Tax, law and invoicing in the trades — Australia
12 posts for this country. We write our own posts per country instead of translations — the source and the date it was checked sit under every one.
- Zirko Redaktion8 min read
The certificate clock that starts after testing: NSW, Victoria
In New South Wales a CCEW is due seven days after the safety and compliance test. In Victoria a prescribed job cannot be energised until a licensed electrical inspector has passed it.
Zirko Redaktion3 min readTradie invoice: the $1,000 line most jobs cross
The Friday run for an Australian trade business: was the quote GST-inclusive, the $75 and $1,000 lines, the payment claim that is not a tax invoice, and a sub who quoted no ABN.
- Zirko Redaktion7 min read
Job management software for tradies: the GST line in a quote
Two of the best-known job management tools in Australia quote on opposite tax bases: one includes GST, one excludes it. The same rule decides how your quote to a homeowner has to look.
Zirko Redaktion10 min readBuilder licence thresholds in NSW, Victoria and Queensland
$5,000 in New South Wales, $10,000 in Victoria, $3,300 in Queensland. Cross the line without the right licence and two of three states take the money away entirely, not the profit.
- Zirko Redaktion9 min read
Payday super from 1 July 2026, and the subcontractor rule
Super is due within seven business days of every payday. Section 12(3) makes anyone working under a contract wholly or principally for their labour your employee for super, ABN or not.
- Zirko Redaktion7 min read
No ABN on the invoice: the withholding duty is the payer's
Section 12-190 puts the withholding duty on the person paying, not the person invoicing. Pay a subcontractor who did not quote an ABN and you still owe the withheld amount to the ATO.
- Zirko Redaktion12 min read
Security of payment: eight jurisdictions, eight sets of deadlines
There is no Australian security of payment act. There are eight, and they disagree about when a payment schedule is due, when the money is due, and what happens if nobody responds.
- Zirko Redaktion11 min read
Security of payment in NSW: 20 business days, 10 to answer
New South Wales gives a subcontractor 20 business days to be paid and the payer 10 business days to answer. Miss the schedule and the whole claimed amount is owed with no defences.
- Zirko Redaktion11 min read
Security of payment in Queensland: 15 business days to answer
Queensland is the only jurisdiction where failing to answer a payment claim is an offence and grounds for QBCC disciplinary action. Your contract's payment terms may already be void.
- Zirko Redaktion11 min read
Security of payment in Victoria: what the 2025 rewrite changed
Excluded amounts are gone. No contract may push a progress payment past 20 business days. Payment claims now have their own statutory calendar, including two December rules.
Zirko Redaktion9 min readTPAR for builders: the 50 per cent test and 28 August
If half your income or half your business activity is building and construction, and you pay contractors, a Taxable payments annual report is due by 28 August. The test looks back too.
- Zirko Redaktion9 min read
The white card: what the regulation requires, and Victoria
The white card is not a licence and it does not expire. What lapses is the entitlement to rely on it: two years without construction work and it stops counting. Victoria goes further.
