Ecommerce business expenses in Australia: the complete guide for online sellers

An Australian online seller’s biggest tax questions are about borders. Stock bought overseas carries import GST that is paid to the border agency and claimed back as a credit, or deferred to the BAS if you qualify. Offshore platforms and apps should not charge a registered business GST at all, because the law hands the GST question to the buyer. Low-value goods sold to consumers are taxed at the point of sale under the A$1,000 rule. Get those right and the rest is stock, fees, postage and payroll. This guide goes through the whole ledger, category by category, with a verdict for each one before the detail. Every figure is sourced to the ATO in the Sources section, retrieved 10 October 2026.

What this guide covers: stock and the simplified trading stock rules, import GST and the deferred GST scheme, low value imported goods, offshore platform, app and ad fees and the reverse charge, postage, packaging and fulfilment, equipment and the instant asset write-off, staff and super, and the BAS, records and year-end work that tie it together.

The online seller’s ledger at a glance

The rest of this guide walks through each row, and every section opens with its verdict.

Where ExpenseFlow fits

An online seller’s purchase ledger is supplier invoices from overseas, customs broker and freight bills, monthly platform statements, app subscriptions and ad spend, much of it in US dollars. ExpenseFlow captures each document (email forward, upload or phone), reads the line items, the currency and the GST, codes each line with a written reason, and routes anything uncertain to a person before it posts. Its ecommerce checks are built from the rules on this page: marketplace and payment-processor fees are coded as operating expenses, not cost of goods sold, and offshore-billed fees are flagged for the reverse charge question; an overseas goods supplier’s invoice is flagged because the GST credit comes from the import declaration, not the invoice; a foreign supplier’s local tax is flagged as not creditable in Australia; and a document over $82.50 with no ABN is flagged. After approval the bill syncs to Xero with the source document attached, or to QuickBooks Online as a coded bill.

What it does not do: it does not reconcile marketplace payouts to orders, value stock or lodge your BAS. The ecommerce chart of accounts for Xero and for QuickBooks line up with the categories below.

The ExpenseFlow for online sellers page covers these checks across all five countries.

Stock and the simplified trading stock rules

Purchases of trading stock, including delivery charges, are deductible operating expenses ^[5] . At year end, a small business with aggregated turnover under $10 million can use the simplified trading stock rules if it reasonably estimates its stock value changed by $5,000 or less, and then needs no stocktake and no adjustment for the change ^[6] . A seller holding a steady inventory level year on year usually qualifies; one building stock for a new product line usually does not.

Import GST and the deferred GST scheme

GST is payable on most goods imported into Australia, and the GST is 10% of the value of the taxable importation: the customs value plus customs duty, transport and insurance to Australia ^[1] . It is generally paid before the goods are released ^[1] . A GST-registered business that imports goods for its activities can claim a credit, but only as the importer: you must have caused the goods to be brought to Australia for your own purposes, such as trading stock, and be named as owner on the import declaration ^[2] . The supplier’s invoice from overseas shows no Australian GST and supports no credit.

The deferred GST scheme lets eligible importers pay the GST on taxable imports through the monthly BAS instead of at the border ^[3] . You need an ABN and GST registration, must lodge and pay electronically, and must lodge the BAS monthly ^[3] , which is a trade-off for a seller currently on quarterly BAS.

Offshore platform, app and ad fees

If you are an Australian GST-registered business and you import services, digital products or low value imported goods, you shouldn’t be charged GST; the law puts the business purchaser, not the overseas supplier, in charge of working out whether GST is payable and paying it through the reverse charge rules, so a registered business ends up in the same net GST position as if it had bought locally ^[4] . Reverse charge applies to things other than goods and real property done outside Australia or supplied through a business carried on outside Australia, where the purchase meets the conditions in the rules, and the amount is 10% of the price ^[8] . If an offshore platform charges you GST because you never gave it your ABN, give it the ABN and ask for the GST back; it is not a credit you can claim from their invoice. Marketplace, processor, app and ad fees are deductible operating expenses ^[5] ; the software and subscriptions guides cover deductibility.

The A$1,000 rule on low value goods

A non-resident business selling goods with a customs value of A$1,000 or less into Australia collects GST from the customer and sends it to the ATO; this applies to merchants, electronic distribution platforms and redeliverers, and has applied since 1 July 2018 ^[7] . When the buyer is your GST-registered business, the low value goods should be sold to you without GST ^[4] .

Postage, packaging, fulfilment and marketing

Delivery and freight, packaging, advertising and subscription fees for software are ordinary operating expenses ^[5] . Claim credits from tax invoices for anything over $82.50, from registered suppliers ^[9] .

Equipment and the instant asset write-off

A small business with turnover under $10 million can immediately deduct the business portion of each asset costing less than $20,000 when first used or installed ^[10] , and from 1 July 2026 the $20,000 limit is permanent ^[11] . The equipment guide covers the pool for dearer assets.

Staff and super

Wages and super paid on time to a complying fund are deductible once PAYG withholding and reporting obligations are met ^[12] . The super guarantee rate is 12%, and Payday Super applies from 1 July 2026 ^[13] . Warehouse casuals are employees from their first shift.

BAS, records and year end

Credits need a tax invoice for anything over $82.50 and can be claimed within four years ^[9] ; import credits rest on the import declaration naming you as owner ^[2] . Records are kept for five years, as the record-keeping guide sets out; the GST and BAS guide, BAS lodgment guide and year-end checklist cover the rest.

Common mistakes

• Claiming import GST from the overseas supplier’s invoice instead of the import record ^[2] .
• Claiming import credits when your broker or the supplier is named as owner on the declaration ^[2] .
• Paying GST to an offshore platform and treating it as a credit ^[4] .
• Putting marketplace fees into cost of goods sold ^[5] .
• Doing a full stocktake when stock moved by less than $5,000, or skipping it when it moved by more ^[6] .
• Staying on quarterly BAS while wanting the deferred GST scheme ^[3] .