ABN invoice template — what a sole trader has to put on it

Invoice or tax invoice — which one you are allowed to issue

This is the fork in the road, and it is decided by one thing: whether you are registered for GST. It is not decided by whether you have an ABN. Plenty of sole traders have an ABN and are not registered, which is normal and legal.

If you are not registered, you must not head the document "tax invoice" and you must not charge or show a GST amount. Head it "Invoice" and leave GST off the page entirely. If you are registered, you issue a tax invoice and the GST rules apply in full.

The fields on a sole trader's invoice

Short list, and none of it is decoration. Every line here is either required or is the difference between being paid this month and chasing it next month.

• Your name or trading name, and your ABN.
• The word Invoice — or Tax invoice, only if you are registered for GST.
• A unique invoice number you can find again.
• The date you issued it.
• The customer's name, and their ABN if they have one.
• What you did, with quantity or hours and the rate.
• The total, and a GST line only if you are registered.
• A real due date, written as a date rather than "net 14".
• Bank details in full, including the account name.

Leaving the ABN off can cost you 47%

This is the expensive one. Where a business pays another business for goods or services and the supplier does not quote an ABN on the invoice, the payer is generally required to withhold tax from the payment at the top rate and send it to the ATO. You eventually get it back through your return — but not this quarter, and not without paperwork.

There are exemptions, including for payments under a threshold and for supplies that are not made in the course of an enterprise. The practical rule is simpler than the exemptions: put your ABN on every invoice and the question never arises. Check the ATO's guidance on withholding where no ABN is quoted if your situation is unusual.

When you have to register for GST

GST registration is a turnover question, not a preference. You must register once your GST turnover reaches the registration threshold, and immediately if you drive taxis or rideshare regardless of turnover. Below the threshold registration is optional.

The thresholds are set by the ATO and are different for non-profits, so check the current figure on the ATO's own page rather than a number copied from a blog. What matters for your template is the consequence: the day you register, your invoices change heading, gain a GST line, and your prices need a decision about whether GST comes out of your rate or goes on top of it.

GST is 10%, so a $100 fee becomes $110 with GST added, and a $110 GST-inclusive total contains $10 of GST — divide the total by 11, not 10% off the total.

Numbering, and keeping the records

Number invoices sequentially from one series, with no gaps you cannot explain. INV-0001 upwards is enough. Numbering by date alone falls apart the day you issue two on one day, and restarting each year makes an old invoice ambiguous.

Keep every invoice for five years from when you prepared it or from when the transaction was completed, whichever is later, in English and readable. PDFs in a folder named by invoice number satisfy that. A spreadsheet you overwrite does not.

Getting paid, which is the actual point

A sole trader's invoice fails commercially long before it fails legally. These are the things that move the payment date.

• Send it the day the work finishes, not at month end.
• Put the due date in words and figures on the invoice, not in the covering email.
• Include the purchase order or job reference if the customer uses one — invoices without it stall in accounts payable.
• Give one payment method with complete details. A missing account name gets a phone call, and a phone call gets forgotten.
• Keep your own copy in the same place every time, so a follow-up takes a minute.