Help Center

Getting Started with GovReports

Dashboard

  • The GovReports Dashboard shows you an overview of your work. The dashboard is customisable by clicking on the Customise icon at the top right of the screen.
    Choose the services that you want on your dashboard and select Save Changes.

    Once you have updated any changes from customise, you can now use the mouse to pick and drag the items on your dashboard to the location that you want to set when you next arrive at your dashboard.


Main Menu

  • GovReports Main Menu has 4 main functions:

    • a. Bird’s View
      Bird’s View brings you back to dashboard, providing an overview status of your account, reporting obligations and outcome with GovReports.


    • b. My Clients
      You can manage your clients on GovReports, the initial set up of clients or adding a new client to your account.

      Adding new client one at a time or import client list from existing software or from ATO Portal are some of the options you can select from.

      GovReports accepts client list to be uploaded in CSV or XML format.

      The Action tab/icon gives you access to export client list in CSV or XML format and also option for you to hide your client list or show as load


      My Client lists the clients and categorised them in 4 categories:
      • i) My Clients
      • ii) Archived Clients
      • iii) Starred Clients
      • iv) All Clients

      You can sort your clients alphabetically from a to z or reversed from z to a by clicking the arrow next to Name or tag the client by clicking on

      As each computer monitor and or access will have some restriction on the view of your account screen and of course when viewing the list of your clients. You can adjust and set the number of clients you want to see on your screen by selecting whether you want to list 10, 25, 50 or 100 at a time. Once it is set, next login or access will show the set number of clients.

      Search field will enable you to search a particular client using any of the field name set in GovReports client including client name, ABN, TFN, CRN, date of birth, email address, contact details ,..etc
      To access to full client profile, there are 2 options:
      • (1) Click anywhere on the client’s name
      • (2) Click on Action icon () associated with the same client and select Open

      Action icon provides 2 options:
      • a)Open full client profile
      • b) Forms have quick access to your subscribed reporting forms
    • c. Authorised Users
      Shows the list of the active users and also enables you to add new or manage the status of the authorised users to your account and their role and responsibilities.
      To access other categories of users on your account click on from the Active users which will list out all other options including:
      • 1. Active Users
      • 2. Inactive Users
      • 3. Archived Users
      • 4. All Users

      You can set and list all your users on the screen as 10, 25, 50 or 100 depending on your liking. To set up the number of users on the list showing, change the number, GovReports for your next click on the page and if your list is extensively more than what’s showing on the page, then click to show the next page of the list.
      There are tick boxes on each row of the user. If you tick on one or more, the action command options will present for you select from:
      • • Deactivate
      • • Archive

      To access to the user profile for full profile setting, you can click on the user’s name.
    • d. My lodgments
      Shows the list of various options available in your account including:

      History
      Provides the full list view of all your lodgments since inception of your GovReports account with details of the client including name or trading name, ABN, branch number, the type of report or report name, date & time lodged and for which reporting period, Response message type, status, prepared and lodged by who and whether or not it is an amended report lodgment or a new lodgment.

      As each computer monitor and or access will have some restriction on the view of your account screen and of course when viewing the list of your lodgments. You can adjust and set the number of lodgments you want to see on your screen by selecting whether you want to list 10, 25, 50 or 100 at a time. Once it is set, next login or access, will show the set number of lodgments.

      Search field will enable you to search a particular lodgment using any of the field name set in GovReports lodgment report including client name, report type, ABN, TFN, date, status of report etc
      Here you can also export your lodgment list in format.

      Saved Reports
      Shows the full list of all your saved reports in GovReports with details including Name or Trading Name, type of report name, ABN or tax file number, branch if relevant, date and time saved, reporting period, the status of the report saved either as draft or valid or valid and process and whether or not it is an amended report or new for lodgment.

      As each computer monitor and or access will have some restriction on the view of your account and of course with the full list of your saved reports. You can adjust and set the number of reports you want to see on your screen by selecting whether you want to list 10, 25, 50 or 100 at a time. Once it is set, next login or access, will show the set number of saved reports.

      Search field will enable you to search a particular reports using any of the field name set in GovReports Saved Reports including client name, report type, ABN, TFN, date, status of report,..etc
      Here you can also export the your saved reports list in format.

      Outstanding Reports
      This is an optional and additional service which can be configured or manually synchronised with ATO or other government agencies if applicable for updated list of outstanding reports. From the dashboard, if you have configured correctly, you would be able to see the list of all issued and upcoming reports to be completed as well as the overdue reports.
      Outstanding Reports have 3 categories:
      • 1. Outstanding Reports
      • 2. Upcoming
      • 3. Overdue

      With option to click Update List and the system will automatically synchronise with ATO or government agencies for any newly issued or overdue reports for all the clients that have been added and configured in your accounts.

      Payee Reports
      Group certificates, TFN Declaration can be accessible from here as a quick guide or from the lodged reports of the PAYG Payment Summary Annual Report and TFND lodgments. This screen provides the list of all your PAYG Payment Summary, TPAR reports and TFND lodgments with quick access to the Employee reports by clicking on View.
      Email option is available to select and that would automatically pick up the client details including email address and attach with it the lodgment receipt, and the employer report of the PAYG or TFND.

      To email the individual employee’s payment summary or group certificate, you will need to click ViewPayee/Employee Details and from there, you can click on the action icon on the same row as the employee you want to select, you will have options to print the download version of the report or email directly to the employee or employer or whoever is requesting it. The email will include it as a PDF attachment.

      As each computer monitor and or access will have some restriction on the view of your account and of course with the full list of your lodged PAYG Payment Summary Annual Report and or TFND reports. You can adjust and set the number of reports you want to see on your screen by selecting whether you want to list 10, 25, 50 or 100 at a time. Once it is set, next login or access, will show the set number of saved reports.

      Search field will enable you to search a particular reports using any of the field name set in GovReports Lodged Reports including client name, report type, ABN, TFN, date of lodgment or lodgment period, status of report,..etc
      BAS Historic Lodgment
      GovReports enables user to list all historic BAS lodgments for the client on request during the specified period and provides PDF copy of the actual BAS. This service extends to all lodgments via GovReports and via any other software or mediums.

      BAS Payment Options
      With search option for you to enter the entity’s information ie name, ABN or which ever the field applicable on their profile and the associated BAS payment options for that entity. Once you have located the right entity click on the entity’s name and the BAS payment option will prevail for you to advise client. This is a quick access option without the download requirement. Downloaded options to be explored from the Lodged Reports.

User Profile

  • Your profile with GovReports with 2 easy to access formats from the dashboard:

    • (a) Profile with access to My Account.
    • (b) Profile with basic details on GovReports for identification and your surroundings
    My Account access from your profile will take you to your subscription listing and settings access to your account


Customize

  • To manage what widgets and features you want to be listed on your dashboard. The current options include

    • • Outstanding Reports
    • • Reports Statistics
    • • User Profile
    • • Lodgment Reports
    • • Recent Activities
    • • Jobs
    • • News
    • • Due Dates
    • • Signed Reports
    • • Calendar


    You can tick to add or remove the widgets on your dashboard if not applicable to your requirement.

    Once you have selected or deselected your widgets options, click Save Changes and Close. Your dashboard will now implement the changes you make and to further customise your dashboard, you can rearrange the widgets and or features on dashboard by using your mouse to hold, drag and drop the widget or feature to the new location.

Settings

  • To access to your account settings and other related common setting services such as:

    • My Account
    • a) My Business
    • b) My Profile
    • c) Security Setting
    • d) Email Setting
    • e) Email Log
    • Lodgment Settings
    • f) M2M Credentials
    • g) ATO Software Nomination
    • h) Rollover
    • i) Setup Intuit SSO
    • My Subscription
    • j) Subscription Details
    • k) GovReports Store
    • l) Invoices & Receipts
    • m) Transaction History
    • n) Recurring Payment Details
    • o) Referral Invitation
    • p) My Vouchers
    • Practice Settings
    • q) Document Management Setting
    • r) Billing Setting
    • s) Invoice Setting
    • t) Notification Setting
    • u) Checklist Setting
    a. My Business
    My Business setting here is for easy access to update changes to your business structure over time.
    To make changes, click on Edit icon and change or update details where applicable.

    b. My Profile
    Change your account status, contact & professional membership details, usernames and or password.

    c. Security Setting
    Add Google Cloud Authenticator to your login option.

    d. Email Setting
    Configure your own emails on GovReports to send reports via emails or digital signature.



    Customise Outgoing email from GovReports:
    Users can set up their own email to send documents or reports generated from GovReports for digital signature or as email. Depending on the users’ email service providers, setting up process can be different. If you are unsure about your outgoing email setting, contact our friendly support team.

    Gmail
    Gmail requires additional settings to send emails from external tools or applications like GovReports.
    1. 1. Use current password with 2 factor authentication disabled for less secure app

      (or)
    2. 2. Create an Application password and update (Recommended)
    How to Create App password?
    • Click on the following link (https://security.google.com/settings/security/apppasswords)
    • Login to your Gmail account selected as the preferred outgoing email in (Note: App password settings will be listed only when 2FA is activated.)
    • Select app as “Others”, enter name as “GovReports” and click on Generate
    • Copy 16 digits app password and paste in GovReports email setting password box

    Microsoft Office 365:

    Microsoft Office requires additional settings to send emails from external tools or applications like GovReports,
    1. 1. Use current password with 2 factor authentication to be disabled

      (or)
    2. 2. Create an App password and update (Recommended for security)
    How to Create App password?

    e. Email Log
    Change your account status, contact & professional membership details, usernames and or password.

    f. M2M Credentials

    Machine credentials allow digital service providers (DSP), businesses and tax professionals to interact with ATO online services through their Standard Business Reporting (SBR) enabled software. A machine credential – equivalent to a Device AUSkey credential. It is mainly used for lodging OSR forms.

    To maintain the M2M credentials, go to Settings -> Lodgment Settings

    Select M2M Credentials

    Upload the file and enter the credentials. For more details on how to upload, click on "Help" on the top right corner.

    Update M2M credentials: If M2M credential is expired, you an update it by clicking on "Update"

    g. ATO Software Nomination
    ATO Software Nomination is required when you registered and want to use GovReports to prepare and submit compliance and regulatory reports to ATO.

    h. Rollover
    View Tax Return Rollover details.


    i. Set Up Intuit SSO
    Want quick access to your Intuit Client Accounts.


    j. Subscription Details
    Details of your subscription and purchases.


    k. GovReports Store
    View, change and or add GovReports service options.


    l. Invoices & Receipts
    View current invoices and billing history.


    m. Transaction History
    View lodgement transactions and history.


    n. Recurring Payment Details
    Change credit card details.


    o. Referral Invitation
    View your referral status.


    p. My Vouchers
    Manage your vouchers and credits.



    q. Document Management Setting
    Configure your GovReports account with Dropbox or Google Drive.

    r. Billing Setting
    Customise your billing information and hourly payment rate.

    s. Invoice Setting
    Customise the invoice appearance you send to customers.

    t. Notification Setting
    Pick and choose what you want to be notified of from your GovReports Office Practice Management account.

    u. Checklist Setting
    Custom client checklist with new client acceptance checklist.

Applications Centre

  • Applications (APPs) centre provides you access to all applications in GovReports, currently including:

    • • GovReports
    • • IAM
    • • Digital Authentication
    • • Analytics
    • • Office Manager
    • • SuperStream

    GovReports as the reports lodgment arm for all other applications within the system and is accessible here if you are on another applications and need to come back to main dashboard.

    Office Manager is the application is that enables you to manage your clients, staff, jobs, tasks and schedules within the compliance & regulatory reporting and beyond. Although it is seamless integrated in the GovReports reporting process with many access points to enable users to update job status and or create new jobs or tasks, it does have its own dashboard for initial set up and access to full list of features.

    Digital Authentication is GovReports digital signature which is seamlessly integrated within the GovReports compliance reporting process for the GovReports generated documents. To send non-GovReports generated documentsfor digital signature and access full and other features, Digital Authentication has its own dashboard, document management for all the reports sent or draft and activity log categorised depending on its status.

    Analytics are tools to track the business performance for better management communication and strategies. These tools include KPI, Planning and Budgeting, Dashboard, Sales & Revenue, What-If Analysis and Advice Centre.

    IAM is the GovReports Accounting & Ledger solutions and depending on your requirement, iAM is scalable to your needs as a BAS or Tax Agent or for your clients.

Outstanding Reports

  • Reminder service tool listing out all upcoming and overdue Activity Statement reports issued by ATO and or payroll tax from States and Territories Revenue Offices as per your client configuration. It will also tally the number of reports you have to do and remove from the list when you have completed and lodged the reports successfully with confirmation from the end government agencies.

    From the outstanding reports list on the dashboard, you can click to expand and access to full list of outstanding reports or simply the overdue reports list

    You may also from this list, select to proceed to access the working and prepare the outstanding report and depending on the status of your working, ie draft and if completed and lodged, the outstanding report for the client will be removed from the list

Saved Reports

  • This is a short cut to access to your full list of all reports prepared but not lodged in your account from the dashboard access. The list outlines the type of reporting form, the business entity the report is prepared for, the branch number, the lodgment period and the queued date or date of preparation and saved, with who it was prepared by and the status of the report.

    There are various status options:

    • i. Draft
    • ii. Valid
    • iii. Offline
    • iv. Valid: Processing
    • v. Valid: Signed
    • vi.Valid: Declined

    Draft report status means the report was prepared but maybe incomplete and was saved as a draft. As a draft, the report cannot be lodged

    Valid report status means the report was prepared and validated with ATO for verification and free of errors and ready for lodgment.

    Offline report status means the report was prepared as an offline service and can not be validated or lodged. This service is only available for BAS/IAS report.

    Valid: Processing status report means the report was prepared, saved and validated and has been sent off and pending for digital signature. Once it has been sent for digital signature, the report cannot be lodged until it is signed.

    Valid: Signed status report means the report was prepared, saved and validated and sent for digital signature which is now signed by the invited signee. The report is ready for lodgment.

    Depending on the status of the report, you can tick to select any of the valid reports you want to lodge or delete. Note: As GovReports Digital Authentication is an additional application, all valid status reports including signed, pending for signature as processing or declined can still be selected for lodgment. If you do decide to lodge other than Valid: Signed Reports, you should maintain records of your decision to select and lodge those reports.

    Saved Report Folder
    To access the saved Report Profile, click on the name of the report or the entity name

    The list of saved reports now is compressed to a smaller column on your left hand side and the report profile on your right.

    You can close the saved reports list column if desired for a bigger view of your working on the selected report by clicking on the arrow to the left or right to expand.


    Saved Report Profile has 4 main commands
    • 1) Report
    • 2) Email
    • 3) Prefill
    • 4) Edit
    • 5) Action tab
      • a) Generate Invoice
      • b) Report without identifier
      • c) Delete
      • d) Send For Signature
      • e) Print Document
      • f) View Document
    Report, Email and Edit and Action Tab are common for all reports. With Prefill only accessible for Offline BAS/IAS.

    Reportprovides you with the downloaded version of the report in PDF suitable for printing or for back up on your computer.


    Emailwill generate email with the PDF attachment of the report. You have options to send email to yourself, client or other. If you select yourself or client, it will pick up the email you have within the system and if you select Other, you will need to enter the email address. You need to change or enter the email subject and contents of the email to suit your requirement.


    Prefillwill only come up if the status of the report is Offline and it is an Activity Statement report. This is when the report was prepared offline and does not have any ATO prefilling details. Click Prefill and the report will be synchronised with ATO for prefilling information and goes into Edit mode for review and further action.

    Editwill provide editing access to complete the draft or making changes to the report. For Draft or Offline Reports, the status will be the same if continue to save as a draft. For Valid & Draft Reports, if the figure has been changed, the status maybe changed depending on whether you save as a draft or Save and Validate successfully, in which case it will be Valid status.

    If the report has a status of either Valid: Processing, Valid: Signed or Valid: Decline, and you select edit, the status of the report will be changed depending on your command to save as a draft or save and validate on the lodgment section of the reporting process.

    Action TabGenerate Invoice, Report Without Identifier and Delete are common for all status report types, while Send For Signature will only come up for Valid status report and Print Document and View Document report status will come up for Valid: Processing, Valid: Signed and Valid: Decline

    Generate Invoice is a function of Office Manager for you to create invoice post the report generation.

    Report Without Identifier provides the downloaded version of the report without the TFN

    Delete enables you to delete the report

    Send For Signature is available if you have a valid GovReports Digital Authentication subscription.

    Print Document prepares and opens the document in PDF format

    View Document connects you to the same document in GovReports Digital Authentication to view and access the signed or declined or pending for signature document.

    From the main saved report profile, you can see full detail and status of the report and will also have access to Office Management functions:
    • a) Attach Existing Job
    • b) Create Job

    Check box can be ticked to select the report for quick access to Lodge or Delete command function.


    Note: Lodge command function can only be performed for all Valid status report. You need to ensure that those reports with valid status and while pending for signature or have been declined do not get selected for lodgment. If so you will need to keep external records of your decision to lodge.

Lodged Reports

  • This is a short cut access to full list of all lodged reports from your account to date, with details of the business entity, reporting form type, branch number, lodgment date and time, lodgment period and the message response from the respective government agencies. As well as the lodgment status, who it was prepared & lodged by and whether or not it was an amended reports being lodged.

    The page will provide options to display lodged reports in 10, 25, 50 or 100 at the timedepending on how many lodgments have in your account to date.

    Export CSV will export the list of your lodged reports to CSV file format for your backup requirement.

    Response Message
    There are 2 types of response message:

    • 1) Information
    • 2) Warning
    Information means data transmitted successfully as information without any error.
    Warning means data transmitted successfully with some errors detected such as TFN or ABN or related details, usually associated with Taxable Payment Annual Reports where information from contractors might not be completed with all mandatory fields.

    Lodged Report Status
    There are 4 types of lodged report status
    • 1) Submitted
      Submitted means report has been lodged successfully

    • 2) Submitted: Signed
      Submitted: Signed means it was lodged successfully with digital signature

    • 3) Submitted: Processing
      Submitted: Processing means it was lodged successfully while pending for digital signature

    • 4) Submitted: Declined
      Submitted: Declined means report was lodged successfully with request for digital signature but has been declined to sign by client

    Lodged Report Profile
    To access to the selected lodged report (shaded) profile which comes with lodgment receipt, click on the report name or click Open in actions. You will have 3 command function options:
    • 1) Report
    • 2) Email
    • 3) Action tab
      • a. Generate Invoice
      • b. Receipt


    Reportwill give you the downloaded and printed option of the lodged reports ie what was submitted to the ATO or intended end government agency.

    Emailwill populate the email set up to send email to either you, client as per client profile or other. Email will come with PDF copies of lodgment receipt, actual report lodged and payment options if applicable.

    Action tabwill provide you with further command options to either create an invoice for the reporting work to your client or to download the lodgment receipt

    Lodgment Receipt can be viewed directly from the lodgment report profile page with options to Attach Existing Job or Create Job in the practice management application, GovReports Office Manager.

    Lodgment receipt comes with time stamp of when the reporting data are received by the end government agencies.

Today’s Lodgments

  • Provide quick access to the list of all lodged reports on the day. Similar to that of Lodged Reports, the features are exactly the same but with listing of only all lodged reports on the day. This is specifically for better access, management of workflow, confirmation and external record keeping if applicable.


Jobs

  • This functionality is a service feature of GovReports Office Manager which shows all jobs scheduled to be completed for today, or access to the overdue or upcoming jobsscheduled or assigned to you with option to view or update status of the job.

    Depending on your calendar scheduling, workflow and plan, your-to-do list of jobs and tasks as part of service you provide to your clients or duties as an employee can be incorporated as part of your workflow and the reporting process.

    You can click on the arrow to expand the job description or the Overdue Jobs and Upcoming Jobs tab for access.


Lodgment Reports

  • Lodgment Reports shows your lodgement activity in graphics to monitor your reporting trend and key performance in the 6 months, financial year, previous financial year and or the preceding 12 months options.


News

  • Access to GovReports news and updates, Blogs, and new releases along with ATO, and other sources of news.


Due Dates

  • Shows the upcoming due dates general for all report types and not client specific.


Dashboard Search Field Bar

  • This is the quick search access whichenables you to search for clients by name or ABN or report type directly without going to your full client list.


    Dashboard User Profile
    Your profile with GovReports