WooCommerce GST in Australia: settings, invoices and the import rule

GST is 10% of the GST-exclusive amount, which makes it exactly 1/11 of the price paid. Work from the second form, because Australian consumer prices already contain the tax. The ACCC requires the total price shown as a single figure, including taxes and any unavoidable fee, and a part price may appear only if the total is at least as prominent. A product page reading A$100 that adds A$10 of GST at checkout is drip pricing. It had to say A$110 from the start. Prices shown only to other businesses may leave GST out, so a wholesale catalog behind a trade login qualifies, while a public shop with an ex-GST toggle is on weaker ground: consumers see that page too.

Below the threshold, registering is optional and WooCommerce has nothing to calculate. An Australian business must register within 21 days of its GST turnover reaching A$75,000, counted as the current month plus the previous 11, or plus the next 11 when you expect to cross it. You need an ABN first. Leave 'Enable tax rates and calculations' off until the registration date. Late is the expensive direction: a business that should have registered can owe GST on every sale since then, even though no price ever included it.

Tick 'Enable tax rates and calculations' under WooCommerce → Settings → General, then open the Tax tab. Entering prices exclusive of GST is the worse choice for a domestic store. A round A$50 inclusive price is A$45.45 net; three on one line make A$136.35, GST rounds to A$13.64, and the cart shows A$149.99 where the shelf promised A$150. Inclusive entry charges the price you typed and works the GST out of it. Leave State, Postcode and City empty in the rate row. For 'Default customer location', choose 'Shop country/region' if nearly every order is Australian, so all visitors see inclusive prices with no geolocation lookup at all.

• Prices entered with tax: 'Yes, I will enter prices inclusive of tax', so A$49.95 typed is A$49.95 paid
• Standard rates: one row with country code AU, rate 10, tax name GST, and Shipping ticked
• Display prices in the shop, and during cart and checkout: Including tax
• Price display suffix: 'incl. GST', printed after every price on the storefront
• Display tax totals: as a single total, so each order carries one GST line

Visa, Mastercard and eftpos payments can no longer carry a surcharge in Australia, on credit, debit or prepaid cards alike. American Express sits outside the Reserve Bank's rule but has said it is dropping surcharges from the same date, so treat it the same way. Switch off any payment-fee plugin that adds a percentage to card orders from Australian customers. Raising prices to cover the cost is allowed, if nothing misleading is said about why.

Most basic food is GST-free, and the line runs through categories rather than between them. The ATO lists unflavoured milk, plain bread, fresh fruit and vegetables, spices and tea as GST-free. Flavoured milk, biscuits, confectionery, flavoured nuts, muesli bars and ice cream are taxable, and so is all pet food. Even marketing counts. The ATO says labelling and packaging affect the classification, so a renamed product can cross the line. In WooCommerce, give the Zero rate class one AU row at 0% named 'GST-free' and assign it per product or variation, checking each SKU against the ATO's detailed food list rather than its category. A hamper breaks this model, since one product holds both kinds of item and WooCommerce allows it one class. Delivery is the other open question: ATO determination GSTD 2002/3 says the facts decide whether delivery is a separate supply or part of the goods, and the answer changes how the shipping line is taxed. This page covers mechanics, not obligations. Once a catalog mixes GST-free and taxable goods, an accountant has to make the classification call; WooCommerce's 'Shipping tax class' setting and your product classes only record it.

The ATO rounds GST to the nearest cent, half a cent up, and accepts two methods for multi-line invoices: total the lines and round once, or round GST per line and then add. WooCommerce's 'Round tax at subtotal level, instead of rounding per line' checkbox is the first method. Unticked, it does the second. Scenario: three different products at A$19.95 each, inclusive. Per line, GST of A$1.8136 rounds to A$1.81, giving A$5.43. On the subtotal, A$59.85 divided by 11 is A$5.4409, so A$5.44. Both are legal. Trouble starts when the shop and the books disagree, because if your accounting sync recalculates GST per line while WooCommerce rounds at subtotal, orders come out a cent apart at reconciliation. Match WooCommerce to the ledger.

A customer who asks for a tax invoice must get one within 28 days, unless the sale was A$82.50 or less including GST. The stock order email carries no ABN and never says it is a tax invoice, so it does not qualify. Below A$1,000, an invoice needs seven details: a statement that it is a tax invoice, the seller's identity, ABN, issue date, items with quantity and price, the GST amount, and how far each item is taxable. 'Total price includes GST' can replace the amount only when GST is exactly one-eleventh of the total, which rules it out for a cart with a GST-free line. From A$1,000 the buyer's identity or ABN must appear as well, worth a company-name and ABN field at checkout if you have trade customers. WP Overnight's PDF Invoices & Packing Slips for WooCommerce attaches the invoice to order emails, and its templates can be edited to add the ABN and title. One template built to the A$1,000 standard serves smaller sales too. Build that one and stop there.

An overseas store selling goods to Australian consumers charges GST at checkout on goods with a customs value of A$1,000 or less, once its sales connected with Australia reach A$75,000 over twelve months. Customs value excludes freight and insurance, yet GST applies to the whole delivered price. In the ATO's example, jeans sold for A$350, A$50 of it shipping and insurance, carry GST on all A$350. Keep Shipping ticked on the AU rate. WooCommerce knows nothing about the A$1,000 line and taxes any Australian cart. One item with a customs value above A$1,000 is not a low value good: Border Force collects GST on it at import, so a checkout that also charged 10% has taxed it twice. Cheaper items packed together are a choice. In the ATO's example, two A$750 necklaces in one box make a A$1,400 consignment, and the seller may either charge GST at checkout and put its ABN or ARN on the import documents, or charge nothing and leave it to the border. Pick one and apply it every time. Stores whose orders never approach A$1,000 can ignore all of this; one selling expensive items needs a tax filter or a conditional rate that drops GST where the border will collect it. Border Force does not refund GST, so a customer taxed twice recovers the checkout GST from you. Most offshore sellers use simplified GST registration: no ABN, a 12-digit ATO reference number (ARN), quarterly returns, no GST credits and no tax invoices. A business buyer that gives its ABN and states it is GST-registered pays no GST, and the ATO's free ABN Lookup web services confirm both, though WooCommerce has no ABN field until you add one. Simplified registration is the wrong route once stock sits in an Australian warehouse, because goods located here when sold need standard registration. Marketplace sales where the platform collects GST stay out of your A$75,000. Sales from your own store count. For prices in Australian dollars see multi-currency pricing, and for duties and other markets, selling internationally.

Our free store audit reads these settings on a live store: the rate table, inclusive entry and display, classes on GST-free products, rounding against your ledger, the invoice template and, for offshore stores, what a cart over A$1,000 does. It reports what WooCommerce is doing and leaves registration and classification to you. Work that follows is invoiced in Australian dollars at fixed prices, from A$2,899 for a Launch Setup, so the quote you sign is the one you read. See pricing.