Types of small business benchmarks

There are different types of small business benchmarks that help compare your business' performance.

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Performance benchmarks

Performance benchmarks are financial ranges for your industry. They help you work out how you compare to other businesses and decide if you need to make any changes. Performance benchmarks apply to 100 industries and input benchmarks apply to domestic trade work.

Performance benchmarks include:

• tax return benchmark ranges – from information provided by businesses on their tax returns
• activity statement benchmark ranges – from information provided by businesses using complete financial year activity statement data. These benchmarks have not been produced since 1 July 2017 with the introduction of Simpler BAS.

Tax return benchmark ranges include:

• cost of sales to turnover (excluding labour)
• total expenses to turnover
• labour to turnover
• rent to turnover
• motor vehicle expenses to turnover.

Activity statement benchmark ranges (before 1 July 2017) included:

• non-capital purchases to total sales
• GST-free sales to total sales.

Key benchmark range

Use the key benchmark range when you compare your business's performance to others in your industry.

We use this range to protect honest businesses. We may also use it to determine how much tax a business should have paid when there are insufficient or no records available. This is the most accurate when predicting business turnover.

Search for your industry key benchmark range by:

• alphabetical order – Benchmarks A-Z
• industry grouping – Benchmarks by industry

If your industry isn’t represented in our small business benchmarks, use the industry benchmarks information in taxation statistics.

Input benchmarks

Input benchmarks show an expected range of income for tradespeople based on the labour and materials they use to undertake domestic projects.

We developed them using information from industry participants and trade associations.

Input benchmarks help you to:

• find your industry's benchmark range
• estimate your turnover based on labour and materials used
• ensure your records accurately reflect your income.

ATO
ato.gov.au