What does the ATO actually require of a shoot's receipts?
Verified against ato.gov.au on 8 July 2026, links in the source note. This is general information, not tax advice.
- GST is 10%, a broad-based tax on most goods and services sold in Australia. On a mixed pile of shoot receipts, some line items carry it and some do not, which is exactly why "total divided by eleven" across a whole receipt is not good enough for the books.
- The $82.50 line. To claim a GST credit on your BAS for a purchase costing more than $82.50 including GST, you must hold a tax invoice. At or under that figure, a cash register docket or ordinary receipt does the job. If a supplier has not given you a tax invoice, they must provide one within 28 days of you asking.
- A valid tax invoice has seven required details (for sales under $1,000): that it is intended as a tax invoice, the seller's identity, the seller's ABN, the issue date, a description of the items with quantity and price, the GST amount (or "Total price includes GST" where it is exactly one eleventh), and the extent to which each sale is taxable. From $1,000 up, the buyer's identity or ABN must appear too. A crumpled EFTPOS stub is not a tax invoice.
- Digital copies are enough, kept for 5 years. The ATO accepts images of paper records saved digitally, provided they are true and clear reproductions; once saved, you generally do not have to keep the paper. Most business records must be kept for five years.
| ATO rule | What it requires | The practical trigger |
|---|---|---|
| GST rate | 10% on most goods and services | Never assume the whole receipt is one-eleventh GST |
| Tax invoice threshold | Required above $82.50 including GST to claim the credit | At or under, a docket or receipt is enough |
| Tax invoice details | Seven required details under $1,000; buyer ID too from $1,000 | A bare EFTPOS stub does not qualify |
| Record keeping | True and clear digital reproductions, kept 5 years | The paper can be thrown out once the image is saved |
Why productions get this wrong
Not because producers cannot read tax pages. Because a shoot is the worst possible environment for paperwork: forty receipts across three days, five people spending (fuel, parking, catering, props, a hardware run at 7am), half the dockets thermal paper fading in a hot glovebox, and the person responsible for the books also responsible for the entire day. The receipts survive the shoot; the evening they are supposed to be entered does not. That is the 11pm spreadsheet night, and it is where GST credits quietly leak: a faded docket, a missing ABN, a receipt that never made it out of the ute.
The workflow: capture at the moment of payment
The fix is not a better spreadsheet. It is moving the capture to the moment the money moves:
- Whoever pays, photographs. The runner buys the gaffer tape, the runner photographs the docket before the ute door closes. Thirty seconds, done while the memory is fresh.
- The record is structured at capture, not at wrap. Supplier, ABN, date, category, total, and the GST split out per the rules above, while the receipt is still legible.
- Honesty beats optimism. A blurred total or an unreadable ABN should become a flagged blank, never a guess. A confident wrong number in the books is worse than a gap you can chase while the supplier still remembers you.
- The running total stays live. The producer should be able to answer "what has this job cost so far" from the car park, not after wrap.
- Wrap is an export, not a project. The books leave the shoot as a tax-column file the bookkeeper can use directly: date, supplier, ABN, category, GST, total.
How does Runner Runner handle GST and receipts?
Runner Runner is built around exactly that workflow, inside the shoot rather than in a separate expense app. Photograph a receipt (or twenty at once at wrap) and each becomes a structured expense against the shoot: supplier, ABN, date, category, total, and the GST read from the docket, or estimated and flagged as an estimate where the paper does not show it. Anything it cannot read it leaves blank and flags, never guesses. The shoot carries a live running total, and the wrap export is a CSV with the full Australian tax columns, ready for the bookkeeper. The photographed image stays attached to the record, which is your true and clear reproduction for the five-year rule.
What it does not do: lodge your BAS, or replace your accountant. It gets every receipt captured, split and exported so their job starts from clean data.
Frequently asked
What is the easiest expense tracking app for productions?
The easiest workflow is the one where the receipt is captured at the moment someone pays, on the phone that is already in their hand. Runner Runner photographs a receipt into a structured expense with the GST read or estimated and flagged, inside the shoot it belongs to, with a live running total. Generic receipt apps capture too, but they do not know what a shoot, a shoot day or a runner is.
Do I need paper receipts for tax in Australia?
No. The ATO accepts digital images of paper records provided they are true and clear reproductions and meet its record-keeping rules. Once you have saved a clear image, you generally do not have to keep the paper (unless a specific law requires it). Records must be kept for 5 years.
When do I need a tax invoice to claim GST on production costs?
For purchases costing more than $82.50 including GST, you must hold a tax invoice to claim the GST credit on your BAS. At or under $82.50, a cash register docket or receipt is enough. Suppliers must provide a tax invoice within 28 days if you ask.