Australia GST tax invoice rules for software teams

Australia applies a 10% goods and services tax (GST) to most goods and services sold in the country. A business must register for GST when its GST turnover reaches A$75,000 or more. Non-profit organisations register at A$150,000 or more.

When a tax invoice is required

If a taxable sale is more than A$82.50 including GST, you must issue a tax invoice. A customer can also ask for a tax invoice at any amount, and you have 28 days to give it to them. Your system therefore needs to produce a compliant tax invoice on request, not only at checkout.

What a tax invoice must show

Every tax invoice must include:

• The words "tax invoice".
• Your business name.
• Your Australian Business Number (ABN).
• The date you issue the invoice.
• A short description of what you sold, including quantity and price.
• The amount of GST payable, if any.

For sales over A$1,000, the invoice must also show the buyer's identity or ABN. The guidance uses "over", so a sale of exactly A$1,000 falls outside that rule.

What your system needs to capture

Store the supplier's ABN and the buyer's identifier where the rule applies. Keep the issue date, line descriptions with quantity and unit price, and the GST amount per invoice. Ensure the GST amount is calculated consistently with the rounding method you use, and keep it on the stored record so a reissued invoice matches the original.

Build the tax invoice as a document you can regenerate from stored data. Customers can ask for one weeks after the sale, so do not rely on the original checkout screen.

E-invoicing

No e-invoicing mandate applies to private business-to-business invoices. The business.gov.au guide describes Peppol-based eInvoicing that many accounting packages offer between businesses, and it does not describe eInvoicing as mandatory for businesses. Peppol is an option you can add later without changing the GST content of the invoice.

Next step

Review the developer documentation for the invoice fields and tax data your integration sends.