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Tax Records for Australian Sellers

This page explains the marketplace records available to sellers. It is general information, not tax or accounting advice. Confirm your treatment with a registered tax agent or accountant and current Australian Taxation Office (ATO) guidance.

GST registration​

The ATO says a business generally must register for GST when its GST turnover is $75,000 or more; the threshold is $150,000 for a non-profit organisation. The test uses current or projected GST turnover and has specific inclusions, exclusions, and exceptions. Registration can also be voluntary.

Use the current ATO GST registration guidance rather than treating a handbook summary as the full test.

An ABN and GST registration are not the same thing. Keep the legal name, ABN, and GST-registration state in your seller profile consistent with your accounting records.

Customer prices and GST​

Consumer-facing prices must show the applicable minimum total price, including taxes and unavoidable or pre-selected fees. See ACCC price-display guidance.

Whether a sale is taxable, GST-free, or otherwise treated depends on the seller, product, customer, and transaction. Do not assume every listing has the same GST treatment merely because the storefront price is GST-inclusive where required.

Marketplace fees​

OKNowShop records its marketplace fee components separately from the seller's gross sale. The applicable platform, loyalty, per-order, processing, refund, and adjustment amounts come from the current rate/account contract and accepted order records.

Do not use a fixed percentage from this guide. In Financial Records, reconcile:

  1. gross marketplace sales and refunds;
  2. recorded marketplace fees;
  3. payment-provider processing and chargeback records;
  4. settlements, adjustments, approved transfers, and bank arrival; and
  5. costs and income outside the marketplace in your own ledger. Ask your adviser how GST applies to those figures.

A net bank deposit is not, by itself, the gross sales or taxable-income figure.

Invoices and marketplace activity records​

Partner Portal exposes:

  • Financial Records → Invoices for recorded fee invoices where they exist;
  • Marketplace activity (/financials/taxes) for delivered-sales totals, order counts, and recorded marketplace fees; and
  • settlement and fee exports for reconciliation.

These are inputs, not a lodged BAS and not a complete business ledger. They do not include every external supplier invoice, freight cost, wage, rent, asset, accountant adjustment, or sale made elsewhere.

The ATO explains tax-invoice requirements and the evidence needed to claim GST credits in its tax-invoice guidance. Do not rely on OKNowShop to satisfy a missing or incorrect invoice without checking the actual document.

Record keeping​

The ATO generally requires business and GST records to be retained for five years, with the start point and longer-retention exceptions depending on the record and circumstances. Keep your own durable copies of:

  • sales, refunds, fee, adjustment, settlement, and payout exports;
  • customer invoices and marketplace fee invoices;
  • supplier and freight invoices;
  • bank and payment-provider statements; and
  • the calculations and advice supporting GST and income-tax treatment.

Portal availability is not a retention guarantee. Export records on a schedule that meets your own policy and adviser requirements.

Practical accounting checks​

  • Confirm GST registration state and legal identity before the first taxable sale.
  • Reconcile one order from gross sale through fees, refund state, settlement, approved transfer, and bank arrival.
  • Reconcile an invoice and marketplace-activity export to the underlying order records.
  • Record missing values as unresolved instead of estimating them.
  • Ask your adviser how gift cards, mixed taxable/GST-free baskets, shipping, discounts, supplier-backed orders, and cross-border activity apply to your business.

Related: Payment Processing.