In March 2013 the Tax Office finalised its ruling on invoices in GST Ruling GSTR 2013/1 – Tax Invoices. This is the Tax Office’s final ruling on the minimum information requirements for a valid tax invoice.
These new requirements differ from the old rules in two main respects:
- Firstly, the words ‘tax invoice’ no longer has to be included in the document, provided that “It is clear from the document that it is intended to be a tax invoice”.
- Secondly, under the new rules, if all the information required for a tax invoice (e.g. ABN, GST, etc.) is not contained within the document sent by the supplier, you can still treat the document as a valid tax invoice provided the missing information can be obtained from other documents in your possession. The ruling provides the following examples (non-exhaustive) of these other documents where you may find this missing information:
- A supplier’s product list
- The supplier’s business card
- An email from the supplier, or
- An earlier tax invoice from the supplier.
This second aspect of the new rules is a clear win, as you will no longer need to request that the supplier issue you with a valid tax invoice where you can find the missing information on documents already in your possession. This will mean that claim’s for GST credits are not delayed and therefore may assist your cash flow.
For more detailed information on the requirements you can download the ATO Ruling GSTR 2013/1 or ATO NAT 12358 – Valid Tax Invoices and GST Credits.