About SBR

Current reporting requirements impose a significant burden on business — a burden that the Australian Government is committed to reducing.

Standard Business Reporting (SBR) is an Australian Government initiative to reduce the business-to-government reporting burden. This major whole-of-government project streamlines business-to-government reporting through their SBR-enabled accounting/payroll software and will save business time and money.

Using SBR-enabled software will allow Australian businesses to prepare and lodging key government forms directly from their software to SBR partner agencies. Businesses will need to register for an AUSkey which will allow them to send reports via SBR.

Led by the Australian Treasury, the SBR partner agencies are the Australian Taxation Office (ATO), the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) (from July 2011), all State and Territory Government revenue offices (ROs) and the Australian Bureau of Statistics (taxonomy only). The Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research are providing trust broker services.

Some examples of reports SBR is targeting include the Business Activity Statement (Australian Taxation Office), financial statements (ASIC), and payroll tax returns (State and Territory Government revenue offices). See the current forms in scope.

SBR has been co-designed by Australian, state and territory government agencies in partnership with software developers, business and their accountants, bookkeepers, tax agents and payroll professionals. SBR is simplifying business-to-government reporting by:

removing unnecessary or duplicated information from government forms
using business software to automatically pre-fill forms
adopting a common reporting language, based on international standards and best practice
making financial reporting a by-product of natural business processes
providing an electronic interface to agencies directly from accounting software, which will also provide validation and confirm receipt of reports
providing a single secure online sign-on for users to all agencies involved.

SBR is expected to save Australian business an estimated $800 million per year once fully implemented.

Adoption of SBR will be voluntary and no legislative changes will occur as a direct result of the initiative.

Last updated 5 July 2010