Non-Profit News Service No. 0293 - Fuel tax credits affected by recent changes to GST law

There have been a number of changes to GST law which came into effect on 1 July 2010. Some of these apply to claims for fuel tax credits even if you are not required to be registered for GST.

Changes to tax invoices

Information requirements for tax invoices have been relaxed from 1 July 2010.

If you claim fuel tax credits, the information required for a tax invoice does not have to be contained in a single document. More than one document issued by the same supplier may constitute the tax invoice where the combination of documents contains all of the required information. The supplier needs to make it clear on the main document that it is intended to be a tax invoice.

If you are registered for GST and make taxable supplies and issue tax invoices which comply with previous ATO guidelines, changes to accounting systems and software will not be necessary.

More information is available at Changes to tax invoices and recipient created tax invoices - frequently asked questions.

Fuel tax credit claims

If you are registered for GST, you should claim any outstanding fuel tax credit within four years of the end of the tax period to which it applies. You can do this using your current BAS rather than by revising an earlier BAS that relates to the date of the tax invoice.

If you are not registered for GST and not required to be registered for GST, you should claim any outstanding fuel tax credits within four years of the date when you were required to give the ATO your fuel tax credit claim form.

For information about the Non-Profit News Service, including how to subscribe and links to previous articles, see About the Non-Profit News Service. We encourage your feedback and suggestions for future topics to be covered by the news service. You can do this by: emailing npc-publications@ato.gov.au phoning 1300 130 248.