The general rule
Most services you export are GST-free. Design, writing, development, consulting, marketing, bookkeeping: if the client is a non-resident who isn't in Australia when you do the work, the sale is GST-free. You charge no GST, you still report the sale on your BAS if you're registered, and you still claim GST credits on your own expenses.
GST-free is a category with rules, not a shrug. The exceptions below are where people get caught.
When it isn't GST-free
- It's about Australian land or buildings. Architecture for a house in Perth, a property valuation, photographs of a Sydney apartment for its London owner: taxable, wherever the client lives.
- It's work on goods that are in Australia. Repairing or modifying something that's physically here.
- It's really for someone in Australia. If an overseas company pays you to train its Australian staff, or to work for its Australian customer, the service is provided to an entity in Australia and GST applies. The ATO set out how it reads this in a 2025 ruling, GSTR 2025/1.
- The client is in Australia. A company with its own office here, or a person who is in the country while you do the work, isn't "outside Australia" for this rule.
Physical goods have their own rule: they're GST-free if you export them within 60 days of being paid or invoicing, whichever comes first, and keep evidence that they left the country.
It still counts towards $75,000
GST turnover includes GST-free sales. A freelancer billing US clients $90,000 a year must register for GST, even though none of those invoices will carry any. That's rarely bad news: you charge nothing extra, you claim back the GST on your laptop, software and phone, and your BAS often ends in a refund. Under $75,000, the same logic can make registering voluntarily worth it.
What to put on the invoice
- Title it Invoice. A tax invoice exists so the buyer can claim Australian GST, and an overseas client has none to claim.
- Your name and ABN, and the client's name and overseas address. The address is part of your evidence that the client is outside Australia.
- What you did, the amount, and the currency. Invoicing in US dollars or euros is fine.
- A line saying why there's no GST: "GST-free: export of services to a non-resident."
- How to pay: an international transfer, or a payment link that takes cards.
Keep the contract or the emails that show where the client is. If the ATO ever asks why a sale was GST-free, that's your answer.
Worked example
Mara is registered for GST. In October she designs a logo for a Sydney café and an icon set for a start-up in Austin, Texas.
| Sydney café | Austin start-up | |
|---|---|---|
| Heading | Tax Invoice | Invoice |
| Design work | $2,000.00 | US$1,500.00 |
| GST | $200.00 | GST-free |
| Total | $2,200.00 | US$1,500.00 |
Both sales go on her BAS, and only the café's carries GST. The US$1,500 goes in at its value in Australian dollars, and it counts towards her $75,000 like everything else.
Currency and your records
Invoice in whichever currency you agreed. Your BAS and tax return are in Australian dollars, so record each sale's value in AUD at the exchange rate on the day. Ask your accountant which rate to use, then stick with it. Fees your bank or payment service takes are business expenses.
US clients and the W-8BEN
Many US companies ask foreign contractors for a Form W-8BEN (W-8BEN-E if you trade through a company) before they'll pay. It tells them, and the IRS, that you're not a US taxpayer, so they don't withhold US tax. It has nothing to do with GST, and it doesn't change your Australian tax: the income still goes on your tax return here.