Tax Invoice Requirements in Australia, with a Template

If your business is registered for GST in Australia, you must give a customer a tax invoice when they ask for one on a taxable sale of more than A$82.50. GST-registered buyers need it to claim their GST credits from the Australian Taxation Office (ATO).

For e-commerce operators, particularly those running Shopify stores, understanding what Australian tax law demands - and where default platform receipts fall short - is essential. If you also sell across the Tasman, see our companion guide to New Zealand GST tax invoice and taxable supply information requirements.

In Australia, a business must register for GST when its GST turnover reaches A$75,000 or more.

Once registered, if a buyer asks for a tax invoice on a taxable sale of more than A$82.50 (including GST), you must give them one within 28 days. This applies to sales to businesses and to consumers alike. For sales of A$82.50 or less, you do not have to issue one.

Australia has no e-invoicing mandate for sales to businesses or consumers. The government's Peppol e-invoicing rules cover sales to government agencies only.

What the invoice must show depends on the amount of the sale:

For taxable sales under A$1,000, the invoice must show seven things:

• Title: The document must clearly state that it is a "Tax invoice".
• Seller identity: The seller's registered business name or trading name.
• Seller ABN: The seller's 11-digit Australian Business Number.
• Date of issue: The date on which the invoice is issued.
• Description: A short description of what you sold, including the quantity (if applicable) and the price.
• GST payable: The amount of GST payable or, if the GST is exactly one-eleventh of the total, a statement such as "Total price includes GST".
• Extent taxable: The extent to which the sale is taxable, clearly distinguishing taxable items from any GST-free supplies.

For taxable sales of A$1,000 and above, the invoice must include every one of the seven fields listed above, plus:

• Buyer identity or ABN: The buyer's legal name, trading name, or Australian Business Number (ABN).

The standard GST rate in Australia is 10%. When all items on an invoice are taxable, you can satisfy the GST disclosure requirement by including a conspicuous statement that the "total price includes GST", or by showing the exact GST amount separately (calculated as one-eleventh of the GST-inclusive total).

If an invoice contains both taxable and GST-free items, it must show which items are taxable and the amount of GST. A "price includes GST" statement is not enough here, because the GST is no longer one-eleventh of the total.

When an order is altered after an invoice has been issued - such as when a customer returns items, receives a refund, or is granted an exchange - you may need to issue an adjustment note.

Under Australian tax law, an adjustment note is required when the resulting GST adjustment exceeds A$75. If the adjustment to the GST amount is A$75 or less, a formal adjustment note is not legally mandatory.

Below is a text template that incorporates all mandatory Australian tax invoice fields, including the buyer identity line required for sales of A$1,000 or more:

TAX INVOICE

Seller: [Your Registered Business Name]
ABN: [XX XXX XXX XXX]
Date of Issue: [DD/MM/YYYY]
Invoice Reference: [INV-0001]

Buyer: [Customer Name / Business Name]
Buyer ABN: [XX XXX XXX XXX] (if known)
Buyer Address: [Customer Address]
* Buyer name or ABN required if the total is A$1,000 or more.

Line Items:
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Description                     Qty  Unit (inc GST)       GST  Total (inc GST)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Taxable Product / Service]       2         A$55.00   Taxable         A$110.00
[GST-Free Product / Service]      1         A$20.00  GST-free          A$20.00
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Subtotal (excluding GST):                                             A$120.00
GST (10% on taxable items):                                            A$10.00
Total Amount Payable:                                                 A$130.00

Merchants running Australian stores on Shopify often assume the platform handles Australian tax invoicing automatically. Shopify's official documentation outlines several boundaries:

• Taxes are your responsibility: Shopify states plainly: "Tax is your responsibility." Shopify does not file or pay your GST for you.
• Basic Tax in Australia: Australia uses Shopify's Basic Tax service. While you can enter your tax number and configure shipping zones, Basic Tax has documented limitations, such as no category-specific rates or tax holiday settings.
• Tax-inclusive pricing settings: Shopify supports tax-inclusive pricing at Settings > Taxes and duties ("Include sales tax in product price and shipping rate"). Dynamic tax-inclusive pricing adjusts product prices only, but Shopify notes that product pages and the cart may not display adjusted prices correctly unless you sell in local currencies using Shopify Payments.
• Shopify Order Printer: Shopify offers the Order Printer app to print invoices, packing slips, and pick lists. However, Shopify's documentation does not say whether Order Printer documents meet Australian tax invoice rules, so check any template against the fields above.
• VAT invoices feature is EU and UK only: Shopify's only documented native invoice generation feature is its "VAT invoices" capability, which is restricted exclusively to the EU and UK. Shopify documents no native tax invoice feature for Australia.
• GST on Shopify subscriptions: Australian merchants pay 10% GST on their Shopify subscription charges unless they are registered for Australian GST and have entered their ABN into their Shopify store settings.

If you want a review of your checkout, tax display settings, app overhead, and page speed, see our Shopify store audit.

To bridge the gap between Australian tax requirements and Shopify's default order receipts, we built NullGlitch Tax Invoices.

Live on the Shopify App Store, our app generates compliant Australian tax invoices and adjustment notes, matching what Shopify charged to the cent. It includes your ABN, shows the buyer's details from the order (and warns you when an invoice of A$1,000 or more has no buyer name), and handles refunds with compliant adjustment notes. It is priced at US$8 a month with a 7-day free trial.