Invoice App for Australian Sole Traders: What to Look For

Short answer: A good invoice app for an Australian sole trader makes the right document for your GST status. That’s a tax invoice with your ABN, the GST and, for sales of $1,000 or more, the buyer’s identity once you’re registered, or a plain invoice with no GST if you’re not. It should also turn quotes into invoices, keep receipts with their job, show who still owes you, and let you export records you must keep for five years. After that, choose on where your data is stored, what the app costs over those five years, and whether you need extras like bank feeds or BAS lodgement.

The ATO doesn’t tell you which app to use. What it sets is the content of a tax invoice and how long you keep your records, and those rules haven’t changed for the 2026–27 income year. This guide turns them into a checklist you can use on any app, free or paid. For the invoice rules in full, see how to invoice as a sole trader. If you only need a document to fill in, the Australian invoice template has both versions.

What should an invoice app do for an Australian sole trader?

It should produce a valid invoice for your GST status every time, and keep the paperwork around that invoice in one place. Use this checklist when you try an app:

Check	Why it matters in Australia
Your ABN prints on every invoice	Without it, a business client generally has to withhold 47% of payments over $75 excluding GST
”Tax invoice” heading and a GST line only when you’re registered	Unregistered sellers mustn’t issue tax invoices or show GST
GST at 10%, rounded to the nearest cent	GST is one-eleventh of a GST-inclusive total
Space for the buyer’s name or ABN	Required on tax invoices of $1,000 or more
Quotes that become invoices	Saves retyping, and the price the client accepted is the price you bill
Receipts and expenses filed by job	You need a tax invoice to claim GST credits on purchases over $82.50
A list of unpaid invoices	You chase late payers before the money is weeks overdue
Export of your records	You must keep records for five years and produce them on request
A clear price	Free tiers can carry limits; subscriptions add up over five years

An app that fails the first two rows isn’t worth keeping, however good it looks.

How do you test whether an app makes a valid tax invoice?

Make a sample invoice before you send a real one, and check it against the ATO’s list. For a sale under $1,000, a tax invoice must show that it’s intended to be a tax invoice, your identity, your ABN, the issue date, a description of what you sold with quantity and price, the GST amount and how much of each sale is taxable.

Try a test invoice for $1,200 of work plus GST, made out to a business client:

• Does it say Tax invoice at the top?
• Does it show your ABN, and the client’s name or ABN (needed here, because the sale is over $1,000)?
• Is the GST $120 and the total $1,320?
• If you add a GST-free line, does the app show which lines are taxable instead of just dividing the total by 11?

If you’re not registered for GST, test the opposite. The document should say Invoice, show your ABN and one total, and have no GST anywhere. How to calculate GST covers the maths and rounding rules if the app’s figures look off by a cent.

Is a free invoice generator enough?

For an occasional invoice, yes. For a business that invoices every week, a free web generator usually becomes the weak link.

Online generators turn a form into a PDF, and that PDF is a valid invoice if it carries the right details. The ATO doesn’t require paper. The trouble is everything around it: you number invoices by hand, nothing reminds you who hasn’t paid, and the only copy of each invoice is wherever you saved the download. You still have to keep every one for five years.

Our free invoice generator runs in your browser, works in AUD and uploads nothing. It suits a one-off invoice if you’re not registered for GST: put your ABN in your business details and leave the tax rate at 0%.

When a free app is on offer, check what “free” covers: how many invoices you can send, whether a footer or watermark appears, and what happens to your records if you stop using it.

Do you need accounting software or just an invoice app?

Many sole traders need only an invoice app. You need accounting software if you want bank transactions reconciled automatically or your BAS prepared and lodged from the same system.

You probably need	If you
An invoice app	Invoice a handful of jobs a week, aren’t registered for GST yet, or hand your records to a tax or BAS agent
Accounting software	Are GST-registered with many transactions, want bank feeds, or want to lodge your BAS straight from your software

You don’t need software to lodge a BAS. You can lodge through ATO online services or a registered agent, using totals from your invoices and receipts. How to do a BAS shows where each figure comes from.

Where does your invoice data live?

It depends on the app, and it’s worth knowing before you put five years of client records into it. Most cloud invoicing apps require an account and sync your data to the provider’s servers, and many offer a bank connection. On-device apps keep records on your phone, with no account, which means you’re responsible for exporting and backing them up.

Either can meet the ATO’s rules. Electronic records are subject to the same record-keeping requirements as paper ones, whether they’re stored on a device or in the cloud. They must be kept for five years from when you prepared or obtained them, or completed the transactions, whichever is later. Records must be in English or readily converted into English, and you must be able to produce them when asked. Questions to ask any app:

• Does it need an account, a bank connection or access to your email?
• Can you export every invoice and receipt in a standard format, such as PDF and CSV?
• If you stop paying or the app shuts down, how do you get your records out?
• Who else can see your clients’ names and the amounts they paid?

What does an invoice app cost over five years?

Work out the cost over the five years you keep records, not per month. Pricing comes in three main forms: free with limits, a monthly or annual subscription, or a one-time purchase.

As an illustration, an app at $15 a month costs $180 a year and $900 over five years, and an app at $35 a month costs $2,100 over the same period. A one-time purchase costs the same whether you use it for one year or ten. Either way, a business app is a business expense. If you’re registered for GST, you can usually claim the GST on it too, as long as you hold a tax invoice for any purchase over $82.50.

Do you need eInvoicing?

Only if a client asks for it. eInvoicing is the digital exchange of invoice data between the supplier’s and the buyer’s software over the Peppol network. It isn’t the same as emailing a PDF.

To send eInvoices, your software needs to be connected to Peppol through an ATO-approved service provider. business.gov.au notes that most small business accounting software providers are building it in. If you don’t use business software, free or low-cost web portals are available for businesses that exchange only a few invoices. For most sole traders invoicing households and small businesses, an emailed PDF tax invoice is enough.

…and where does Keel fit?

Keel: Invoice Maker & Receipts, by Ilura Technology OÜ, is an iPhone app for people who work for themselves. You write an estimate, and when the client accepts it, it becomes the invoice in one tap. Every quote, receipt, expense and invoice is kept under its job, alongside your customers and business mileage. Invoices are PDFs. A “who owes you” list drafts reminders that you review and send yourself; nothing is ever sent automatically. You can also type what you want done into the dock.

Records stay on your iPhone. There’s no account, no bank connection and no cloud sync, and the App Store privacy label reads “Data Not Collected”. The tradeoff is that nothing imports itself from your bank, and Keel holds no cloud copy of your records. Keel is a record keeper. It doesn’t lodge your BAS, connect to the ATO, calculate the tax you owe or connect to the Peppol eInvoicing network, so check your first invoice against the test above.

Keel is free to use with no invoice limit, and free invoices carry a small “Made with Keel” footer. Keel Lifetime is a one-time purchase ($249.99 USD; the App Store shows your local price) that adds custom branding, a signature, premium templates and accountant-ready exports and advanced reports. Keel on the App Store. More Australian guides are in the Australia hub.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best invoice app for a sole trader in Australia? The best one makes a valid invoice for your GST status, with your ABN, the GST and the buyer’s details where needed, and keeps your quotes, receipts and unpaid invoices together. After that, it depends on whether you want bank feeds and BAS lodgement, where you want client data stored, and the cost over five years.

Is there a free invoice app in Australia? Yes, several apps and web generators let you create invoices for free. Check what the free version covers: the number of invoices, whether a footer or watermark appears, and whether you can export your records. Keel, for example, is free with no invoice limit, and free invoices carry a small “Made with Keel” footer.

Can I make a tax invoice on my phone? Yes. The ATO doesn’t require paper, so a PDF made on your phone and emailed to the client is a valid tax invoice if it includes every required detail: that it’s a tax invoice, your identity and ABN, the date, a description with quantity and price, the GST and the extent each sale is taxable. Add the buyer’s identity or ABN for sales of $1,000 or more.

Do I need accounting software as a sole trader? Not necessarily. Many sole traders invoice from an app, keep their receipts, and lodge their BAS through ATO online services or a registered agent. Accounting software earns its place once you’re GST-registered with a high volume of transactions, or you want bank feeds and BAS lodgement in one system.

Does an invoice app lodge my BAS? Most invoice-only apps don’t. Some accounting software can prepare and lodge a BAS directly with the ATO. Otherwise you take the totals from your invoices and receipts and lodge through ATO online services or a registered tax or BAS agent. Keel doesn’t lodge a BAS or connect to the ATO; it keeps the records behind the figures.

How long do I need to keep invoices from an app? Five years from when you prepared or obtained the record, or completed the transaction, whichever is later. That applies whether the records sit in an app, in the cloud or on paper. Before you commit to an app, make sure you can export everything, so you can still produce your invoices if you change apps.

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This article is general information, not tax advice. Consult a qualified Australian tax professional.