Accountants are warning small businesses that the next big issue facing them as the first GST year draws to an end will be successfully reconciling their end of year financial statements with what they have >reported in their quarterly business activity statements.

And while he admits that it is not "rocket science", Mr Greg Hayes, a senior partner with Hayes Knight, said that the Australian experience was likely to mirror what had become an annual problem area for New Zealand business since the introduction of GST there in October, 1986.

In simple terms, failure to reconcile could mean a small business pays either too much or too little GST. "With the BAS is there is no independent self-checking mechanism," Mr Hayes said. Meanwhile, the Australian Taxation Office will not broaden its two-week extension to include all tax agents. The extension of the BAS June quarterly lodgment date to August 27 applies only to agents who lodge statements through the Electronic Lodgment Service and who received their software late.

CPA Australia estimates that about 6,000, or half of all tax agents, are not entitled to the extension. "Agents who received their software on time have encountered numerous glitches, including rejection of returns and inoperable schedules," said the chief executive officer of CPA Australia, Mr Greg Larsen.