GST invoice requirements in Australia

A GST invoice in Australia must show your ABN, the customer's details, an itemised list of what you supplied, and the GST shown separately with its rate — currently 10%, with 10% as the usual rate for most services.

What goes on the document

On top of the universal fields — invoice number, dates, both parties, line items and total — Australia expects:

• Your ABN (formatted like 12 345 678 901)
• The GST rate applied to each line
• The GST amount, shown separately from the net
• The total payable including GST

The Australia rule that catches people out

Most basic food, health and education supplies are GST-free, and you must be registered to charge GST at all. An invoice over a threshold amount has to be a "tax invoice" and carry your ABN — without the ABN your client may be required to withhold tax from your payment.

Rates

10%. Most service work sits at 10%. The rate has been 10% since GST was introduced in 2000.

Rates change. Checked to mid-2026 and a starting point, not tax advice. The current source is the Australian Taxation Office — and if you are near a registration threshold, twenty minutes with an accountant beats a search engine.

When you have to register for GST in Australia

A$75,000 of turnover — A$150,000 for non-profits — assessed on a rolling twelve-month basis looking both back and forward. Taxi and ride-share drivers must register from the first dollar regardless of turnover.

Most systems test this on a rolling twelve months rather than your financial year — which is where the expensive mistakes happen.

Which GST rate applies to what

There is no reduced rate. Supplies are either taxed at 10%, GST-free (most basic food, health, education and exports) or input-taxed (residential rent and most financial supplies). The difference between GST-free and input-taxed matters: GST-free lets you claim input credits, input-taxed does not.

The ABN withholding trap

If you do not quote an ABN on an invoice to a business customer, they are required to withhold at the top marginal rate from your payment and remit it to the ATO. Not "may" — required. It is recoverable through your tax return, but it means waiting a year for money you earned this month, and it happens purely because a field was left off a document.

What makes it a tax invoice

For supplies over A$82.50 including GST, your customer needs a valid tax invoice to claim a credit. Over A$1,000 it must also show the buyer's identity or ABN. The document must be clearly identifiable as a tax invoice, show your identity and ABN, the date, what was supplied, and the GST amount or a statement that the total includes GST.

Tax on a discounted invoice

One that gets miscalculated constantly: when you show a discount on the invoice, GST is charged on the discounted amount, not the list price. Bill A$4,100, discount 5%, and the taxable value is A$3,895 — not A$4,100. At 10% that is A$389.5 of GST, not A$410. Getting this backwards means you collect more tax than you owe and hand it over, out of your own margin — on every invoice you issue until someone notices.

Invoicing a customer outside Australia

Exports of goods and services are generally GST-free where the recipient is outside Australia and the supply is consumed there. Selling digital services to Australian consumers from overseas triggers a registration obligation of its own.

Charging tax to a client in another country sets out the general shape; the first time it comes up it is worth an hour with an accountant.

Record keeping in Australia

Five years from the date the record was prepared or the transaction completed, whichever is later. Retention rules mean the document, not a row in a ledger.

Set your country once in EstimateBill and the tax is labelled correctly on every invoice after that — GST and GSTIN in India, VAT in the UK, Sales Tax and EIN in the US, across 58 countries.