What Is a Tax Invoice? Australian GST Requirements + Free Template

A "tax invoice" is a specific legal document, not just any invoice

In Australia the phrase carries real weight. A tax invoice is the document that lets your GST-registered customer claim back the GST they paid you, and it's the document the ATO expects you to hold to support your own GST credits. Get the fields wrong and your client's bookkeeper will bounce it back before payment. Issue one when you're not entitled to, and you've created a compliance problem.

The distinction that trips people up: a plain invoice and a tax invoice are legally different. If you're not registered for GST, you don't issue tax invoices at all. You issue an ordinary invoice, you charge no GST, and you shouldn't title the document "Tax invoice." Only registered businesses charging GST issue tax invoices.

When you're required to have one at all

GST registration is the trigger for everything here. You must register for GST once your business turnover hits (or is expected to hit) the registration threshold, which currently sits at $75,000 per year for most businesses ($150,000 for non-profits). Taxi and ride-share drivers must register regardless of turnover. These figures are set by the ATO and can change, so confirm the current thresholds before you rely on them.

Below the threshold, registration is optional. Some sole traders register voluntarily to claim GST credits on their own purchases, or because larger clients simply expect a tax invoice. Others stay unregistered to keep pricing simple and paperwork light. There's a genuine trade-off, and it's covered in more detail in invoicing as a sole trader.

Once you are registered:

• You charge 10% GST on your taxable sales.
• You must issue a tax invoice for taxable sales of $82.50 or more (GST inclusive) when the customer asks for one, and you have to provide it within 28 days of that request.
• Your business customers need that tax invoice to claim their input tax credits.

For any single taxable sale of $82.50 or more (including GST), a buyer generally cannot claim the GST credit without holding a valid tax invoice. That's why clients care so much about the wording being right.

The mandatory fields

The requirements split at a $1,000 line. Both tiers are set by the ATO.

Sales under $1,000 (GST inclusive)

A valid tax invoice must show all seven of these:

1. That the document is intended to be a tax invoice (the words "Tax invoice", usually as a heading).
2. The seller's identity (your business or trading name).
3. The seller's ABN (Australian Business Number).
4. The date the invoice was issued.
5. A brief description of what was sold, including quantity and price where relevant.
6. The GST amount payable, shown either as a separate line or with a statement such as "Total price includes GST."
7. The extent to which each item includes GST (this matters when some lines are taxable and some are GST-free).

Sales of $1,000 or more (GST inclusive)

Everything above, plus:

8. The buyer's identity or ABN.

That single extra field is the whole difference. If a $1,100 invoice doesn't name the buyer or carry their ABN, it's not a valid tax invoice for that amount, and a fussy accounts team is within their rights to reject it.

A worked example

Say you're a registered web designer billing a client for a site build.

• Design and build: $2,000
• GST (10%): $200
• Total: $2,200

Because the total is $2,200, this crosses the $1,000 line, so you must include the client's identity or ABN. A compliant line block looks like this:

TAX INVOICE

From: Marlow Digital
ABN: 12 345 678 901
Date issued: 1 July 2026
Invoice No: 2026-041

Bill to: Redgum Cafe Pty Ltd
ABN: 98 765 432 109

Description                Qty    Amount (ex GST)
Website design & build      1        $2,000.00

Subtotal (ex GST)                    $2,000.00
GST (10%)                              $200.00
Total (inc GST)                      $2,200.00

Two ways to display GST are both acceptable. You can break it out as a separate line, as above, or you can show a single GST-inclusive total with the statement "Total price includes GST." The separate-line method is cleaner for the buyer's bookkeeping, so most software defaults to it.

Mixed supplies (taxable + GST-free)

Not everything attracts GST. Basic food, most health and medical services, and certain education fall into the GST-free category. When you sell a mix, you have to make clear which lines carry GST.

Imagine a health practitioner selling a consultation (GST-free) plus a retail supplement (taxable):

Description                  Amount      GST
Consultation (GST-free)      $90.00      $0.00
Magnesium supplement          $27.27     $2.73
                                    ----------------
Subtotal (ex GST)            $117.27
GST                            $2.73
Total (inc GST)              $120.00

The supplement's GST-inclusive price is $30, so the GST component is $30 ÷ 11 = $2.73. That "divide by 11" shortcut is worth memorising: to pull the GST out of any GST-inclusive figure, divide by 11. To add GST to a GST-exclusive figure, multiply by 0.10.

What unregistered businesses should do

If you're not registered for GST, your document should:

• Be titled simply "Invoice", not "Tax invoice."
• Show no GST line and add no 10% on top.
• Still include your ABN if you have one. Without an ABN on the invoice, the payer may be required to withhold 47% (the top rate plus levy) from your payment under the "no ABN withholding" rule. Having an ABN and quoting it avoids that.

You can absolutely run a business and invoice clients without being GST-registered. The general mechanics of putting an invoice together are the same either way, and how to invoice as a freelancer walks through the structure.

Recipient-created tax invoices (RCTIs)

Usually the seller issues the tax invoice. In some industries that's backwards: the buyer knows the final value before the seller does. Think of a mill paying a grower based on weight and grade measured on arrival, or a commission-based arrangement where the purchaser calculates the amount owed.

In those cases the buyer can issue a recipient-created tax invoice. The ATO permits RCTIs only under specific conditions:

• Both parties are registered for GST.
• There's a written agreement between them covering the RCTI arrangement, current and in force.
• The agreement specifies that the recipient issues the invoice and the supplier will not.
• The document is clearly headed "Recipient created tax invoice".

RCTIs carry the same mandatory field requirements as ordinary tax invoices, just issued from the other direction. If you're on the receiving end of an RCTI arrangement, keep a copy of that written agreement with your records; the ATO will want to see it if the arrangement is ever questioned.

Common problems and how to avoid them

Missing ABN. The single most common reason an invoice gets kicked back. Put it directly under your business name.

Wrong title. "Invoice" when it should be "Tax invoice," or the reverse when you're not registered. The heading is a legal declaration, so match it to your actual GST status.

No buyer details on a $1,000+ invoice. Easy to forget on larger jobs. If in doubt, always include the client's name and ABN. There's no penalty for including buyer details on a smaller invoice.

GST shown but you're not registered. You can't charge GST unless you're registered, and doing so can trigger a genuine liability. If you registered mid-year, only charge GST from your effective registration date forward.

Rounding. Small GST rounding differences are acceptable, but keep them consistent. Rounding per line versus rounding the total can produce a one-cent discrepancy that a picky system flags.

Records and time limits

Keep copies of every tax invoice you issue and receive. Australian record-keeping rules generally require you to hold business records for five years, and GST records fall squarely inside that. Digital copies are fine; a tidy invoice numbering system makes them findable when the ATO or your accountant asks.

If a customer requests a tax invoice for a taxable sale, remember the 28-day clock starts from their request. Don't sit on it.

A free tax invoice template

You don't need paid software to produce a compliant tax invoice. A well-built spreadsheet or document template handles it, provided it includes the mandatory fields above. Our free invoice templates for freelancers and the guide to making an invoice in Excel, Word or Google Docs give you a starting layout you can adapt for GST.

Build the template once with these locked in: the "Tax invoice" heading, your ABN, a GST line that calculates 10% automatically, and a buyer field you fill in for anything over $1,000. After that, each invoice is a two-minute job, and every one you send is compliant.

Rules and thresholds described here reflect Australian GST as administered by the ATO and can change. For your specific situation, confirm the current requirements with the ATO or a registered tax agent.