# ATO: advice on what happens if you haven’t lodged an activity statement for a long time



## Jack Malarkey (Jan 11, 2016)

*Advice from the Australian Taxation Office's Newsroom (https://www.ato.gov.au/Newsroom/smallbusiness/General/Haven-t-lodged-in-a-while-/?sbnews20180314):*

*Haven't lodged in a while?*










*5 March 2018*

If you are a business that hasn't lodged an activity statement or reported income on the business labels on your tax return for more than two years, your ABN may be cancelled.

To maintain accurate data, the Australian Business Register (ABR) regularly checks ABN records and automatically cancels them if they appear to be inactive. The next check is due at the end of March.

To avoid cancellation, you need to ensure your lodgments are up to date.

Regardless of income, you need to lodge the following:


individual tax return including the supplementary section
business and professional items schedule for individuals.
If your circumstances have changed, you should consider whether you need to cancel your ABN. If your ABN is cancelled you are still required to lodge outstanding tax returns and activity statements.

It is important to keep your ABN details up to date so that other businesses can access and verify your information, for example, that you are operating a business or the status of your GST registration.

If you decide to start running your business again, reapplying is easy. Go to abr.gov.au/ABN-apply.

Remember, registered tax agents and BAS agents can help you with tax advice.

*Find out about:*


Why was my ABN cancelled?External Link
Integrity focus areasExternal Link
Income tax return
Update your ABN detailsExternal Link
ABN Lookup


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