A tax invoice must show that it is a tax invoice, your identity and ABN, the date, what you supplied, the GST amount or a statement that the total includes GST, and — for sales of $1,000 or more — the buyer's identity or ABN. If you are not registered for GST you issue a plain invoice instead, with no GST and no 'tax invoice' heading.
For a sale under $1,000, a tax invoice needs seven things: that the document is intended as a tax invoice; your identity as the seller; your ABN; the date it was issued; a description of what was sold, including quantity where relevant; the GST amount payable, or a statement such as 'Total price includes GST'; and the extent to which each item is taxable.
The last point catches people out when a single invoice mixes GST-inclusive and GST-free items. The invoice has to make clear which is which — a single total does not.
One addition: the buyer's identity or ABN must also appear. Everything else is the same.
The threshold is on the sale amount excluding GST. It is worth setting up customer records with verified ABNs regardless, because the alternative is retrofitting them onto an invoice you are about to send.
Then you do not issue tax invoices. You issue a regular invoice: no GST amount, no GST statement, and — importantly — not headed 'Tax invoice'.
Using the 'tax invoice' heading while not registered for GST implies you are charging GST you are not entitled to charge. It is a common error on templates downloaded without much thought.
GST registration is required once your turnover reaches the ATO's registration threshold, and is optional below it. Whether to register voluntarily is a question for your accountant, not your invoicing software.
Your business profile records your entity details, ABN and GST registration status, verified against the Australian Business Register. Invoices are built from that profile, so the document reflects your actual registration rather than a setting you chose once.
Invoices are checked before issue and the issued PDF is preserved as the original record.
This is software, not advice. AussieInvoice does not lodge your BAS, does not give tax advice, and its rules are not a claim of ATO endorsement — confirm the treatment of anything unusual with your accountant. The authoritative reference is the ATO's own guidance on tax invoices.
AussieInvoice is Australia-first invoicing for sole traders and small B2B service businesses. Pricing is a pre-launch preview and plans cannot be purchased today.