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BAS preparation compared to QuickBooks Australia. This comparison is written for Western Australia specifically: GST and BAS are federal and identical across Western Australia, so the local variable is payroll tax: it starts once Australian wages exceed A$1,000,000, at rates up to 0.055%, administered by RevenueWA. HelloBooks in Australia is $22 – $55 per month, billed annually; QuickBooks Online's pricing model is described rather than reprinted, so nothing on this page goes quietly out of date.
Showing Western Australia, Australia — AUD, GST, DD/MM/YYYY.
QuickBooks lodges directly and handles STP natively. The HelloBooks case is automated coding, unlimited seats, and multiple ABNs on one bill.
For a Western Australia business the practical test is narrow: does the product handle payroll tax from a$1,000,000 · up to 0.055% without you configuring it per transaction, and can your registered BAS agent work in it without another licence? Payroll tax in Western Australia has a tax-free threshold of A$1,000,000 in annual Australian wages.
Sort by whichever product you are leaning toward, filter to differences only, and expand any row for the detail behind the label.
Showing 9 of 9 criteria.
| Criterion | Built for this market | Available here |
|---|---|---|
| BAS lodgementProducing the Business Activity Statement and lodging it with the ATO. | BAS labels computed from posted GST codes — Fully supported | Direct ATO lodgement — Fully supported |
| Local tax return from the ledgerWhether the periodic indirect-tax return is built from posted transactions, or has to be assembled somewhere else. | BAS prepared from the ledger — Fully supported | BAS prepared and lodged — Fully supported |
| AI categorisationWhether transactions, bills, and receipts are classified by a model or by hand-written rules. | Included on every plan — Fully supported | Learned rules — Supported with a caveat |
| Bank feedsHow transactions get in: a live connection to the bank, or a file you download and upload. | Big four plus neobanks — Fully supported | Big four plus others — Fully supported |
| Multiple entitiesWhether a second legal entity fits in the same subscription or needs a second one. | Included — Fully supported | One company per subscription — Not supported |
| Accountant accessWhether your advisor gets a login, and whether that login costs a seat. | Free, unlimited — Fully supported | Free accountant seat — Fully supported |
| Pricing modelHow the bill scales — per user, per company, per module, or per transaction volume. | Per organisation — Fully supported | Per company, seat-limited tiers — Limited |
| Migration inHow much work it is to bring existing books across. | Assisted, included — Fully supported | Import tools and partner services — Supported with a caveat |
| Local supportSupport in local hours, in local languages, by people who know the local rules. | AEST business hours — Fully supported | AEST support — Fully supported |
BAS lodgement
Producing the Business Activity Statement and lodging it with the ATO.
Local tax return from the ledger
Whether the periodic indirect-tax return is built from posted transactions, or has to be assembled somewhere else.
AI categorisation
Whether transactions, bills, and receipts are classified by a model or by hand-written rules.
Bank feeds
How transactions get in: a live connection to the bank, or a file you download and upload.
Multiple entities
Whether a second legal entity fits in the same subscription or needs a second one.
Accountant access
Whether your advisor gets a login, and whether that login costs a seat.
Pricing model
How the bill scales — per user, per company, per module, or per transaction volume.
Migration in
How much work it is to bring existing books across.
Local support
Support in local hours, in local languages, by people who know the local rules.
We do not reprint QuickBooks Online's prices. Their pricing model is described in the cost section below, with a link to their own page and the date we last checked it.
Feature lists are long and mostly identical. These are the three or four places the two products genuinely diverge.
Why it matters: Convenience, but only once a quarter.
Why it matters: This is the recurring weekly cost.
Why it matters: Several ABNs multiply the bill.
AUD billing with BAS prepared from the ledger.
Australian edition with BAS and STP support.
Same in Western Australia as everywhere else in Australia — pricing is national, not regional.
Prices are in AUD and exclude GST. Per organisation with unlimited users. Verified .
We describe the pricing model rather than reprinting prices. A copied price goes stale without warning; a pricing model does not.
QuickBooks Online
Per company file, tiered by feature, with seat limits per tier.
Current QuickBooks Online pricing (opens on the vendor’s own site) ↗ · model checked
Whichever you pick, these are the obligations the software has to satisfy for a business registered in Western Australia.
| Requirement | What it demands | HelloBooks |
|---|---|---|
| BAS lodgementLegal requirement · ATO ↗ | GST-registered businesses lodge a Business Activity Statement monthly or quarterly, reporting GST collected, GST credits, and PAYG amounts. | Covered |
| Tax invoice requirementsLegal requirement · ATO ↗ | A tax invoice must show the supplier ABN, the words "Tax invoice", the GST amount or a statement that the total includes GST, and the buyer identity above the notified value. | Covered |
| Single Touch Payroll Phase 2Legal requirement · ATO ↗ | Every pay run must be reported to the ATO on or before payday with disaggregated gross income components. | Partly covered |
| PAYG withholding without an ABNLegal requirement · ATO ↗ | Where a supplier does not quote an ABN, the payer must withhold at the top rate and remit it. | Covered |
| Taxable payments annual report (TPAR)Legal requirement · ATO ↗ | Businesses in listed industries must report payments to contractors annually. | Covered |
GST and BAS are federal and identical across Western Australia, so the local variable is payroll tax: it starts once Australian wages exceed A$1,000,000, at rates up to 0.055%, administered by RevenueWA.
Region authority: RevenueWA ↗ · Western Australia compliance guide
Partly. GST and BAS are federal and identical across Western Australia, so the local variable is payroll tax: it starts once Australian wages exceed A$1,000,000, at rates up to 0.055%, administered by RevenueWA. The national GST rules are the same wherever you are registered, so the software shortlist barely moves — what moves is the configuration. Anything you choose has to handle payroll tax from a$1,000,000 · up to 0.055% correctly on every tax invoice without you remembering to set it per transaction.
Payroll tax in Western Australia has a tax-free threshold of A$1,000,000 in annual Australian wages. WA's diminishing deduction is unique: from $1M to $7.5M, the threshold deduction phases out linearly so that the effective rate grows from 0% at exactly $1M to a full 5.5% on all taxable wages above $7.5M. The mechanism softens the cliff edge for mid-size employers crossing the threshold — economically you keep most of your deduction at $2M but lose it entirely by $7.5M. RevenueWA is the authority to check for anything region-specific — see https://www.wa.gov.au/organisation/department-of-finance/payroll-tax.
Pricing is national, not regional: $22 and $55 per month, billed annually, in AUD, plus a free tier. Prices are in AUD and exclude GST. Prices are per organisation with unlimited users, so a business in Western Australia pays the same as one anywhere else in Australia.
Yes. Australian edition with BAS and STP support. GST codes, BAS preparation, and STP reporting.
We do not restate QuickBooks Online's prices here, because a copied price goes stale silently and a stale price is worse than no price. QuickBooks Online charges on this basis: Per company file, tiered by feature, with seat limits per tier — check https://quickbooks.intuit.com/au/pricing/ for current figures. HelloBooks in Australia is $22 to $55 per month, billed annually, per organisation, with unlimited users.
Yes. Opening balances, customer and vendor masters, and transaction history are migrated as part of onboarding, and the migration is included rather than quoted separately. For a Western Australia business that also means your ABN details and GST settings are configured for payroll tax from a$1,000,000 · up to 0.055% before you start posting.
In practice the shortlist here is usually Xero, QuickBooks Online, MYOB Business — those are the products with the most local install base and the most registered BAS agents who already know them. That familiarity is a genuine cost saving, and it is the main reason to stay put if nothing else is broken.
Yes, and at no extra cost. Advisors get their own login with their own permissions, and the seat is free — so bringing in a Western Australia-based registered BAS agent does not change your bill. That matters most where the advisor relationship, not the software, is the real switching cost.
Looking for the national view? HelloBooks vs QuickBooks Online (global)
Each market has its own tax regime, currency, and shortlist of incumbents. Switch to the one where your business is registered.
Australia comparison hub · All states and territories · Australia compliance hub