See Item P2 Description of main business on the ATO website.
Both the description and industry code must be completed if any business income and expenses are entered at item P8.
Industry code: You must show at A the appropriate industry code for the taxpayer's main business. The industry code appears on the taxpayer's ABN notification of registration. If the taxpayer has not applied for an ABN or has not received notification of the ABN, look up the code in the Business industry code tool, available on the ATO website.
Description: The description corresponding to the industry code selected transfers automatically to this item.
Do NOT use general descriptions such as farmer, manufacturer or wholesaler.
To locate an industry
Click [F10] at the Industry code field to open the list of industry codes provided by the ATO.
Enter the industry code:
If the industry code is known: sort the Index by Code.
Place the cursor in the industry code column
Key the first few characters of the Industry code to shift to the first entry matching those typed characters. If no match is found the last entry in the list will be displayed.
Alternatively, If the industry description is known sort the Index by Description.
Place the cursor in the industry description column.
Key the first few characters of the Industry description to shift to the first entry matching those typed characters. If no match is found the last entry in the list will be displayed.
You can also search for the Code that describes the main business or professional activity. For example, the key the word ‘Farming’ in the Search field. Click Search. Every type of industry that includes the word ‘farming’ is listed.
Click Select to transfer the industry code and description to the return.
