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To support Australian GST reporting and credit claims, keep records that explain your business’s sales, purchases, expenses, GST adjustments and calculations. Retain tax invoices when required, import documents for taxable imports, and evidence of any business-use apportionment. The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) sets a five-year baseline for keeping GST records, but assessment review periods can mean you need to keep them longer.
Which GST records should you keep?
Keep enough evidence to show how you arrived at the sales, expenses and GST amounts reported in your activity statements and any GST credits claimed. The ATO says records must record and explain transactions relevant to a supply and support the amounts reported or claimed. [ATO: Records required for GST]
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Sales and other supplies
Keep sales records and transaction evidence that explain the supplies your business made and the GST collected or reported. Make sure the records can be reconciled with the amounts in your activity statements.
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Retain receipts, invoices and other evidence for purchases and expenses included in GST reporting. Records should show the amount and help establish the business purpose of the expense.
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Tax invoices for GST credits
A valid tax invoice is generally required to support an input tax credit and must generally be held when you lodge the activity statement. The ATO’s cited guidance says the invoice requirement does not apply at lodgment to acquisitions with a GST-exclusive value of $75 or less. This is a threshold for the tax-invoice requirement, not a reason to discard other records that explain the purchase. [ATO: GSTR 2000/10]
Taxable imports
For GST credits on taxable imports, keep Department of Home Affairs documents showing the GST paid. The ATO says a tax invoice is not required for these claims. [ATO: Records required for GST]
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Adjustments, elections and calculations
Keep documents that record GST adjustments and the decisions, elections, estimates, determinations or calculations made for GST purposes. If you use a calculation or apportionment method, retain the method and its basis so the reported amount can be explained later. [ATO legal guidance]
Mixed business and private use
If a purchase is used partly for business and partly privately, keep evidence showing how you determined the business-use share. Documenting the private use helps explain the portion included in business GST reporting or a credit claim. [ATO: Record keeping for business]
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Payments and transaction trail
Capture cash, online, EFTPOS, bank, credit-card and debit-card transactions. Keep them in a form that can be matched to the corresponding sales and expense records; a bank statement alone may not explain the purpose or GST treatment of every transaction. [ATO: Record keeping for business]
How long must you keep GST records?
The ATO’s GST-specific guidance gives five years as the baseline. The period starts from when records were prepared or obtained, or when the related transactions or acts were completed, whichever is later. It also says records should be retained long enough to cover the review period for an assessment that relies on them. [ATO: Records required for GST]
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ATO legal guidance describes cases where the applicable period may extend to the longest of five years after the transaction or act, the review period for the related assessment, and a refreshed review period after a relevant amendment. Treat five years as a minimum starting point, not a guaranteed disposal date for every record. [ATO legal guidance]
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Yes. The ATO accepts electronic or paper records. Records must explain transactions, be in English or readily translatable, and remain readable and retrievable for the required retention period. Bookkeeping software can tally amounts and produce GST reports, but the ATO does not endorse a particular provider. [ATO: Record keeping for business]
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Choose a system that preserves source documents as well as totals, lets you reconcile transactions, and retains the history behind adjustments and calculations. Keep backups and check that records transfer correctly if you change software. Separating business records from personal records can also make GST transactions easier to identify. [ATO: Record keeping for business]
A practical GST record-keeping checklist
- Save sales records and evidence for supplies made.
- Retain receipts, invoices and other purchase evidence, including tax invoices where required.
- For taxable imports, keep Department of Home Affairs documents showing GST paid.
- Record GST adjustments and preserve the basis for calculations, estimates, elections and apportionments.
- Document the business-use share of purchases with private use.
- Capture payment records across cash, cards, online payments and bank transactions, and reconcile them to sales and expenses.
- Store records securely in readable, retrievable form, with backups for digital files.
- Apply the five-year baseline, then check whether an assessment review period or relevant amendment calls for longer retention.
A paper ledger or bookkeeping application can help organize entries, but neither replaces invoices, receipts, import documents or other evidence supporting the transaction and its GST treatment.
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