalies like inconsistent GST codes, missing transactions, or incorrect classifications that might affect your BAS figures.

2. Root-Cause Analysis and Actionable Guidance:

• Clear Explanations: When a difference is found, the agent provides a clear, detailed explanation of the root cause, such as a transaction incorrectly marked as BAS Excluded when it should have included GST.
• Recommendations for Correction: It suggests actionable recommendations on how to address the issue, empowering you to make corrections efficiently before finalising the lodgement.

How Does It Benefit Your Advisory Practice?

The GST AI Agent transforms a high-risk, time-intensive compliance task into an efficient, controlled process, allowing you to focus on high-value client work.

1. Lodge BAS with Confidence and Accuracy 

By providing pre-lodgement checks and a transparent root-cause analysis, the Agent helps you proactively spot and correct errors that could lead to discrepancies or ATO queries. This reduces the time spent on tedious manual reconciliation and ensures a higher level of accuracy and compliance across your client base.

2. Increase Firm Efficiency and Capacity 

Automating the cross-referencing of GST reports against the P&L drastically cuts down on hours spent searching for discrepancies. This newfound efficiency means your team can handle more clients, improve turnaround times for BAS lodgement, and dedicate saved time to more profitable advisory services.

3. Strengthen Your Role as a Trusted Advisor 

By ensuring seamless compliance and timely lodgement, you strengthen client trust. The Agent allows you to quickly pinpoint the cause of issues and explain them to your client simply, further establishing your expertise and deepening the client relationship.

The GST AI Agent isn’t just a new feature. It’s a commitment to simplifying one of the most stressful compliance tasks for Australian accountants. It helps you deliver more accurate books, more confident compliance, and more efficient service to your clients. Focus on strategy, not searching for GST discrepancies.

**Feature availability varies by product. While available in all QuickBooks supported languages, the AI agent’s output will be English only at launch. We recommend you review all outputs carefully. This information is intended to outline our general product direction, but represents no obligation and should not be relied on in making a purchasing decision. Additional terms, conditions and fees may apply. Product offers, features, and functionality are subject to change without notice. 

^[Beta] has limited availability and is subject to change. Features may be more broadly available soon.