What do I do if a supplier charges GST while not registered?

supplier charging Gst while not registered

There are many thousands of businesses who are registered for GST, and charge GST for their goods and services in Australia. So seeing a GST amount included on an invoice comes as no surprise.

However, few businesses actually confirm if the entity they are dealing with are actually registered for GST.

If a business is not registered for GST, they cannot add 10% onto the price of their goods/services and claim it as “GST”.

Likewise, you cannot claim a GST credit on the purchase as the seller was not registered, even if you have an invoice from them showing an amount as GST.

It is easy to check the GST registration status of a business.

Simply go to https://abr.business.gov.au/ (ABN Lookup) and enter the ABN of the business you are searching for. You can then see the current and historical ABN and GST registration details of the entity.

If your business has a large number of contacts, you can download the ‘ABN Lookup Tool’. In the downloaded spreadsheet, enter the ABN of each contact and hit ‘Start Lookup’. You can save the spreadsheet with your contact details in place, so you can perform regular searches and see if there has been any change in GST registration status since your last search.

So what can you do if a business has charged you a GST amount without being registered?

If you haven’t paid the supplier:

Ask for the invoice to be reissued, removing the extra 10% charged and showing no GST was charged.
Do not claim the GST amount in your Business Activity Statement.

If you have paid the supplier:

Ask for a refund of the 10% extra charged
Ask for the invoice to be reissued, removing the extra 10% charged and showing no GST was charged.
Do not claim the GST amount in your Business Activity Statement.