When you compose a BAS return, Nagaris reads the connected Xero ledger for the period and builds a workpaper: the figures, a control tie, any exceptions and queries, and a checklist. This can take a moment, since the work is queued and the page updates once it finishes.
Recomposing a workpaper that already has replies on its queries doesn't lose them: Nagaris carries each reply forward to the matching query in the new pack. See "Understanding BAS workpaper queries and exceptions" for how that works.
A composed workpaper lands in one of these statuses:
Composing: the run is in progress.
Ready: the workpaper composed cleanly.
Held: composing stopped because something needs your decision first.
Failed: the engine hit an error.
A held run can be waiting on one of three different things. Nagaris shows a different confirmation for each, because accepting one is not the same as accepting the others, and a named halt (see below) can't be accepted at all.
If there are unreconciled bank transactions dated inside the period, any figure computed from the ledger could still move. Clicking Compose anyway opens a dialog explaining this. Confirming writes the override into the workpaper's queries, so anyone reviewing it later can see it was used.
Nagaris composes every BAS on an accrual basis: each transaction is dated by its document. If the client's Xero file is set to report GST on a cash basis, where GST is recognised when money actually moves, an accrual-dated composition produces the wrong figure in every box, even though the pack looks ordinary.
When this is the hold reason, clicking Compose anyway opens a dialog warning that you're about to compose a cash-basis client on accrual. Use this only to see the shape of the ledger, never to lodge from. If you confirm, the workpaper's Checklist and queries both record that the basis override was used.
Every client has an obligation profile, a declaration of what their activity statement carries: things like their withholding cadence, PAYG instalment method, and whether fuel tax credits, WET or LCT apply. See "Understanding a client's obligation profile" for the full list.
Some of these fields duplicate a setting already stored on the client, for example their PAYG withholding cadence or FTC registration. If the profile and the client's existing setting disagree, composing halts before it reads any figures. The hold names both settings and both values, so you can see exactly what disagrees and fix whichever one is wrong. There's no override for this hold, since Nagaris can't safely guess which value is correct: someone has to correct the client's obligation profile or the client record so the two match.
Before it composes anything, Nagaris checks the client's GST profile against a list of cases it doesn't support yet. If the profile matches one, composing stops immediately with a named reason on screen and a line telling you to reach out rather than work around it. There's no partial or short figure for these, and no Compose anyway button, because a short compose here would be wrong rather than just incomplete.
Profile | When it applies | Why Nagaris halts |
|---|---|---|
GST instalments | The client's GST cycle is set to instalments | Nagaris doesn't compose the G21-G24 instalment labels. The ATO prefills the quarterly instalment notice already; reconciling the annual figure against it is a separate lane planned for later. |
GST group | The client reports as part of a GST group | A GST group lodges one statement through its representative member, a different structure to a single entity's return. This needs its own lane. |
Deferred GST (import deferral) | The client uses the deferred GST scheme | Label 7A on a deferred GST return is prefilled by the ATO and isn't modelled in Nagaris. Rather than compose 7A as a guess, the book halts and asks you to handle it directly. |
Large withholder | The client is registered as a large withholder | The client's PAYG withholding cycle doesn't match this statement's cycle, so Nagaris halts instead of composing the wrong W1/W2 figures. |
Annual activity statement | The return is an annual activity statement | An annual return can also carry WET (wine equalisation tax), LCT (luxury car tax) and FTC (fuel tax credits), none of which Nagaris composes yet. The halt names this so nobody mistakes a GST-only pack for the full annual return. |
Partnership or trust PAYG instalments | The entity is a partnership or trust | PAYG instalments belong to the partners or beneficiaries, not to label 5A on the entity's own statement. Nagaris refuses to compose 5A here by design and raises a flow-through query instead. |
If your client falls into one of these profiles and you believe that's wrong, for example their GST cycle or grouping was set up incorrectly, fix the profile at the source system first: composing will pick up the corrected profile on the next run.
If a workpaper was composed with the basis override, it carries a visible warning at the top of its findings:
Composed on the wrong basis. Do not lodge.
The workpaper's provenance line also shows which basis it composed on (for example, "accrual basis" or "cash basis") alongside the engine version and composed date, so you can confirm at a glance which figures you're looking at before sending anything to the client or the ATO.
