The reverse charge and GST obligations
The reverse charge means that if you:
- buy valuable metals from another business, you
- must not pay GST to the seller
- are responsible for reporting and paying the GST amount when you lodge your business activity statement (BAS).
- sell valuable metals to another business, you
- must clearly state that the sale is a reverse-charged sale on the tax invoice you provide. (This also applies if you are a buyer and you use recipient-created tax invoices)
- are responsible for reporting the sale when you lodge your BAS.
The reverse charge makes the purchaser of the supply responsible for remitting GST instead of the supplier. This aligns the GST payable on the supply with the purchaser's credit entitlement. The GST payable and credit entitlement will net each other off in the purchaser's BAS reporting.
A reverse charge provides a level playing field for businesses by helping to prevent GST fraud.
Example: applying a reverse charge transaction
On 1 April 2025, GoldX Refining buys scrap gold (a taxable supply item) from Scrap Metals Pty Ltd for $1,100 (GST inclusive). Both entities are registered for GST, and complete their BAS using the calculation worksheet method (GST inclusive amounts). The transaction is business-to-business.
Under the reverse charge mechanism, the seller and buyer are now required to do the following.
Seller
- Scrap Metals Pty Ltd is required to treat the scrap gold sale with GoldX Refining as a reverse charge in the corresponding BAS reporting period for this transaction. In this example, the reverse charged GST amount is $100 and the taxable supply amount is $1,100. This means:
- no GST is reported by Scrap Metals Pty Ltd at Label 1A for this transaction
- Scrap Metals Pty Ltd is still required to report the taxable supply amount of $1,100 at Label G1
- the tax invoice or recipient created tax invoice needs to state the wording reverse charged against the related supply item.
Buyer
- In the corresponding BAS reporting period for this transaction, GoldX Refining is required to:
- pay the related supplies amount of $1,000 to Scrap Metals Pty Ltd and the reverse charged GST amount of $100 (10%) to us
- report the reverse charged GST amount of $100 at Label 1A
- report input tax credits using G11 or Label 1B in the usual way. In this example, if GoldX Refining is entitled to an input tax credit for this purchase, it would report the transaction at Label G11 ($1,100) or Label 1B ($100).