Tax invoice
Tax invoice template with GST, terms and a due date
Lantern Creative bills Meridian Property Partners $19,437 for six branding and website lines. Both ABNs are printed, the buyer’s purchase order PO-8842 is quoted, and the due date is 14 days after issue. Everything an accounts payable team checks before paying sits in one block above the table, and the bank details sit under it.
The document, page by page
Every page as it renders and as it prints, with nothing summarised. Read the wording before you reuse it.
Section by section
What each section is for, so you can keep the ones you need and drop the rest.
- Letterhead
- The seller’s name, address and ABN, repeated with the page count in the footer.
- Bill to and invoice facts
- The buyer’s name, address and ABN beside invoice number, issue date, due date, purchase order and terms.
- Line items
- Six services with quantity, unit price and amount, from brand strategy to project management.
- Totals
- Subtotal, GST at ten per cent and the total in AUD as the last three rows of the same table.
- Payment details
- Bank, BSB, account number and the reference to quote.
- Notes
- The payment reference reminder and the overdue interest rate.
Clauses in this document
Who this is for
A small business that sends fewer than about fifty invoices a month and does not want an accounting subscription just to bill someone. Everything on this example is typed: the lines, the rates, the totals, the bank details. If you already run accounting software, its invoice is the right one to use, because it also records the debt. This is for the case where the invoice is the whole system.
How to adapt this document
For a services invoice, replace the six fixed lines with hours: put the role in the description, the hours in the quantity column and the hourly rate in unit price, and the amount column does the multiplication for you. For a recurring invoice, keep everything and change only the invoice number, the dates and the period covered in the description, then save it as a new version each month so the earlier ones stay intact. If you are not registered for GST, delete the GST row and the word "tax" from the heading, because claiming GST you did not charge is the one mistake on this document that costs real money.
What it leaves out
There is no running balance, no ageing and no record of what has been paid, because an invoice is a single request. When a customer has several open invoices, a statement of account is the document that shows them together. There is also no payment link: the bank details are typed, so the buyer keys them into their own system.
What makes this document work
It answers the payer’s questions
Invoice number, issue date, due date, purchase order and 14 day terms sit in one block above the lines, so the person matching it to an order finds every field in one place.
The maths is visible
Six lines add to a $17,670 subtotal, GST at ten per cent adds $1,767 and the total is $19,437, all inside the same table as the lines rather than in a floating box.
Paying it is one step
Bank, BSB, account number and the invoice number as the payment reference sit in their own block, with a short note on 2.5 per cent monthly interest for overdue accounts.
Questions people ask
What must an Australian tax invoice show?
Six things: the words "tax invoice", the seller's identity and ABN, the date it was issued, a description of what was supplied with quantities, the GST amount or a statement that the total includes GST, and the buyer's identity once the sale is $1,000 or more. This example prints all six, which is why an accounts payable team can pay it without emailing back.
When is a buyer’s ABN required?
Once the sale is $1,000 or more, the invoice has to carry the buyer's identity or ABN. Below that threshold the seller's details are enough. This example is $19,437, so it prints Meridian Property Partners with their ABN in the bill to block. Adding the buyer's ABN on smaller invoices costs nothing and saves an argument later.
Should I show GST per line?
Not when every line is taxable. A single GST row under the subtotal is enough, which is what this example does: subtotal $17,670, GST $1,767, total $19,437. Per line GST is only needed when the invoice mixes taxable and GST free items, and then the cleanest fix is a separate column so a reader can see which lines carry it.
Can I add late payment interest?
Yes, if your terms say so before the work started. A note under the payment details is the usual place, and this example states 2.5 per cent a month there, which is 30 per cent a year and at the high end. A rate far above the real cost of waiting can be challenged as a penalty, so a lower rate applied the same way to every customer is easier to enforce.
What is the difference between an invoice and a tax invoice?
A tax invoice is the version that lets a GST registered buyer claim the credit back, so it must carry the words "tax invoice", your ABN and the GST amount. A plain invoice is just a request for payment. If you are registered for GST, issue tax invoices for everything; there is no reason to issue the weaker document.
Should the terms be 7, 14 or 30 days?
Fourteen days is the middle ground and what this example uses. Seven suits small jobs where you did the work and left; thirty is what large buyers with a monthly payment run will insist on regardless of what you print. Whichever you pick, print the due date as a date, not as a number of days, because that is the field a payment system reads.
Do I have to keep a copy?
Yes, for five years from the date of the transaction, along with anything that explains it, such as the purchase order and the remittance. Export the finished invoice as a PDF and file it with those records, because the PDF is the version the customer received and the one an auditor or your accountant will ask to see.
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