Australia GST invoices

A business registered for Goods and Services Tax (GST) in Australia charges GST at 10% and issues a tax invoice when the customer asks for one. This page sums up the rules that shape your invoices and shows how easySales applies them. It is a general guide, not tax advice; check with your accountant or the Australian Taxation Office before you rely on it.

The rules

Topic	Rule
Rate	GST 10%.
Heading	The document must make clear it is a tax invoice.
When to issue	Within 28 days of the customer asking, except for sales of A$82.50 or less.
Contents	An invoice number is not required. The customer’s identity or ABN is needed for sales of A$1,000 or more.
Time of supply	The earlier of the invoice or the payment; on the cash basis, when payment is received.
Adjustment notes	Issue one within 28 days, with the reason.
Deposits	A security deposit is taxed only when it is forfeited or applied to the sale; a forfeited deposit is taxable.
Bad debts	Relief once the debt is written off or 12 months overdue; not on the cash basis.
E-invoicing	Peppol PINT A-NZ, voluntary.

How easySales applies them

• Record your GST registration and choose the Accounting basis, Accrual or Cash, under System settings → Tax. Your ABN prints on your documents. See Company and tax.
• The tax choices are None, GST-free and GST 10%. Advanced tax codes adds Input taxed and BAS excluded. Documents dated outside a registration period leave the tax field out.
• With the invoice design’s title on Automatic (by tax registration), an issued invoice prints TAX INVOICE while your company is registered on the invoice date, and INVOICE otherwise. See Letterhead and designs.
• At issue, registered, you are warned whenever the heading does not say “Tax Invoice”; unregistered, a heading that says it is refused. See Issue an invoice.
• A draft raised in stages from a quotation, such as a deposit or progress claim, has no PDF: a document asking for payment can be the tax invoice, so you issue it first, then download or send it. See Invoice PDF.
• An issued invoice is corrected with a credit note, which serves as the adjustment note. See Credit notes.
• Registered, money received as a Prepayment gets a deposit tax invoice dated the day it arrived, on either basis. A Security deposit is held with no tax. See Deposits and prepayments.
• A GST-registered company cannot forfeit a deposit in easySales, because a forfeited deposit is taxable and needs a tax invoice that easySales does not issue. See Forfeit a deposit.
• Write off as bad debt… judges relief as Eligible from the write-off date, with Claim by the day before the fourth anniversary of the write-off, marked Advisory. On the cash basis it reads Not applicable. See Write off a bad debt.

Why it works this way

Your accounting basis decides when GST is due. On the accrual basis you account for GST when you invoice or are paid, whichever is first; on the cash basis, when you are paid. easySales reads the basis you record when it judges bad debt relief, so the panel matches what your BAS can claim.

A request for payment can be the tax invoice. Under GST, a document that asks for payment can fix when the tax is due. That is why a staged claim is issued, numbered and locked before it leaves your hands, rather than sent as a proforma that might later change.

A cash-basis business has nothing to claim back. On the cash basis you never paid GST on money you were not paid, so a bad debt brings no GST relief. The panel says so, instead of showing a figure you cannot claim.

Work faster

• Record your basis before you start invoicing. The Accounting basis decides the bad debt relief judgement from the first write-off. See Company and tax.
• Plan the stages on the quotation. A billing plan schedules the deposit and progress claims, and each becomes an invoice to check and issue when it falls due. See Plan billing stages.
• Send the customer’s statement before writing off. A dated statement is one more recovery step on record. See Customer statement.
• Export to Xero with your tax codes mapped. Map each easySales tax code once, and every export carries it. See Accounting export.

Examples

A tax invoice with GST. Lim & Co’s Australian company is registered for GST. It invoices Harbour Café AUD 4,000.00 for a fit-out design at GST 10%: GST AUD 400.00, total AUD 4,400.00. With the title on automatic, the invoice prints TAX INVOICE and the company’s ABN.

A prepayment on the accrual basis. The café pays AUD 1,100.00 in advance. Mei Tan records it as a Prepayment, and saving issues a deposit tax invoice for AUD 1,100.00 dated that day: AUD 1,000.00 plus GST AUD 100.00 (1,100.00 ÷ 1.1 = 1,000.00).

A bad debt on the cash basis. A company on the Cash basis writes off an unpaid AUD 2,200.00 invoice. The panel reads Not applicable: on the cash basis GST is due only on money received, so there is none to claim back.

Common questions

• Do I have to issue a tax invoice in Australia? When the customer asks for one, within 28 days, unless the sale was A$82.50 or less.
• Does an Australian tax invoice need an invoice number? No, it is not required. easySales gives every issued invoice a number all the same.
• Is a credit note the same as an adjustment note? In easySales the credit note serves as the adjustment note: it states the reason and refers to the invoice. See Create a credit note.
• Can I claim GST back on a bad debt on the cash basis? No. On the cash basis no GST was paid on money you were not paid. See Write off a bad debt.
• Why can’t I preview a deposit invoice before issuing it? A request for payment can be the tax invoice, so a staged claim is issued before it is sent.
• Why can’t I forfeit a customer’s deposit in easySales? A forfeited deposit is taxable in Australia and needs a tax invoice, which easySales does not issue for a forfeiture.

Sources

Federal Register of Legislation — GST Act 1999 · Federal Register of Legislation — Adjustment Note Information Requirements Determination 2022 · Peppol — PINT A-NZ

Last checked: 2026-10-21

Related

• Country tax & invoice rules
• Company and tax
• Issue an invoice
• Deposits and prepayments