Tax invoice template for Australian function venues and caterers

When you must issue a tax invoice

If a customer asks for a tax invoice, the ATO says you must provide one within 28 days, unless the sale is A$82.50 or less including GST. For small bar tabs you can decline; for functions you cannot, and in practice you should issue one automatically, because a corporate client cannot claim a GST credit without it.

Only GST-registered businesses can issue tax invoices. If you are not registered, business.gov.au is clear that you must not use the words tax invoice. That matters for small caterers under the A$75,000 threshold: issue an ordinary invoice without GST, and watch your turnover, because registration is due within 21 days of reaching the threshold.

Tax invoice TI-2026-1142

Corporate end-of-year party for 80 staff in a function room in Melbourne's CBD

• Buyer's identity and ABN shown because the sale is over A$1,000.
• Deposit invoiced on TI-2026-0987 is deducted from the balance.
• Payment by bank transfer; no card surcharge applies.

The seven details, applied to a function

For sales under A$1,000 the ATO requires enough information to determine seven details, and for sales of A$1,000 or more one more: the buyer's identity or ABN. Here is how each one looks on a venue invoice.

Why catered food carries GST even though basic food doesn't

Clients sometimes query GST on food because they know bread and fresh produce are GST-free at the supermarket. The ATO's food rules answer this. Food supplied for consumption on the premises it is supplied from is taxable, and the ATO's definition of premises includes reception lounges and venues for catered functions. Where food is prepared in a commercial kitchen and taken to an event, the ATO treats it as supplied from the premises where the event takes place.

So the whole function is taxable at 10%: the room, the meals, the beverages and the extras. The only lines that might differ are goods sold for consumption away from the venue, such as a boxed cake the couple take home, and even those depend on the product. When in doubt, the ATO's food and beverage search tool is the authority.

If a client disputes GST on the food lines, send them the ATO's definition of premises page rather than arguing. It settles the point faster than any explanation from you, and it keeps the conversation friendly before the balance is due.

What your invoice must show in Australia

Deposits, progress payments and the final invoice

Venues usually issue a tax invoice for the deposit, one for any progress payment and a final invoice after the event for extra hours or bar tab overruns. Keep the numbering continuous and reference earlier invoices on the final one, so the client can see the total and what has been invoiced already.

The ATO distinguishes part-payments from security deposits. A part-payment is payment for the supply when you receive it. A genuine security deposit, such as a refundable damage bond, is not; GST is accounted for in the period it is forfeited or applied towards the price. If you use part of a bond to pay for an extra hour, the GST on that amount falls in that period.

Five mistakes that get function invoices rejected

Accounts payable teams reject function invoices for the same handful of reasons, and each one costs you weeks of cash flow. The first is a missing buyer ABN on a sale over A$1,000. The ATO requires the buyer's identity or ABN at that level, and many finance teams insist on the ABN specifically because it is what their system matches.

The second is an invoice addressed to the person who booked, the executive assistant or the event manager, rather than the legal entity paying. The third is a single package line with no quantity or price per head, which the approver cannot check against the number of staff who attended. The fourth is a missing purchase order number. The fifth is GST calculated on the rounded total rather than per line, which leaves a few cents difference between your invoice and their system and trips an automatic match.

Fix all five at the quote stage. Ask for the legal entity, ABN and PO number when the booking is confirmed, keep per-head lines through to the invoice, and calculate GST per line. It sounds like admin. It is the difference between being paid in 14 days and in 60.

One more practical point for multi-day conferences: invoice each day's catering on its own line with its date, even if the client pays one total. When a speaker cancels and the client wants a credit for day two's lunch, you can adjust one line instead of reissuing the invoice.

Surcharges, records and business clients

A Sunday or public holiday surcharge is part of the price, so put it on the invoice with GST. Card payment surcharges face no-surcharge rules from 1 October 2026 on Visa, Mastercard, American Express and eftpos, according to the ACCC, so remove any card surcharge line from invoices issued after that date for those cards.

Keep invoices for at least five years, as business.gov.au advises for most business records. For corporate clients, add their purchase order number and the name of the person approving payment. Accounts payable teams in large companies match invoices by PO, and an invoice without one waits in a queue.

If a client asks for the invoice to be split between two companies, for example a joint product launch, issue two invoices, each with its own buyer ABN. Do not put two ABNs on one tax invoice; neither company can then claim cleanly.

Invoice questions from Australia