You can avoid a rejected lodgment by making sure your Business Activity Statement (BAS) is created with the correct AS type prior to transferring it from HandiLedger. Follow these steps in the order shown to generate the correct form type for your client.
Why the form type matters
When you create a BAS using the HandiLedger transfer, it behaves in the same way as manually creating a BAS in HandiTax. At that point, the system has no way of determining the correct BAS form type for your client.
Instead of defaulting to the standard BAS-A form type, the HandiLedger transfer process defaults the BAS to form type BAS-V. This causes the lodgment to be rejected, because the amount at a label, for example Label 8B, isn't valid for the form type the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) expects.
Transfer a BAS with the correct form type
To ensure HandiTax creates the correct form type, prefill the BAS from the ATO before you transfer your data. Follow these steps:
First, prefill the BAS from the ATO into HandiTax. This ensures the correct BAS form type is created for your client.
Once the prefill is complete, use the transfer option in HandiLedger to transfer the data into HandiTax.
⚠️Important: If you transfer directly from HandiLedger without first prefilling from the ATO into HandiTax, a BAS-V form will generate instead of a BAS-A form. This can lead to a rejected lodgment.
Why this only affects 2026 forms
You may not have seen this behaviour in earlier versions of the software. The ATO made technical specification changes to the lodgment of Instalment Activity Statement (IAS) and BAS forms. These changes apply to the 2026 year and aren't backdated to prior years.