Hi
I work full time as digital marketer and do some freelance work after hours. My work salary is $78,000 so do I need an ABN and register for GST for my own work?

Hi Jamie,
You wouldn’t “have to” register for GST unless you expected to charge over $75,000 per year in the business.
It may suit you to be registered but that would be a question for your accountant who knows and understands all of your circumstances.
Cheers
Scott

Hi Jamie,
Great Question...

Firstly, I have an opinion and I would suggest you get separate accounting advice.

Okay, I believe you'll need to get an ABN for any business activity unless it is deemed a hobby (if that allowance still exists), however, if you were asking because your salary is already over the $75k GST, I would suggest your salary would have nothing to do with the additional work you are going to be doing (for ABN and GST purposes) as the tax (on your salary) should have already been taken care of by your employer.

The income you earn from your freelancing will need to be declared, GST paid if you register for GST (needs to be done if you generate $75,000 or greater)

Hope that helps, but please DO get accounting advice too.

Good luck with the freelancing!

Graham

You will need an ABN for a business operated in Australia.
GST registration requirement is generally $75k turnover of the business - wages are not part of the business. Registering for this is at discretion if likely to be below this level.
Speak to your accountant - if you don’t have one, find one. There are a few things you need to be aware of/consider with having a business, regardless of size.

Hi jamie.

everything they said......PLUS this:

DONT go cheap and nasty on the record-keeping!!! You know how computers work, but dont feed yourself some line that you can do a spreadsheet in Excel for nothing, and that will be just as good as Xero/QuickBooks/MYOB.

Its NOT!

an excel spreadsheet is worse than useless for my purposes as an accountant.....unless I prepared it and I entered every single number and I checked the formulas and I am 100% confident that what is in it is legit.

otherwise its the electronic equivalent of a shopping bag full of torn and faded receipts.

Quickbooks can be had for $17/month. get that. or Xero. Or MYOB. Get something, but for pitys sake dont go with one of those "free"packages like Invoice2go. Free = shit.

And DO see someone about record-keeping and making sure you maximise your deductions whilst ALSO minimising risk of an audit:)

have fun!!!!

BC