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2 July 2025

I am a technician in a very small field

I was contracted by an australian company to train 4 people overseas.

All flights and accomodation were paid for by the australian company

I was required to wear the australian companies uniform, not my own - essentially treated as an employee as far as the overseas company was concerned

I charged the customer gst on my per day fee and my per diem as I thought I was required to as a gst registered company billing a gst registered company in autralia.

My understanding was I was providing them the service of my skills.

I have been advised that I cannot charge gst see below. Is this correct please


The application of GST to services provided outside of Australia by an Australian entity can be a grey area. However, under section 9-25 of the GST Act, a service must be connected with Australia to be considered a taxable supply.

 A supply is considered connected with Australia if:

  1. The services are performed in Australia; or
  2. The supplier is carrying on an enterprise in Australia and the recipient is in Australia – unless the supply qualifies as an export of services.

 Based on the information you've provided, it appears the services were performed entirely outside Australia and provided to a recipient located overseas. In this case, the supply would not be considered "connected with Australia" and would likely fall under the category of GST-free export of services.


So in essence would the tax office see me as exporting my service seeing as I had to wear their uniform and be their representative not a contractor. Just confused. Please help as I am trying to collect on the debt and it is just getting ridiculous after over 12 months. This is the latest delay!

676 views
8 replies
676 views
8 replies

All replies

4 July 2025

@RachelATO Thanks. I was just a bit confused as I supplied my services to a gst registered company in australia and they supplied the training service to the overseas company. They made all the arrangements etc so I would have thought that they were exporting my services not me. Just seems strange that I had no dealings to organise etc but I am seen as exporting my service not the company that I invoiced. I was dealt with as if I was an employee of the australian company including wearing a uniform and signing off as their employee not a contractor. So are you saying I am the one doing the exporting in this circumstance? Just confused sorry

4 July 2025

@JayATO


JayATO(Community Support)Community Support
4 July 2025

Hiya @Dobbythetech


The multiple moving parts here can make things seem a bit more complicated than they are. If you are invoicing an entity (any entity) for a service that was performed and utilised overseas, it is considered an exported service.


If it was the other way around, and the overseas entity sent their employees here for training, GST would apply because the services would be utilised in Australia.


It's not who is doing the exporting that tells us if GST should apply. The fact that the service is exported, means that all invoices for the service (yours and the company that contracted you) will be GST free.



4 July 2025

Thanks @JayATO fair enough. Just confuses us poor small businesses when we think we are doing the right thing. Does that include travel days and per diems or just the service part please as I need to correct the invoice to reflect this

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GST for overseas work | ATO Community