Overdue BAS for musicians: gig fees, APRA royalties and the band

Let 2Fin do the boring bits

Catching up is mostly sorting, and sorting is the part 2Fin takes off you. Bring in two years of bank statements at once — CSV, Excel or PDF, several files in one go — and Fin reads every line; in testing, 1,891 transactions came in in about a second on a desktop computer. Each transaction is categorised with its GST or VAT worked out, every overdue quarter is listed with its due date, and Fill all periods saves a draft of each one with a single press.

What is left for you is the decisions, not the data entry. Purchases are grouped by payee — the music shop, the rehearsal room, the software — so you answer each payee once and the answer covers every quarter. Fin’s confident guesses (80% sure or more) can be accepted in one tap and undone one by one, and a payee can become a rule so the next import sorts itself. Every figure opens to the transactions inside it, and the finished statements export for you or your agent to check and lodge.

Gig fees

Once you are registered, a gig fee is a taxable sale: one-eleventh of what you are paid is GST to report in 1A, and a venue or promoter can ask you for a tax invoice for anything over $82.50. Every fee counts toward the $75,000 threshold, cash on the night included. In a catch-up, match each gig to the payment that arrived, which is often weeks later.

APRA AMCOS royalties

APRA AMCOS treats your royalties as payment for rights you grant it, and issues a recipient-created tax invoice (RCTI) for them. It will only add GST to your royalties once you have returned the RCTI agreement, on paper or in the Writer Portal under your business details. If you registered for GST during the years you are catching up, check when the agreement was returned: royalties before then were paid without GST. Tell APRA AMCOS if you ever cancel your registration.

Without an ABN, APRA AMCOS withholds 47% from royalty payments over $500 (APRA) or $75 (AMCOS); you claim it back in your tax return. Writer members need an individual (sole trader) ABN.

The band, and your own work

A band run as a partnership has its own tax file number and ABN, registers for GST at $75,000 of its own turnover, and lodges its own BAS. Its members cannot register for the band’s enterprise themselves, but can register for one they run separately, such as solo or session work. Each member reports their share of the band’s net income, equally unless a written agreement says otherwise. This is general information. Check what applies to you with a registered tax or BAS agent, or with the tax office.

Streaming income, losses and averaging

For income from subscribers through an overseas platform, the ATO’s worked example splits GST-free offshore sales from taxable Australian ones by subscriber location, and treats them all as taxable when the locations cannot be found. On income tax, a loss from performing can be used in the year it happens if your other income is under $40,000, and performers can average their income across years. In the UK, HMRC’s Flat Rate Scheme list has no entry for musicians, so check with HMRC or your agent which sector applies.