A new computer program available free from the Tax Office can help small businesses check whether their business practices are helping them meet their tax obligations.

Is your business tax-ready? builds a profile of a business from the answers to a series of questions. It develops a printable evaluation report with information on what the business could do to improve its tax-related business practices to become tax-ready.

Business practices can be evaluated at any stage of the business life-cycle from pre start-up right through to selling or closing a business down. The program can also assist tax practitioners, business advisers and bookkeepers to help clients identify where their business can make improvements to become tax-ready.

For business operators, Is your business tax-ready? will provide information on characteristics and practices that are common in the operation of a successful business, identify areas of your business where improvements could be made, identify how you can improve your ability to meet your tax obligations, provide a report on how your current practices compare to recommended tax-related practices, outline what might happen if youÕre not complying with your tax obligations, and advise you when your business practices reach the standard required to help you meet your tax obligations.

If you run more than one business, you can set up multiple business profiles to evaluate the practices of each business.

Is your business tax-ready? is for small businesses, including sole traders, with a turnover below $2 million.