Tax invoice requirements in Australia
What the ATO expects a tax invoice to show, and how the answer moves with the size and the make-up of the sale.
A tax invoice is the document your GST-registered customer needs to claim back the GST in your price, so the ATO's requirements are written from the buyer's side: the document must let anyone reading it determine seven details without guessing. They are that the document is intended to be a tax invoice, the seller's identity, the seller's ABN, the date of issue, a brief description of what was sold with quantity and price, the GST payable (or the statement "Total price includes GST" when the GST is exactly one-eleventh), and the extent to which each sale is taxable. Two thresholds change the obligation. At $82.50 or less including GST, you do not have to issue one even if asked; above it, you must provide one within 28 days of a request. At $1,000 or more, the invoice must also show the buyer's identity or ABN. The calculator above takes a GST-inclusive price, extracts the GST at one-eleventh and tells you which of these rules apply to it.
GST in the price and the tax invoice it needs
GST included (one-eleventh)
$120.00
| Price before GST | $1,200.00 |
| Tax invoice if the customer asks | Yes, 7 details + buyer identity or ABN |
| Deadline once asked | 28 days |
Checked by Radif Partners · Editorial policy · Methodology
The size of the sale decides the obligation
The ATO page on tax invoices ties the rules to the GST-inclusive value of the sale. The table applies them to a few amounts, with the GST each contains when the whole price is taxable at 10%.
| Sale, GST included | GST inside (one-eleventh) | Tax invoice if the customer asks | Buyer identity or ABN |
|---|---|---|---|
| $60.00 | $5.45 | No, even on request | Not required |
| $82.50 | $7.50 | No, even on request | Not required |
| $82.55 | $7.50 | Yes, within 28 days of a request | Not required |
| $450.00 | $40.91 | Yes, within 28 days of a request | Not required |
| $999.99 | $90.91 | Yes, within 28 days of a request | Not required |
| $1,000.00 | $90.91 | Yes, within 28 days of a request | Required |
| $4,400.00 | $400.00 | Yes, within 28 days of a request | Required |
Two points are easy to miss. The $82.50 limit is inclusive: a sale of exactly that amount never requires a tax invoice, one cent more does. And "on request" is about obligation, not permission: nothing stops you from issuing a tax invoice for every sale, which is what most businesses selling to other businesses do, because their customers need it to claim a GST credit.
Reading the seven details as a buyer would
The ATO wording is that the invoice must include "enough information to clearly determine" each detail. That is looser than a fixed form and stricter than it sounds. "Clearly determine" means the bookkeeper processing your invoice, who knows nothing about the job, can see who you are, find your ABN, see the date, understand what was supplied and in what quantity, and arrive at the GST without assumptions. A line reading "Services as discussed, $2,200" fails the description test even though the amount is there. A trading name with no ABN fails the identity test because the buyer cannot link the name to a registered business.
The first detail, that the document is intended to be a tax invoice, is the one paper templates most often lose. An "Invoice" heading on a GST-registered business's document is not fatal if the rest makes the intention clear, but the words "Tax invoice" remove any doubt, and the generator prints them whenever you say you are registered. When you are not registered, it prints "Invoice" and no GST, because a document titled "Tax invoice" from an unregistered seller misleads the customer into claiming a credit that does not exist. That case has its own template for invoices without GST.
Mixed sales: taxable, GST-free and input-taxed on one invoice
Under the GST Act, many basic foods, some health and education services and exports are GST-free, while residential rent and financial supplies are input-taxed. When one invoice combines them with taxable items, the ATO asks for three things on top of the seven details: each taxable sale identified, the GST payable, and the total payable. A cooking school that sells two classes at $120 and two produce boxes at $45 shows GST of $24.00 on the classes only, for a total of $354.00. The tax column of the generator says "GST 10%" or "GST-free" against each line, which is exactly the "extent to which each sale is taxable" the ATO wants to see.
Whether a given item is GST-free is decided by the GST law, not by the invoice. The generator applies the code you choose; if you are unsure about an item, the ATO's guidance or your tax agent is the place to check before you send.
Taxable and GST-free items on one tax invoice
Total payable
$354.00
| GST, on the taxable items only | $24.00 |
| 'Total price includes GST' usable? | No, part of the total has no GST |
| Buyer identity or ABN needed | No |
Paper, PDF and eInvoices
A tax invoice can be paper, a PDF attached to an email, or another digital format, provided the digital version carries every required detail. Australia has also adopted the Peppol network for eInvoicing, where invoices travel directly from the seller's software to the buyer's. For those, the ATO accepts that the "intended to be a tax invoice" detail is satisfied when the eInvoice follows the A-NZ Invoice Specification and contains its mandatory data. A PDF from this site is not a Peppol message: it is a conventional tax invoice, so it keeps the heading and all seven details visibly on the page.
Rounding the GST: two rules, both allowed
GST often lands on a fraction of a cent. With a single taxable sale, round to the nearest cent, half a cent up. With several, the ATO offers two methods. Under the total invoice rule you add up the GST for all taxable sales and round once; when every taxable sale carries exactly one-eleventh, you may instead add the GST-exclusive values and calculate the GST on that sum. Under the taxable supply rule you work out the GST on each sale, round where your system needs to, then add and round the total. You and your customer do not have to use the same method. Three GST-inclusive items at $10.45, $7.15 and $3.30 hold $1.90 of GST under the total invoice rule, which is the method this generator applies.
Recipient-created tax invoices and agents
In most sales the supplier issues the tax invoice. The ATO allows the purchaser to issue it in special cases, known as recipient-created tax invoices, and has separate rules for sales made through agents. Neither case is handled by this generator, which always produces a supplier's document; if your industry works with RCTIs, your customer will usually send you the document instead of asking for one.
Before you send
Check the ABN digits: the Australian Business Register check catches a mistyped number, and the generator runs it as you type. Check the date, because the issue date is one of the seven details and an undated invoice is not a tax invoice. Check the total against the $1,000 line and add the buyer if needed. Then keep your copy. Registration itself, at $75,000 of GST turnover ($150,000 for non-profit bodies), is explained on the ATO registration page, and the Australian tax invoice generator builds the document with all of the above.