Australia · GST Act section 29-70

Tax invoice template, and what has to be on it

Free to download in Word, Excel or PDF, with a place for every requirement in the Act. There is no official template — the Act asks for information, not a layout — so below the downloads is an editor that checks yours, a worked example with every requirement marked on it, and what changes at $1,000.

Checked against the Act

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

Download the template

Tax invoice — registered for GST

A Taxable or GST-free mark on every line. The Excel version adds up the lines and works out the GST, rounded once on the total.

Invoice — not registered for GST

Headed Invoice rather than Tax invoice, with no GST line, and your ABN kept on it.

Rather fill it in on screen? Fill it in below: it checks itself as you type and saves as a PDF.

Or fill one in here

Type your details and the tax invoice fills itself in, checked against section 29-70 as you go. Save it as a PDF or print it. Nothing is uploaded or kept.

Your details

Business name

Your ABN

Address or contact (optional)

Logo (optional)

Add your logo

PNG, JPEG, WebP or SVG. Your browser reads it here; it is never uploaded.

Your customer

Customer name

Customer ABN (optional)

The invoice

Invoice number

Issue date

Due date (optional)

How you get paid (optional)

Account name

Payment terms

BSB

Account number

PayID (optional)

Printed under the totals as “How to pay”, with the invoice number as the reference. Terms set the due date from the issue date. None of this is required on a tax invoice, and none of it leaves your browser.

I’m registered for GSTTurn this off and the document becomes an ordinary invoice with no GST — which is what you must issue if you are not registered.My prices already include GSTThe generator will work back to the amount before GST rather than adding it on top.

What you supplied

DescriptionQtyUnit priceGST

Mark a line GST-free if it is basic food, most health and medical, an education course or an export. The invoice then shows the split, because “total includes GST” is only accurate when every line is taxable.

Tax invoice

No. 0001

Your business name

ABN

Billed to

—

Issued

—

Due

—

Description	Qty	Unit price	Amount

Section 29-70 checklist

This checks what is on the document. It cannot check that the details you typed are correct, and no invoice can be “ATO-approved” — the Act asks for enough information to be clearly ascertained, not a prescribed form.

Every requirement, marked on a worked example

1Tax invoice

No. 2026-041

2Marlow Joinery Pty Ltd

3ABN 51 824 753 556

5Billed to

Fitzroy Cafe Co

ABN 53 004 085 616

4Issued

4 September 2026

Example tax invoice lines
6Description	Qty	Unit price	Amount
Shopfront bench, spotted gum	1	$2,400.00	$2,400.00
Installation, on site	6	$95.00	$570.00
		Subtotal	$2,970.00
		8GST	$297.00
		Total	$3,267.00

7All items on this invoice are taxable supplies. The total price includes GST.

Every mark, and the requirement behind it

1The words “Tax invoice”Requirement (d): it must be clear from the document that it was intended to be a tax invoice. It does not have to be the heading, but making it the heading is the easy way.
2Your identityRequirement (c)(i). Your trading name is enough, as long as it identifies you.
3Your ABNRequirement (c)(i), and the one buyers check first, because without it they may have to withhold the top rate of tax from the payment.
4The date it was issuedRequirement (c)(v). The date of issue, which is not necessarily the date of the work or the date of payment.
5Your customer’s identity or ABN — from $1,000Requirement (c)(ii), and only once the total price reaches $1,000. Below that it is genuinely not required, which is why so many invoices omit it and are still valid.
6What you supplied, with quantity and priceRequirement (c)(iii). A description a stranger could match to the work, not just “services rendered”.
7The extent to which each supply is taxableRequirement (c)(iv). On an all-taxable invoice, stating that the total includes GST does this. Where some lines are GST-free, the split has to be visible.
8The GST payableRequirement (c)(vi). Show it as its own line. Where GST is exactly one eleventh of the total, a statement that the total price includes GST also works.

Fill one in

The editor above builds a real one from your details and checks the same requirements as you type. The invoice generator is the same tool on a page of its own.

There is no official ATO template, and that is fine

People look for a downloadable government template and do not find one, then assume they are missing something. They are not. Section 29-70(1)(b) refers to the invoice being in the “approved form”, and no form has been approved for an ordinary tax invoice — what the Act actually requires is that the document contain enough information to enable eight things to be clearly ascertained.

Two consequences follow. A tax invoice written on your own letterhead is exactly as valid as one produced by accounting software. And no template, including this one, can be “ATO-approved” — there is nothing to approve it against. Be sceptical of anything claiming otherwise.

The $1,000 line, in both directions

The only requirement that turns on the size of the invoice is your customer’s details. At or above $1,000 in total price, the invoice must let the recipient’s identity or ABN be ascertained. Below it, an invoice carrying no customer details at all still complies.

Both halves get missed. Sole traders add a full customer address to every $50.00 invoice believing the law requires it, and businesses issue five-figure invoices addressed to nobody. Only the second is a problem — but it is a real one, because a defective tax invoice is a problem for the buyer trying to claim the credit, and they will come back to you for a corrected copy.

If you are not registered for GST

Then the document is an invoice, not a tax invoice, and it shows no GST. Keep your ABN on it: an invoice without an ABN can oblige the buyer to withhold from the payment, which is a far more immediate problem than the heading. Everything else stays the same — who you are, the date, what you supplied, the total. The sole trader invoice template is laid out that way.

You must register once your GST turnover reaches $75,000. The registration test works it out from your own turnover, and the invoice generator has a no-GST mode that produces the correct document.

When part of the invoice is GST-free

Requirement seven is the one that bites here: the invoice has to show the extent to which each supply is a taxable supply. On an all-taxable invoice like the example above, saying the total includes GST satisfies it. On a mixed invoice it does not — the taxable and GST-free lines have to be distinguishable, so the buyer can work out which part carries a credit. A single “includes GST where applicable” line at the bottom is not enough.

Frequently asked questions

What has to be on an Australian tax invoice?

Eight things, from section 29-70 of the GST Act: that the document is intended as a tax invoice, your identity, your ABN, the date it was issued, what you supplied including quantity and price, the extent to which each supply is taxable, the GST payable, and — once the total price reaches $1,000 — your customer’s identity or ABN. The Act does not prescribe a layout. It asks for enough information for those things to be clearly ascertained.

Is there an official ATO tax invoice template?

No, and that is the useful thing to know. Section 29-70(1)(b) refers to the "approved form", but no form is prescribed for an ordinary tax invoice, so there is nothing to download from the ATO and nothing any template can be certified against. A tax invoice on your own letterhead is exactly as valid as one from accounting software, provided the eight items are there.

What changes at $1,000?

Only one thing: at or above $1,000 the invoice must let your customer's identity or ABN be ascertained. Below it, an invoice with no customer details at all still complies. It is the most misunderstood line in the requirements, in both directions — people add customer details to every $50 invoice believing they must, and leave them off a $5,000 one believing they need not.

What if I’m not registered for GST?

Then you issue an invoice, not a tax invoice: drop the word "tax" and the GST line, and keep your ABN on it — the ABN is what stops the buyer withholding tax from your payment. The heading matters, because telling a customer they hold a tax invoice implies they can claim a GST credit, and from a business that is not registered there is none to claim. One caution: if your turnover means you are required to be registered, register. Your sales carry GST from the date you were required to be, whether or not you charged it.

Do I need to issue one for every sale?

Not for the small ones. A tax invoice is not required where the value of the supply is $75 or less — $82.50 including GST — under regulation 29-80.01. And the obligation runs the other way to how people usually imagine it: your customer needs the tax invoice in order to claim a GST credit, so it is generally them who asks.

What about a recipient created tax invoice?

An RCTI is issued by the buyer rather than the seller. Since June 2023 who may issue one turns on the buyer, not the industry: a government-related entity or a large business may, and so may any GST-registered business that sets the value of what it buys. Both parties must be registered, there must be a written agreement, and the document must say the GST is payable by the supplier. The recipient created tax invoice page tests whether you can, and has a template.

Before you issue one

Only a business registered for GST can issue a tax invoice at all — if you are not registered you issue a plain invoice with no GST on it, and whether you have to register turns on turnover rather than choice. Once you are, the invoice generator fills this template in and checks it, and the GST you charge is reported at 1A on your BAS.

Sources

Read from the legislation, not from a summary of it. The eight requirements are GST Act section 29-70, in compilation C2026C00081 (No. 96) in force 1 January 2026; the $75 floor is regulation 29-80.01 of the GST Regulations 2019, compilation No. 5 in force 1 November 2025. The methodology page explains how this site verifies figures.