GST - Helping you understand your GST obligations

Download GST - Helping you understand your GST obligations (PDF, 432KB).

Getting started

What is GST?

The goods and services tax (GST) is a tax of 10% on most goods and services sold in Australia.

If you run a business, you are likely to have some GST obligations

If your business is registered for GST, you need to:

• include GST in the price of sales to your customers
• claim credits for the GST included in the price of your purchases for your business.

This means, if your business is registered for the GST, your customers pay the cost you charge plus 10% extra. This 10% is the GST. When GST applies, you should always include GST in the price of your sale.

You then send these 10% GST amounts to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO), usually four times each year. To do this, you fill in and send the ATO a form called a business activity statement (BAS), which the ATO will send you. You can also claim GST credits on the BAS.

Example

Lou runs a small corner store in regional Australia. He sells basic food items like bread, drinks, toiletries, tobacco products and newspapers. For example, he sells a newspaper for $2.20 which includes GST. He keeps the $2 and sends the GST amount of 20 cents to the ATO when he fills in his next BAS.