The ATO have made changes to the requirements of Tax Invoices effective of the period commencing 1 July 2010.
General requirements
A document may be considered to be a tax invoice, or recipient created tax invoice (RCTI), if it is issued by the supplier (or recipient for RCTIs) in the approved form. It must also contain sufficient information to enable the following key items to be readily identified:
* the supplier's identity and Australian business number (ABN)
* the nature of the sale
* the amount of GST payable.
If you receive a document from a supplier (or recipient for RCTI) that is missing key information, you may still be able to treat the document as a tax invoice, or RCTI, if:
* the document makes clear that it is intended as a tax invoice, or RCTI, and
* the missing information can be obtained from other documents issued by the supplier (or recipient).
This means that minor errors should no longer result in documents not being treated as tax invoices, or RCTIs. Generally, documents will only fail to be a tax invoice, or RCTI, if key information has not been provided.
Tax invoices issued by agents
These amendments also apply to tax invoices issued by agents acting for suppliers and documents received by agents acting for purchasers.
Tax invoices issued to entities in GST groups
If a document issued to a member of a GST group does not identify the actual purchaser, but does identify the GST group member, representative member or another member of the GST group, the document may be treated as a tax invoice under certain conditions - that is, if the representative member would normally be entitled to the GST credit and the document meets all other requirements for tax invoices.
In conjunction with this concession, the GST group may also apply the concession regarding obtaining missing information from other documents issued by the supplier.
The purchaser may still ask the supplier for a compliant tax invoice, if it is required.
Recipient created tax invoices (RCTIs)
RCTIs are now subject to the same requirements as tax invoices. In addition, RCTIs must also:
* include the identity or ABN of the recipient
* indicate that the GST is payable by the supplier
* include clear indication that it is intended to be a RCTI.
Source http://www.ato.gov.au/businesses/content.asp?doc=/content/00247394.htm
What does this mean for you?
If you have complied with the previous law (that is, the law before 1 July 2010), you are not required to make any changes to existing systems as a result of these amendments. Tax invoices complying with existing guidelines will continue to be tax invoices. Our voluntary code for tax invoices continues to set out best practice.