Missing tax invoice? Check the evidence before claiming GST

Start here if you've already paid and are chasing the paperwork. If you're designing invoices for your own customers, use the tax-invoice requirements guide.

Find out what is actually missing

Search the purchasing email address, supplier portal and accounting attachments before asking for another copy. Compare the order number and amount with the bank payment. A purchase may already have an invoice under a staff member's email address or a different trading name.

If you find a document, check supplier identity and Australian business number (ABN), issue date, purchase description and GST information. A delivery docket, quote or payment confirmation may leave those details unresolved. For an incomplete invoice, the ATO says missing information can sometimes be established from other documents issued by the same supplier. Keep those documents together; don't write the missing facts onto the supplier's invoice yourself.

The ATO tax-invoice guidance explains the requirements. The invoice exception for purchases of $82.50 or less including GST doesn't remove the need for evidence of the purchase, business purpose and GST actually included.

Send a request the supplier can answer

Include the order or invoice reference, purchase date, amount and the entity that bought the goods. Ask for a replacement tax invoice or the specific missing information. Don't send a full bank statement when a payment reference and amount will identify the transaction.

For example: "Could you send a tax invoice for order A-142, purchased on 18 August for $440? We have the payment receipt, but it doesn't show your ABN or the GST amount. The purchaser was our business entity shown on the order."

That is a sample request, not a message sent on your behalf. Save the request date and the response in the purchase record.

Keep a register until the issue is closed

Field	Fictional example	Next check
Purchase and payment	Order A-142; $440 paid 18 August	Match to the existing expense entry
Document gap	Receipt lacks supplier ABN and tax details	Request replacement from supplier
Potential GST	$40 if wholly taxable and fully creditable	Unconfirmed; do not assume from gross amount alone
Request made	5 September	Save email and follow-up date
At September BAS preparation	Valid invoice still unavailable; no exception established	Keep proposed credit out pending the document/agent decision
Closed later	Replacement received and eligibility checked	Record BAS reference; confirm there was no earlier claim

This register is an original evidence tracker, not a substitute tax invoice. The expense and its GST credit are separate bookkeeping questions. Original ASBG worksheet; all example figures are fictional.

In this fictional case, the payment remains in the accounts while the GST credit awaits evidence. Ask your bookkeeper how to use the software's pending-document workflow so the gross expense isn't lost and the eventual credit isn't added a second time. Avoid repeatedly deleting and re-entering the bill.

What if the supplier does not respond?

For a required tax invoice, the supplier generally has 28 days after a request to provide it. Where that period has passed and other supplier documents can't supply the missing information, you can ask the ATO for permission to treat another document as a valid tax invoice. Silence from the supplier is not that permission. These steps appear in the ATO GST guide's tax-invoice section.

Keep the requests, order, payment evidence and description of the business use. If a special exception might apply, have the agent identify the actual provision and required evidence. An internally prepared "replacement invoice" doesn't automatically qualify.

Check the credit again when paperwork arrives

Before claiming, search earlier purchase entries and BAS records using supplier, amount and invoice reference. Check timing under the business's GST basis and the remaining credit time limit. Finding paperwork later doesn't restart that limit.

Keep the final invoice and resolution note under your record-keeping routine. The register should show the final claimed amount and period, or the reason no credit was claimed.

Continue with the next question

• Supplier charged GST but ABN Lookup says unregistered?
• Found an old receipt? Check the unclaimed GST credit

Key takeaways

• Keep the payment and expense visible while resolving the document gap.
• Ask for precise missing information and record the request date.
• Check entitlement, timing and duplicate claims when the invoice arrives.

Where to get help

Use the ATO GST-credit guidance and a registered agent for exceptions or approaching time limits. The Bookkeeping and BAS hub links the surrounding reporting tasks.