Best practices for setting up invoices in Australia
Learn the best practices for setting up invoices in Australia.
Last updated 6 Feb, 2025
Legal Disclaimer
The information on this page is for your general guidance and isn’t legal advice.
Learn the best practices for setting up invoices in Australia when you make sales to customers, particularly if a customer requests a tax invoice which must contain certain information.
Key invoice fields
We don’t automatically populate all of the fields on an invoice. In Australia, a missed or improperly added field can render an invoice non-compliant. If you intend to create a tax invoice, make sure that you include the required fields when you prepare your invoices.
Key invoice details
How to add an invoice field
The following table explains how you can populate the invoice fields referenced in the example image. To make sure that your invoices are compliant and adhere to applicable geographic requirements, we recommend you consult with your tax and legal advisors.
| Key | Field | Requirements | How to populate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Invoice title | Required | Stripe applies the default title Invoice. If issuing tax invoices to Australian businesses, Add custom field Tax Invoice as a subtitle. |
| 2 | Your Business company name | Required | Stripe populates the seller’s identity by default from the business profile. |
| 3 | Your Australian Business Number (ABN) | Required | Add your ABN in your invoice settings so Stripe can include it on your invoices by default. |
| 4 | Date of issue | Required | Stripe populates this by default. |
| 5 | Brief description of the item sold | Required | Stripe populates this by default with the quantity (if applicable) and the pricing. |
| 6 | GST amount (if any) | Exact amount required for sales of AUD1000 or more. Sales of less than AUD1000 can advise that Total price includes GST (provided the GST amount is exactly one-eleventh of the total price). | Determine the GST to display on an invoice using Stripe Tax to automatically calculate the tax, or manually add the tax rate as follows when you create an item:
|
| 7 | Invoice total (including GST, if applicable) | Required | Stripe populates this by default, including the GST amount provided in field 6, if applicable. |
| 8 | GST included in each line item | Required for sales of AUD1000 or more | Determine the GST to display for each line item using the methods described for field 6. |
| 9 | Total price excluding GST | Recommended | Stripe populates this by default. |
| 10 | Buyer’s identity | Required for sales of AUD1000 or more | Stripe populates this by default. Add this information in the Customer view of the Dashboard or using the Create Customer Tax ID API. |
| 11 | Invoice number | Recommended | Stripe populates this by default. You can specify invoice numbering (customer or account level) in the Invoice template. |
| 12 | Date due | Recommended | Stripe populates this by default. |
| 13 | Your Business company address | Recommended | Stripe populates this if you provide your Support address in the Public business information of your profile. You can also default to your business address as listed in your account settings. |
| 14 | Invoice line item supply date | Recommended if the supply date of individual line items differs from the invoice send date. | Click the toggle under Item options to display line item supply dates. |
| N/A | Custom fields | Recommended for additional information, such as:
| In the Invoice Editor, click Add custom field from the Additional options section. |
Facilitate customer payment
After you set up your invoices to meet Australian requirements, you can facilitate customer payment by:
- Adding the most popular Australian payment methods. By accepting a wider range of payment methods, such as BECS Direct Debit and PayTo, you can lower your costs and increase conversions.
- Using the Hosted Invoice Page.
- Allowing a customer to pay a single invoice over multiple due dates. By reflecting a payment schedule, you can extend more flexible net terms or collect a deposit.
Invoice payment plans
Invoice payment plans allow customers to pay a single invoice over multiple due dates. You can specify flexible net terms or collect a deposit. With this feature, Stripe doesn’t provide you or your customers with any form of credit, nor does Stripe charge additional fees to you or your customers for this feature.
Consult your legal advisors regarding any restrictions and requirements that apply to your implementation before setting up invoices. Any credit, lending, or “Buy Now Pay Later” type services that you provide might be subject to regulation in Australia.