Edited version of private ruling

Authorisation Number: 1011489561825

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Ruling

Subject: GST and corporate card statements

Question

Does the corporate card statement issued by you for a specific service that you provide to your corporate customers meet the requirements of a tax invoice?

Answer

Yes, the corporate card statement issued by you for the services that you provide to your corporate customers meets the requirements of a tax invoice.

Relevant facts and circumstances

· You operate a particular service.

· You are registered for GST.

· You provide your services to your corporate customers.

· The agreement to provide service is between you and the corporate customers. The customers receive a service from you.

· You issue corporate cards to your corporate customers which they can use at the time they use your services. The corporate card is used for the service that you provide to the cardholder and used for the purposes of recording their payment liability for the services that they receive from you.

· You issue corporate card statements to corporate customers on a monthly basis which outline the following details:

o the price/fee and the service provided

o your Australian Business Number (ABN)

o your GST registration details.

· The corporate customers have a liability to pay you for the services and they do not have a liability to pay any other party.

Reasons for decision

You provide a service to your corporate customers. Therefore, as the supplier of the service, you are required to issue a tax invoice for this service within 28 days after the customer requests for one, if this service is a taxable supply.

Do you provide a taxable supply to the corporate customers?

A taxable supply is defined in section 9-5 of the New Tax System (Goods and Services Tax) Act 1999 (GST Act) as follows:

You make a taxable supply if:

a) you make the supply for *consideration; and

b) the supply is made in the course or furtherance of an *enterprise that you *carry on; and

c) the supply is *connected with Australia; and

d) you are *registered, or *required to be registered.

However, the supply is not a *taxable supply to the extent that it is *GST-free or *input taxed.

(terms marked with an asterisk (*) are defined in section 195-1 of the GST Act)

You make a taxable supply of your service to your corporate customers because all of the requirements of a taxable supply are satisfied in relation to that service. For instance:

· you make the supply for consideration (that is the fee for your service),

· you make the supply in the course of your enterprise,

· you operate your services in Australia ,

· you are registered for GST and

· the service that you provide is neither GST-free nor input taxed.

Are you exempted from issuing tax invoices for your taxable supply?

Goods and services tax ruling, Goods and services tax: corporate card statements - entitlement to an input tax credit without a tax invoice (GSTR 2000/26), outlines the Commissioner's view on the circumstances in which a registered entity that holds a corporate card statement (issued by certain organisations) can claim an input tax credit for a creditable acquisition without holding a tax invoice for that acquisition.

The exception provided in a Determination issued by the Commissioner to allow input tax credits without a tax invoice is intended to cover situations where a corporate card is used to purchase goods and/or services from third party suppliers.

In this case the corporate card that you issue is used by your corporate customers to purchase services supplied by you. The corporate customers do not use the corporate card issued by you to purchase goods and/or services supplies by other suppliers. That card is used merely for the services provided by you. Therefore, the exception outlined in GSTR 2000/26 does not apply to your situation.

Under subsection 29-70(2) of the GST Act, you are required to issue a tax invoice for the services provided by you to your corporate customers within 28 days after the customers request for one.

Therefore, the issue to be determined here is whether the corporate card statement that you issue to your corporate clients on a monthly basis meets the requirements of a tax invoice.

Tax invoice requirements

Subsection 29-70(1) of the GST Act, outlines the requirements of a tax invoice and states the following:

(1) A tax invoice is a document that complies with the following requirements:

a) it is issued by the supplier of the supply or supplies to which the document relates, unless it is a *recipient created tax invoice (in which case it is issued by the *recipient);

b) it is in the *approved form;

c) it contains enough information to enable the following to be clearly ascertained:

(i) the supplier's identity and the supplier's *ABN;

(ii) if the total *price of the supply or supplies is at least $1,000 or such higher amount as the regulations specify, or if the document was issued by the recipient-the recipient's identity or the recipient's ABN;

(iii) what is supplied, including the quantity (if applicable) and the price of what is supplied;

(iv) the extent to which each supply to which the document relates is a *taxable supply;

(v) the date the document is issued;

(vi) the amount of GST (if any) payable in relation to each supply to which the document relates;

(vii) if the document was issued by the recipient and GST is payable in relation to any supply-that the GST is payable by the supplier;

(viii) if such other matters as the regulations specify;

d) it can be clearly ascertained from the document that the document was intended to be a tax invoice or, if it was issued by the recipient, a recipient created tax invoice.

Note: If the recipient is a member of a GST group, section 48-57 may relax the requirements relating to the recipient's identity or the recipient's ABN.

(1A) A document issued by an entity to another entity may be treated by the other entity as a *tax invoice for the purposes of this Act if:

a. it would comply with the requirements for a tax invoice but for the fact that it does not contain certain information; and

b. all of that information can be clearly ascertained from other documents given by the entity to the other entity.

Note: The requirements for a tax invoices are primarily contained in subsection (1), but can be affected by sections 48-57 and 54-50.

(1B) However, the Commissioner may treat as a *tax invoice a particular document that would not, apart from this subsection, be a tax invoice.

Note: A request to the Commissioner, to which the Commissioner agrees, to treat a document as a tax invoice is taken to be a notification of your entitlement to the relevant input tax credit: see subsection 105-55(2A) in Schedule 1 to the Taxation Administration Act 1953.

Based on the above, we are of the view that the corporate card statement issued by you has the necessary information for it to be considered as a tax invoice.

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