Australia · Recipient Created Tax Invoice Determination 2023

Can you issue a recipient created tax invoice?

Since June 2023 the answer turns on who the buyer is, not on the industry. Answer four questions for a yes or no, then download a template that carries everything an RCTI has to show.

Checked against the Act

Checked against the legislation 2 Sept 2026 — how we check.

Can you issue RCTIs?

Yes

Under section 6(2): you set the value of what you buy.

This answers whether you may issue RCTIs at all. Each one must still show everything listed below. General information, not tax advice.

Download the template

Recipient created tax invoice

Both ABNs, the GST-payable-by-the-supplier line, and an embedded agreement block to keep or delete. The Excel version works out the GST.

Who may issue one

The Recipient Created Tax Invoice Determination 2023 lets the buyer of a taxable supply issue the tax invoice for it in two cases:

Section 6(1): the buyer is a government-related entity, or a large business entity — GST turnover at or above the tax period turnover threshold of $20 million. It also includes a business in a GST group, eligible to join one, or eligible to join a proposed one, where a member meets that turnover; and the operator of a GST joint venture where the operator or a participant meets it. Any taxable supply qualifies.
Section 6(2): any other business registered for GST, but only where the buyer itself determines the value of what it acquires.

In both, you and the supplier must be registered for GST when the RCTI is issued, and there must be a written agreement between you.

What an RCTI must show

Section 29-70 of the GST Act, applied to a document the buyer issues:

that it is a recipient created tax invoice
the supplier's identity and ABN
your identity or ABN as the buyer — at any amount, not only from $1,000
what was supplied, with the quantity and the price
the extent to which each supply is taxable
the date it is issued
the GST payable
where GST is payable, that it is payable by the supplier

The written agreement

It can be a separate document or part of the RCTI itself. A separate agreement must:

specify the taxable supplies it covers
be current when each RCTI is issued
contain acknowledgments from both of you that each is registered for GST
include conditions that you can issue RCTIs for the supplies and the supplier will not issue tax invoices for them
include conditions that each of you will tell the other if it stops being registered for GST

An agreement embedded in the RCTI must declare that:

it applies to the supplies the RCTI relates to
the buyer will issue RCTIs for the supplies
the supplier will not issue tax invoices for the supplies
both of you are registered for GST and will tell the other if that stops
the supplier will tell the buyer within 21 days of receiving the RCTI if it does not accept the agreement
accepting the RCTI accepts the agreement, and both of you are parties to an RCTI agreement

With an embedded agreement, an RCTI the supplier rejects within 21 days stops being covered by it. The template above carries all six declarations; delete the block if you use a separate agreement.

Once you are issuing them

give the supplier the RCTI, or a copy, within 28 days of the supply — or of when you set its value, if that is later;
keep the original or a copy for 5 years;
stop issuing them from the day either of you stops meeting any requirement.

The ATO also expects you to check periodically that the supplier is still registered for GST, through ABN Lookup, since an RCTI to an unregistered supplier is not valid.

The industry lists are gone

Before 15 June 2023, RCTIs ran on 50 separate determinations, most for a particular industry or kind of supply — road transport operators, vehicle dealers, recyclers, quarry operators, caravan park operators, agricultural products among them. The 2023 Determination repealed every one of them and replaced the lists with the two tests above. Anything that tells you RCTIs are only for particular industries is describing the old rules; this site’s own pages said so until 4 October 2026, and the corrections log records it.

For a supplier’s ordinary invoice, the tax invoice template marks each requirement on a real example.

Frequently asked questions

Can a small business issue RCTIs?

Yes, where it is the one that works out the price, which is what section 6(2) asks. For example, a buyer that weighs or grades what it buys, and pays on that result, works the price out itself. A small buyer paying a price the supplier set does not, however the paperwork is arranged — it receives tax invoices like anyone else.

What if the supplier is not registered for GST?

Then there can be no RCTI: both of you must be registered when it is issued. The supplier gives you an ordinary invoice with no GST on it instead. If you had been issuing RCTIs and the supplier’s registration lapsed, stop from that date — and if you claimed GST credits on documents that were not valid RCTIs, the ATO’s guidance is to make a voluntary disclosure.

Does the RCTI need my ABN as well as the supplier’s?

It must identify you at any amount — by your name or your ABN. On an ordinary tax invoice the buyer’s identity or ABN only becomes a requirement once the total reaches $1,000; on a document the buyer issues, section 29-70 asks for it every time. The ATO’s guidance is that a valid RCTI shows both ABNs, so the template has a place for yours.

Can I issue a recipient created adjustment note?

Yes — the 2023 Determination covers them, with section 29-75 standing in for section 29-70. When a sale on an RCTI arrangement is reduced, the note comes from you, the buyer, not from the supplier. The adjustment note checker asks whether the sale is on an RCTI arrangement for exactly that reason.

Sources

Recipient Created Tax Invoice Determination 2023 — Recipient Created Tax Invoice Determination 2023 (LI 2023/20), ss 6 to 9 and Schedule 1. F2023L00785 (as made), registered 14 June 2023.
A New Tax System (Goods and Services Tax) Act 1999 — GST Act s 29-70 (what a tax invoice and an RCTI must show) and s 27-15(3) (the tax period turnover threshold). C2026C00081 (Compilation No. 96).
ATO, Tax invoices — ATO — Tax invoices: recipient-created tax invoices, issuer responsibilities and the ATO's own RCTI form. Last updated 18 September 2026.

How this site verifies figures is on the methodology page.