The Amazon Australia seller tax checklist: first shipment to first BAS
The whole obligation set for a non-resident seller into Australia, in the order it actually arises. Every line links to the full article in this series. This page is deliberately blunt: what to do, when, and which expensively-sold extras the standard pattern does not need.
(General information only, current at August 2026. Confirm your own position before acting.)
Before your first shipment
□ Confirm which of your sales will be connected with Australia. Anything sold from Australian warehousing is yours, always. Offshore dispatches of goods at A$1,000 or less each through a marketplace are generally the platform’s problem, not yours. Amazon does not collect GST on your FBA sales →
□ Measure the threshold on projected as well as current figures. A$75,000 of Australian-connected turnover — and a stock build with a sales plan can put you over before your first sale. Once required, you have 21 days to apply. GST registration check (2 minutes) →
□ Choose standard registration, not simplified. If you import stock, simplified registration is the single most expensive default in this market: no credits, ever, including the 10% at the border. Simplified vs standard →
□ Skip what you don’t need. No Australian company, no resident director, no public officer, no ARBN for the standard pattern. Anyone bundling them into your setup should be asked which statutory test you meet. Australian company → · Public officer → · ASIC/ARBN →
Registration
□ Prepare the certified identity documents before lodging. The 43-day proof-of-identity window is the hard deadline that kills self-managed applications. Certified copies of physical originals; exact name matching across passport, certificate and application. The full document set and timeline →
□ Lodge ABN + GST together, timed to first shipment. Credits run from your effective registration date. Every unregistered month of importing is border GST donated.
□ Registered late? Model before you elect. Backdating creates output liability on past sales and opens past credits including border GST. It is arithmetic, not fear. How backdating works →
Your supply chain
□ Be the importer of record. The GST credit follows the customs entry, not the invoice. Instruct your forwarder in writing; check the field after any change of forwarder, supplier or lane; avoid DDP for stock you will sell from Australian warehouses. The customs line that decides the refund →
□ Importing steadily? Apply for deferred GST. Approved importers pay nothing at the wharf — the GST moves onto a monthly BAS where the credit offsets it in the same statement. Sequence the application ahead of your shipping calendar; the monthly-lodgment switch takes effect from the next quarter. The deferred GST scheme →
Income tax — the part most sellers over-buy
□ Know your treaty position. Mainland China and the US have treaties with Australia; Hong Kong does not. Treaty sellers stand behind the permanent establishment threshold; Hong Kong sellers rest on source analysis and should document it before scaling. FBA and permanent establishment → · The Hong Kong difference →
□ Standard pattern: no return — done properly. Treaty country, no permanent establishment, decisions offshore: no Australian income tax return. Express it correctly — a position paper on file, and a return-not-necessary advice where an income tax role exists. Silence without paperwork is not a position. Income tax returns for non-resident sellers →
The ongoing cycle
□ Lodge BAS on your cycle — quarterly by default, monthly on the deferred scheme. □ Charge GST correctly per channel — and keep it off sales the platform already remits. □ Keep customs entries and tax invoices — credits must be substantiated. □ Re-run the facts annually. The obligations in this checklist are stable only while the facts are: an Australian office, employees, a director relocating, or your own warehouse switches on the tests you skipped — some with 1-month and 3-month clocks attached.
The one-sentence version
Warehousing stock in Australia makes you a GST taxpayer — it does not, by itself, make you an Australian income taxpayer, an ASIC-registered branch, or a company that needs a resident officer. Each test is separate. Pay for what your facts trigger, and nothing else.
What to do next
Run the 2-minute GST registration check if you have not already. Then, if you want the whole checklist executed as one engagement — the six determinations in writing, registration with documents controlled, importer-of-record and deferred GST set up, and the BAS cycle run for you — that is exactly what AusTax Bridge is.
The rest of the cluster
- Choosing your route in: ABN registration for foreign companies
- The Amazon-specific question: do I need an ABN to sell on Amazon Australia?
- Which Australian number is which: ABN, ACN, ARBN and TFN decoded, and whether you need a TFN
- The upsell to check before you buy it: do you need an Australian resident director?
- By home country: from a US company · from a UK company · from a Hong Kong company
General information only, current at August 2026. It does not take your circumstances into account. Confirm your position with a registered tax agent before acting.
Common questions
What taxes does a non-resident Amazon Australia seller actually have to deal with?
For the standard pattern — foreign company, stock in FBA, management offshore — the near-universal obligation is GST: standard registration with an ABN, quarterly BAS, and import GST recovery. Income tax returns, a public officer, ASIC registration and an Australian company each have their own trigger that the standard pattern usually does not meet.
When should I register for GST — before or after my first shipment?
At or before first shipment into Australian warehousing. Projected turnover can require registration before your first dollar of revenue, and import GST is only recoverable from your effective registration date. Registering late means border GST is donated until fixed.
What is the single most expensive mistake new sellers make?
Choosing simplified GST registration while importing stock. A limited registration entity cannot claim any credits, so every dollar of border GST becomes unrecoverable. The second most expensive: not being named as importer on the customs entry.
Do I need an Australian company, resident director or ASIC registration to start?
No. A foreign company can hold an ABN and standard GST registration in its own name — no Australian entity, address, director, public officer or ARBN is required for the standard FBA pattern.
What ongoing compliance does an FBA seller actually have?
Quarterly BAS (monthly if on the deferred GST scheme), correct GST treatment per channel, customs documentation retained for credits, an annual re-check that the facts have not changed — staff, premises, director location — and, where an income tax role exists, an annual return-not-necessary advice.
Does this apply to you?
Book a free consultation — your situation, your options, and a fixed-fee quote within one business day.