If you take an item of your business's trading stock for your private use, you need to:

• account for it as if you had sold it
• include the value of the item in your business's assessable income.

There are 2 ways you can value this stock. You can either:

• keep records of the actual value of goods you take from your trading stock for your own private use and report that amount, or
• use the amounts the ATO provides as estimates of the value of goods you’ve taken (updated annually), which are available in the ATO’s taxation determination.

Example

John runs a grocery store. At the end of each week, he takes food from his grocery store for his wife and 3 children.

John records the value of these goods and reports the amount as income in his business accounts. His records include:

• the date
• a description of what was taken
• the reason stock was taken (personal use)
• the cost or market value of the item (excluding GST).