Claiming GST credits and your Suppliers
When your business is registered for GST, you know that you are able to claim a credit back on your next BAS for the GST you pay to your Supplier. But what happens when the Supplier is charging you GST when they aren’t actually registered to collect GST? You may pay them the extra 10% on their invoice but you are not entitled to claim that credit back from the ATO. If it has already been claimed, you may have to refund it to the ATO at a later date.
So how do you prevent this happening?
Most businesses know that they need to have a valid Tax Invoice from their Supplier and that it must quote the Supplier’s ABN. But, did you know that the law also puts the responsibility onto business owners to check that their Suppliers are giving them correct information on the Tax Invoice?
So this means that you need to check :-
- That your Supplier has provided an ABN and that it is current and that it belongs to them, and
- That your Supplier is registered for GST and is therefore allowed to charge GST.
How can this be checked?
The Government has provided an ABN Lookup Tool which can be relied upon to give you information about Supplier ABN and GST registration. Your internet browser search will find it under ABN Lookup or you can go to http://abr.business.gov.au/
