Free Invoice Generator Australia [GST + ABN 2026]

If you freelance in Australia, one field on your invoice matters more than all the others: your ABN.

Leave it off and you are not merely sending an untidy document. A business paying a supplier who has not quoted an ABN may be required to withhold tax from the payment at the top rate — which means a chunk of your invoice never arrives, and you wait until you lodge to see it again.

Our free invoice generator has a field for it.

Tax invoice, or just an invoice?

Australian practice distinguishes the two, and the distinction is not cosmetic.

If you are registered for GST, what you issue is generally a tax invoice, and it is the document your client relies on to claim a GST credit. If you are not registered, you issue an ordinary invoice and you should not be charging GST on it at all.

That second half is the one that gets new freelancers into trouble. Charging GST you are not registered to charge is not a paperwork slip — you have collected money you have no mechanism to remit, and your client has claimed a credit they were not entitled to. Both of you have a problem, and the client will find theirs first, because their accountant checks.

A tax invoice is typically expected to be identifiable as one, and to show:

that the document is a tax invoice
your identity as the seller
your ABN
the date it was issued
a description of what was sold, including quantity where relevant
the GST amount, or a statement that the total includes GST
the extent to which each item is taxable, where an invoice mixes taxable and GST-free items

Above a certain invoice value the buyer's identity or ABN is generally expected on the document as well. That threshold, and the turnover level at which GST registration becomes compulsory, are exactly the sort of figures that change — check the current numbers with the ATO rather than trusting any blog, including this one.

The mixed-supply problem

The requirement that catches people out is the last one. If a single invoice covers both taxable items and GST-free items, it generally has to make clear which is which, item by item.

An invoice that applies one blended GST figure to the whole total does not do that, and it is the most common defect in an invoice produced from a generic template — because a generic template only offers one tax rate for the whole document.

Ours applies GST per line item, so a mixed invoice can carry the GST rate against one line and zero against another, with the GST total adding up correctly underneath.

Recipient created tax invoices, and why yours might not arrive

In some Australian industries the buyer issues the tax invoice rather than the seller. It is a real arrangement with a real name — a recipient created tax invoice, or RCTI — and it exists because in certain trades the buyer is the party who knows the final quantity or price.

Two things are worth knowing about it as a freelancer.

The first is that it is not something you can simply decide to do. It depends on the kind of supply and on a written agreement between the parties, and the conditions are set by the ATO rather than by whoever suggested it.

The second is the practical one. If a client tells you not to invoice because they will self-bill, your income now depends on a document you do not control and cannot chase in the usual way. Keep your own record of what was supplied and when regardless, and reconcile their document against it. People who skip that step discover the discrepancy a year later, at which point neither party remembers.

Getting the invoice paid, which is a separate skill

A compliant invoice and a paid invoice are not the same achievement, and most of the gap has nothing to do with tax.

Send it to a person and to a system. Large clients pay from an accounts payable inbox, not from the phone of the person who briefed you. An invoice sitting unforwarded in a project manager's mail is the single most common reason a perfectly correct invoice goes unpaid for six weeks.

Match the purchase order. If your client raised a PO, the number goes on the invoice and the amounts match it. A mismatch of any size — even one in your client's favour — usually stops the payment run rather than triggering a query.

Describe the work in their language. The description should let someone who was never in the meeting match your invoice to something they approved. "Design services" matches nothing. "Landing page design, brief of 4 March" matches a line in somebody's budget.

Put the terms on the document. Payment terms on a private contract are largely what the parties agree, so an invoice with no terms is not quietly protected by a default you can fall back on — it is simply an invoice with no terms. Say when you expect to be paid, and say it before the work starts as well as on the invoice.

Then chase in a fixed sequence, not on feeling. A short note a few days after the due date, a second one a week later addressed to someone more senior, and a decision point after that. Freelancers who chase erratically get paid erratically. The ones who chase on a schedule get treated as suppliers rather than as favours.

Keep the copies

You are expected to keep records that support what you lodge, for a set period after lodgement. That period is a specific number, and it is one more figure we are not going to quote at you unverified — the ATO publishes it, and it is longer than most people assume.

The practical version: your invoices are the evidence for both the income you declared and the GST you remitted. Keeping them somewhere that survives a laptop failure is not administrative tidiness, it is the difference between a routine query and an expensive one.

A PDF per invoice, in one folder, named so that the invoice number and the client are both visible, is enough. It does not need to be a system.

What the generator does

Per-line GST, so mixed taxable and GST-free invoices work properly
GST shown as its own total, separate from the subtotal
A tax registration number field for your ABN
A separate date-of-supply field, distinct from the invoice date
Australian dollars, or any other currency
A no-watermark PDF, no account required

Open the invoice generator

What it does not do

It does not decide whether you must register for GST, whether what you sell is taxable, GST-free or input-taxed, or which threshold applies to a given invoice. Those depend on your turnover and on what you actually sell.

It does not lodge a BAS, track which invoices have been paid, or store anything between visits. It produces one document, correctly, and then it forgets you.

Check the current requirements and thresholds with the ATO, or with a registered BAS or tax agent. This page describes general practice for Australian freelancers and is not tax advice; requirements and thresholds change, and the ATO is the authority, not us.

How does this affect YOUR Money OS?

Invoices that are correct first time and chased on a schedule are the whole difference between revenue and receivables — the same work, paid in weeks instead of quarters.

Check my free OS score

FAQ

Do I have to put my ABN on an invoice in Australia? It is generally expected on a tax invoice, and leaving it off has a consequence beyond untidiness: a business paying a supplier who has not quoted an ABN may be required to withhold tax from the payment at the top rate. Check the current position with the ATO.

What is the difference between an invoice and a tax invoice? A tax invoice is the document a GST-registered seller issues, and it is what the buyer relies on to claim a GST credit. If you are not registered for GST you issue an ordinary invoice — and you should not be charging GST on it.

Can I charge GST if I am not registered? No. You would be collecting money you have no way to remit, and your client would be claiming a credit they were not entitled to. Whether you must register depends on a turnover threshold the ATO publishes.

How do I invoice when some items are GST-free? Show the GST position item by item rather than applying one blended figure to the whole total. Our generator sets the rate per line, so a mixed invoice adds up correctly and shows which lines carried GST.

How long do I need to keep my invoices? Longer than most people assume — the ATO sets the period, and it runs from lodgement rather than from the invoice date. Keep a PDF of every invoice somewhere that survives losing a laptop.

Is this invoice generator really free? Yes. No watermark, no account, and no limit on how many you produce.