myTax 2018 Net income or loss from business

Complete Net income or loss from business if you derived income or incurred a loss from any business. This section covers:

• income from being a sole trader
• income or a loss from a primary production business
• income under a pay as you go (PAYG) voluntary agreement
• income from which an amount was withheld because you did not quote your Australian business number (ABN)
• income you derived as a foreign resident from which an amount was withheld because it was subject to foreign resident withholding
• income of an independent contractor working under a labour hire arrangement
• income from the following specified payments  
  • payment for tutorial services provided under the Indigenous Student Success Programme (formerly known as the Indigenous Tutorial Assistance Scheme) of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet
  • payment for translation and interpretation services provided for the Translating and Interpreting Service National of the Department of Immigration and Border Protection
  • income as a performing artist in a promotional activity
• any other business income.

A specified payment is a payment specified in tax law for PAYG withholding purposes.

Net income or loss from business consists of three sections:

• Net primary production
• Net non-primary production
• Other business and professional items

The income and expenses to be included in Net primary production and Net non-primary production are amounts derived from your accounting system or financial statements, except for the following which are to be shown at tax values:

• the values of opening and closing stock, and
• depreciation expenses for small business entities choosing to use the simplified depreciation rules.

The income and expense amounts included in this section should form part of your profit and loss statement and are the basis for calculating your net profit or loss. You should deal with any adjustments to these amounts for tax purposes at Primary production – Business reconciliation items and Non-primary production – Business reconciliation items.

Former STS taxpayers

If you are eligible and are continuing to use the STS accounting method, you must complete the income and expenses sections using the STS accounting method, see Former simplified tax system (STS) taxpayers.

For further help about this section, use the left hand side table of contents.

Depreciation and capital allowances tool

You can use the Depreciation and capital allowances tool to work out any deductible decline in value, deductible balancing adjustments and assessable balancing adjustments. The tool can be accessed when you enter your business income or loss details.

Note: If you used the Depreciation and capital allowances tool, fields containing information from the tool cannot be directly adjusted in myTax. To make any adjustments to this information, or to add new assets to the tool, select Work it out.

The following video shows you how to use the Depreciation and capital allowances tool.