Australia GST 2026: $90.2 Billion Collected, 9.4% Compliance Gap [Data]

Australia’s net GST cash collections reached $90.2 billion in the 2024-25 financial year, up 6.2% from the year before, according to the Australian Taxation Office’s GST Administration Annual Performance Report 2024-25. That is the headline. Underneath it sits a widening compliance gap, a doubled refund-fraud review window, and a registration base of more than 2.7 million businesses, every one of which had to get a GST tax invoice right to make the total add up.

How much GST did Australia collect in 2024-25?

Net GST cash collections, the figure left after refunds, came to $90.2 billion in FY2024-25, according to the ATO’s GST Administration Annual Performance Report 2024-25. That total included $5.6 billion collected by the Department of Home Affairs on imported goods, and it landed 6.2%, or $5.3 billion, above the prior year’s outcome, reflecting growth in consumption subject to GST. The ATO also reports a second figure, net GST accrued on a tax liability method, which came to $93.4 billion for the same period. The $3.2 billion gap between the accrued figure and the cash figure largely reflects increasing debt, businesses that reported GST owing but had not yet paid it. Both numbers depend entirely on the tax invoices businesses issue and retain: an ATO-compliant tax invoice is the document a purchaser needs to claim an input tax credit, and it is the primary evidence the ATO checks when it reconciles what was collected against what should have been.

Figure 1: Australia’s net GST cash collections for the 2024-25 financial year. Source: Australian Taxation Office, GST Administration Annual Performance Report 2024-25.

Did GST collections beat or miss the government’s forecast?

They beat it. The 2024-25 Budget estimated net GST cash collections of $87.6 billion for the year; the actual outcome of $90.2 billion landed 3.0%, or $2.6 billion, above that forecast, according to the ATO’s own revenue-performance reporting. Treasury and the ATO build these estimates from expected household consumption, so an upside surprise of this size signals consumption held up better than modeled, not a change in the GST rate or base. It also means the 10% GST is generating meaningfully more government revenue than budgeted for a second straight year, an outcome that flows through every state and territory budget, since GST revenue is distributed to the states.

Figure 2: Actual GST cash collections outpaced the government’s own budget estimate by $2.6 billion in FY2024-25. Source: Australian Taxation Office, GST Administration Annual Performance Report 2024-25.

How has GST revenue grown over the past three years?

Net GST cash collections have climbed every year since 2022-23. Collections came in at approximately $81.3 billion in FY2022-23, based on the ATO’s disclosed dollar and percentage growth figures, then rose 4.4% ($3.6 billion) to $84.9 billion in FY2023-24, a result that landed just under Treasury’s $85.9 billion estimate for that year. The following year, FY2024-25, growth accelerated to 6.2% ($5.3 billion), taking the total to $90.2 billion. Three straight years of growth in a consumption-based tax points to resilient household and business spending even as cost-of-living pressure dominated the political conversation over the same period.

Figure 3: Australia’s net GST cash collections have grown every year since 2022-23. Source: Australian Taxation Office, GST Administration Annual Performance Report, 2023-24 and 2024-25 editions.

How big is Australia’s GST gap, and is it getting worse?

The GST gap is the ATO’s own estimate of the difference between what should theoretically be collected under the law and what is actually collected. The net gap, after voluntary compliance and ATO enforcement activity, was 9.4% of theoretical GST in 2023-24, equal to $8.7 billion, up from 9.1% ($8.1 billion) the year before, according to the ATO’s tax gap program. The gross gap, the shortfall before any compliance activity is counted, was 12.5% ($11.6 billion) in 2023-24, a slight improvement from 12.7% in 2022-23 and 14.4% in 2021-22. Read together, the two trends say the underlying non-compliance problem is easing a little at the gross level, while the amount the ATO is failing to recover afterward is edging up, worth watching as 2024-25’s gap estimate is published.

Figure 4: Australia’s net and gross GST gaps, 2022-23 versus 2023-24. Source: Australian Taxation Office, Goods and Services Tax Gap, latest estimate and trends.

How many businesses are registered to collect GST?

There were 2,729,648 actively trading, GST-remitting businesses in Australia as of 30 June 2025, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ Counts of Australian Businesses data, which defines a business in scope as one with a GST role that is actively lodging activity statements. Of that total, 994,178 were employing businesses and the remaining 1,735,470 operated without employees, split roughly 36% to 64%. A business must register for GST once its turnover reaches $75,000 a year, or immediately if it operates a taxi or ride-share service, regardless of turnover. Against a backdrop where 97.3% of Australian businesses are classified as small, according to the Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman, GST compliance is overwhelmingly a small-business administrative burden, not a large-corporate one.

Figure 5: GST-registered businesses in Australia by employment status, 30 June 2025. Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Counts of Australian Businesses.

What counts as a valid GST tax invoice?

A GST tax invoice needs to show the seller’s identity and ABN, the date of issue, a description of the goods or services, the GST-inclusive price, and a clear statement that GST applies, with slightly different rules for invoices under and over $1,000. Getting any of those fields wrong is not a cosmetic issue: it is the document an auditor pulls first, and it is what a purchaser needs on file to claim an input tax credit. A separate, more detailed breakdown of exactly what belongs on an Australian tax invoice, line by line, sits outside the scope of this data-focused piece, but the short version is that an invoice generator built around the ATO’s format removes most of the ways a business accidentally issues a non-compliant invoice in the first place.

How is the ATO cracking down on GST refund fraud?

From 1 July 2025, the ATO can hold a suspect business activity statement refund for up to 30 days before paying it, double the previous 14-day window, under a measure legislated in the 2024-25 Budget. Previously, legal constraints required most GST refunds to be processed within 14 days, with the expectation that compliance checking would happen after the money had already gone out the door. The extended window gives the ATO more time to detect and investigate potential fraud before release, rather than after, while the ATO says legitimate refunds should be largely unaffected. The change lands against a backdrop of softening client sentiment: satisfaction among clients who recently interacted with the ATO about GST fell to 81% in 2024-25, three percentage points below the prior year’s result.

Figure 6: The ATO’s window to review a suspect GST refund before paying it doubled from 14 to 30 days, effective 1 July 2025. Source: Australian Taxation Office, new legislation guidance.

Data point	Figure	Source
Australia net GST cash collections, FY2024-25	$90.2 billion	Australian Taxation Office
Above the government’s FY2024-25 budget estimate	3.0% ($2.6 billion)	Australian Taxation Office
Net GST gap, 2023-24	9.4% ($8.7 billion)	ATO Tax Gap program
GST-registered businesses, 30 June 2025	2,729,648	Australian Bureau of Statistics
GST refund fraud review window, from 1 July 2025	14 to 30 days	Australian Taxation Office

Table 1: The headline GST figures referenced throughout this piece.

The Bottom Line

Australia’s GST system is not standing still. $90.2 billion in net cash collections for FY2024-25 beat both the prior year’s result and the government’s own budget forecast, powered by more than 2.7 million actively registered businesses, each one relying on a correctly formatted tax invoice to make its share of that total collectible and auditable. At the same time, the ATO is tightening enforcement, with a wider refund-fraud review window and a net compliance gap that is still measured in billions of dollars a year. For a business on either side of that equation, the practical takeaway is the same: a GST-compliant tax invoice generated the same way every time is the single easiest control against becoming part of next year’s gap statistic. For how these GST totals compare with the VAT collected in other countries, see How Much GST/VAT Flows Through Invoices; for how Australia’s late-payment problem interacts with this same invoicing chain, a companion piece on Australian late payment data covers that ground in full, and a deeper walkthrough of exactly what belongs on a compliant Australian tax invoice covers that ground as a dedicated guide.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much GST did Australia collect in 2024-25? Australia’s net GST cash collections reached $90.2 billion in the 2024-25 financial year, up 6.2% ($5.3 billion) from the year before, according to the Australian Taxation Office’s GST Administration Annual Performance Report 2024-25. That total included $5.6 billion collected by the Department of Home Affairs on imported goods and landed 3.0% ($2.6 billion) above the government’s own budget estimate of $87.6 billion.

What is Australia’s GST gap? The GST gap is the difference between the GST the ATO estimates should theoretically be collected and what is actually collected. The latest net GST gap, for 2023-24, was 9.4% of theoretical GST, or $8.7 billion, up from 9.1% ($8.1 billion) the year before. The gross gap, before compliance activity is factored in, was 12.5% ($11.6 billion) in 2023-24, down slightly from 12.7% in 2022-23.

How many businesses are registered for GST in Australia? There were 2,729,648 actively trading, GST-remitting businesses in Australia as of 30 June 2025, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ Counts of Australian Businesses data. Of those, 994,178 were employing businesses and the remaining 1,735,470 operated without employees. Businesses must register for GST once their turnover reaches $75,000.

How is the ATO responding to GST refund fraud? From 1 July 2025, the ATO can hold a suspect GST refund for up to 30 days before paying it, double the previous 14-day window, under a measure legislated in the 2024-25 Budget. The change gives the ATO more time to detect and investigate potential fraud before a refund is released rather than only after, while legitimate refunds are meant to be largely unaffected.