Hi Community,
This question is relating to business expenses and claiming GST with a receipt, not a tax invoice detailing all required information.
When making online hotel accommodation bookings through travel websites, in many cases the sites do not issue tax invoices, instead they issue receipts or itineraries with the total costs listed. The charges may list separately the taxes and fees, but sometimes you cannot identify the GST component as these taxes and fees are more than 10% of the total cost. These receipts also do not have an ABN listed, however they do list the name of the hotel which can be looked up and the ABN number can be identified with reasonable certainty.
As per the ATO site for taxable sales less than $1,000 must include enough information to clearly determine the following 7 details:
- document is intended to be a tax invoice
- seller's identity
- seller's Australian business number (ABN)
- date the invoice was issued
- brief description of the items sold, including the quantity (if applicable) and the price
- GST amount (if any) payable – this can be shown separately or, if the GST amount is exactly one-eleventh of the total price, as a statement which says 'Total price includes GST'
- extent to which each sale on the invoice is a taxable sale
https://www.ato.gov.au/Business/GST/Tax-invoices/
From reading this it doesn't say the invoice must include these items but they need to be clearly determinable.
When reading the booking websites terms they stipulate that the "tax recovery charges on prepaid hotel reservations are a recovery of the estimated taxes (e.g sales and use occupancy, room tax, excise tax, value added tax etc). that website.com pays to the hotel supplier for taxes due on the hotels rental rate for the room.
This is a form of intermediary taxable supply arrangement between the site and the accommodation provider. Where some GST would be remitted to the ATO by
- the website - amounts associated with the commission collected from the hotel
- the hotel - amounts associated with the accommodation charged to the customer
The issue with this when claiming these expense as a business expenses and claiming the GST credits, most people would just assume that the GST component is just 10% of the total cost and apportion it accordingly, however then the entered transaction does not match the receipt for taxes, as they list taxes and fees together on the same line.
So, there may be a discrepancy between the amounts remitted to and claimed against the ATO by all 3 parties to the transaction.
I have noticed on some booking websites the taxes sections are exactly 10% and they also include a note on how they are calculated in relation to discounts, which makes it clearer.
Is the ATO satisfied that businesses can use these receipts to claim an expense with no ABN number listed and also where the GST component can only be reasonably assumed?
Thanks very much
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