These are written for someone doing this for the first time, and for someone who does their own books between jobs, not for a bookkeeper. Start with Starting out if you have not registered anything yet; the rest is for once the invoices are going out. Where a rule has a number attached, we say what it is and where to check it, because the ATO changes them more often than any article gets updated.
Starting out
Before you have registered anything: structure, ABN, business name, GST.
- How to start a business in Australia Pick a structure, get a free ABN, register a business name, decide on GST. The steps in the order they depend on each other.
- What is a sole trader? An individual trading as themselves, with no separate legal entity. What that means for your tax, and what unlimited liability really costs.
- Sole trader, partnership, company or trust? Who carries the liability, how each structure taxes your profit, what it costs to run, and the signals it is time to change.
- How to get an ABN Who is entitled, what to have ready, how long it takes, and why you should never pay a third party for a free registration.
- Do I need to register for GST? The $75,000 rolling turnover test, the 21-day rule, and when registering voluntarily is worth the quarterly BAS.
- How to register a business name When you actually need one, how to check a name is free, and why it protects far less than a trade mark does.
- ABN vs ACN One identifies a business, the other a company. Which structures need which, and why a company ABN contains its ACN.
Managing your ABN
After the ABN exists: keeping it current, closing it down, starting again.
- How to update your ABN details The 28-day rule, changing your business address the right way, and the five things you cannot change online.
- How to cancel an ABN When you have to cancel, what to lodge first, the free online steps, and what gets cancelled alongside it.
- How to reactivate a cancelled ABN You re-apply rather than reactivate, it is free, and you usually get the same number back. Why an ABN never needs renewing.
Invoices and payments
The paperwork of getting paid, and what each document actually does.
- What is an invoice? What goes on an Australian invoice, how to number and send them, and the point at which one must become a tax invoice.
- Invoice vs receipt One asks for money, the other proves it arrived. What you must give a customer, and which one supports a GST credit.
- What is a purchase order? The document a corporate client sends first, and the reason an invoice with no PO number sits unpaid for a month.
- What is a proforma invoice? Invoice-shaped, but a request for payment in advance. What to put on one, and why it can never be a tax invoice.
- What is a credit note? How to reverse an invoice you have already sent, what an Australian adjustment note must contain, and the BAS effect.
- What is PayTo? How a payment agreement works for the business collecting the money, how it differs from PayID and direct debit, and what you need to use it.
- What is a remittance advice? The note that tells you which invoices a lump-sum payment covers, and how to use it to reconcile in minutes.
- Recipient created tax invoices When the buyer writes the tax invoice instead of you: who may, the written agreement required, and what you still report.
- Credit card surcharges From 1 October 2026 you cannot surcharge a card payment. What the ban covers, what is still allowed, and what to do instead.
Bookkeeping basics
Keeping records that hold up, without needing a bookkeeping qualification.
- What is bookkeeping? What Australian law requires you to keep, how bookkeeping differs from accounting, and the smallest system that works.
- Chart of accounts The categories every transaction sorts into, and how designing them from your tax return saves a weekend in June.
- Cash vs accrual accounting Count money when it moves, or when the invoice is raised? What each does to your GST timing and your profit figure.
Tax and GST
What you owe, when you owe it, and what reduces it.
- What is a BAS? What a Business Activity Statement is, who has to lodge one, what goes in each box and when it is due.
- BAS due dates The four quarterly due dates, the two concessions that move them, and why quarter 2 gets no agent extension.
- When is the end of the financial year? 30 June, every year. The dates, why FY26 means the year ending in 2026, and what to close off before the year does.
- When is your tax return due? 31 October if you lodge it yourself, later through an agent, and the condition you must meet before 31 October to get that.
- Sole trader tax deductions What a sole trader can claim, what records the ATO expects, and the deductions most people miss.
- How much tax does a sole trader pay? There is no separate sole trader tax rate. How the calculation runs, why GST is not income, and how much to set aside.
- PAYG instalments Why the ATO entered you without asking, the two ways the amount is worked out, and the year-two squeeze to plan for.
- Superannuation for sole traders Nobody pays it for you. How the deduction works, why the notice of intent matters, and when a contractor is owed super.
- Employee or contractor? An ABN does not make you a contractor. What decides it, what does not count, and what misclassifying costs.
- Can a sole trader have employees? Yes, but PAYG withholding, Single Touch Payroll, super and workers comp follow, and the liability is personal.
Guides
Step by step, for the jobs that have an order to them.
Comparisons
What the options actually cover, and where the catch is.
- Free accounting software in Australia What "free" actually covers in Australian accounting software, and the limits to check before you commit.
- Accounting software for sole traders The main options for an Australian sole trader compared on price, BAS and invoice limits, with the catch on each one.
- Xero vs MYOB Every Xero and MYOB plan side by side, the limit on each cheapest plan, and which suits a sole trader.
- MYOB pricing in Australia What each MYOB plan costs, how we know its prices include GST, and why the cheapest one cannot lodge a BAS.
- Xero pricing in Australia What each Xero plan costs a month, the 20 invoice cap on the cheapest one, and the fees charged on top.
- Xero alternatives in Australia Seven alternatives to Xero priced against Ignite, which ones lodge your BAS, and what you give up by switching.
- QuickBooks pricing in Australia What each QuickBooks Online plan costs a month, what payroll adds on top, and which plan a sole trader needs.
- Wave accounting in Australia Wave no longer serves Australia: what still works, how to download your records, and the free software that replaces it.
Free calculators
No signup, no email. They run in the page and the result is in the URL, so you can send it to someone.
- Invoice generator Build a compliant Australian tax invoice with your ABN and GST, then print it or save it as a PDF. Nothing is uploaded.
- GST calculator Add or remove 10% GST from any amount, and see the GST-exclusive, GST and GST-inclusive figures at once.
- Hourly rate calculator Work back from the income you want to the hourly rate you need to charge, after costs, leave and tax.