The Australian photographer's guide to GST tax invoices

If you run a photography business in Australia, the invoice you send is a legal document — and if you're registered for GST, it has to meet the ATO's rules for a tax invoice. Most gallery tools were built in the US and have no concept of this, which is how photographers end up hand-editing PDFs or bolting on a separate accounting app. Here's what actually needs to be on the page.

A quick disclaimer: this is general information, not tax advice. For your specific situation, talk to your accountant or check ato.gov.au.

Do you need to charge GST at all?

You must register for GST once your business turns over $75,000 or more in a 12-month period (and you can register voluntarily below that). Once registered, you generally add 10% GST to your Australian sales — session fees, prints, digital products — and you issue tax invoices rather than plain invoices.

If you're not registered, you don't charge GST and your document is simply an "invoice", not a "tax invoice". Getting this label right matters: calling something a tax invoice when you're not registered, or charging GST when you shouldn't, both cause problems.

What a valid tax invoice must include

For sales of $82.50 (inc. GST) or more, the ATO requires a tax invoice to show:

• The words “Tax invoice”, clearly
• Your business name (or trading name)
• Your ABN
• The date the invoice was issued
• A description of what you sold (e.g. “Family portrait session”, “A2 fine-art print”)
• The GST amount — either shown per line, or a statement that the total includes GST
• The total price

For invoices of $1,000 or more, you also need to show the buyer's identity or ABN. If you're not registered for GST, your invoice should not mention GST or use the words "tax invoice" at all.

The bit people get wrong: GST-inclusive vs added on top

Decide whether your advertised prices already include GST or have it added at checkout, and be consistent. Consumers legally need to see a single GST-inclusive price. If your session fee is "$550", that's the number the client pays; the invoice then breaks out that it includes $50 of GST. Quoting "$500 + GST" to a consumer is a common misstep.

Business clients are the exception. A company booking headshots usually expects prices before GST, with the tax added on top, because they claim it back. So most photographers want both: inclusive by default, exclusive when a commercial client asks.

Deposits and instalments

Most sessions aren't paid in one go. A deposit secures the date and the balance falls due before the shoot or the delivery. The simplest way to keep that tidy is one invoice for the whole job with a payment schedule on it, rather than a separate invoice per payment, so the GST is shown once, on the full amount, and the client always sees what's left to pay.

How Lumi HQ handles it

Because Lumi HQ is built in Australia, this is handled for you rather than worked around:

• Add your business name and ABN once, under Settings → Studio details, and turn GST on by default
• When GST is charged, the client's pay page is titled “Tax invoice” and shows your business name and ABN, exactly what the ATO asks for
• Choose whether your prices already include GST, and switch any single invoice or quote the other way for a business client. Each invoice keeps its own choice, so changing the setting later never restates one you've sent
• Add a payment schedule for a deposit and instalments. Payments by card are recorded automatically, and a bank transfer is one click to record, so the invoice shows as partly paid until the last one clears
• Not registered? Leave GST off and invoices stay as plain, GST-free invoices

It's the difference between your admin being a compliance checklist you maintain by hand, and something the software just gets right. The help centre has the details on GST settings and payment schedules, or you can start a free trial and send yourself a test invoice.

Nik Nieuwenhuis, co-founder of Lumi HQ. Nik builds Lumi HQ from the Sunshine Coast, working alongside a photographer who uses it every week.