Can we pay this invoice?

Short version: the work is done and the tradesperson has sent something through. Before the treasurer pays it, three things have to be true — it is a valid tax invoice, it is made out to the owners corporation, and it carries an ABN. The third one has money attached: no ABN, and you are obliged to withhold 47% of the payment.

What has to be on it

The invoice must show	Why it matters to you
The words “Tax invoice”	Marks it as a tax invoice rather than a quote, estimate or statement.
The supplier’s identity and ABN	The one that costs you if it is missing — see the ABN trap below.
The date it was issued	Fixes which financial year and which levy period it belongs to.
What was supplied — description, quantity, price	A line saying “fencing work” is not enough to support a cost split with a neighbour, or to defend the spend at an AGM.
The GST amount, or “total price includes GST”	Either form is acceptable; what is not acceptable is silence on GST.
Your identity or ABN, once the total passes $1,000 incl GST	Which for a strata scheme means the invoice is addressed to The Owners – Strata Plan No …, not to the committee member who organised it.

A GST-registered supplier has to give you a tax invoice for a taxable sale over $82.50 including GST if you ask for one. Ask.

Tax · no-ABN withholding — 47%

If a supplier does not quote an ABN, the payer must withhold 47% of the payment and remit it to the ATO. Failing to withhold can attract a penalty equal to the amount that should have been withheld. Two exits: the payment is $75 or less excluding GST, or the supplier gives you a completed Statement by a supplier form, which you keep with the invoice. “He is a mate, cash is fine” is not one of them.

Why the addressee matters more than it looks

Over $1,000 the ATO needs the buyer named, so the addressee stops being a formality. But it does a second job that matters more in strata: it records who contracted for the work. An owner or a committee member who arranges work on common property in their own name can find themselves personally exposed if the job or the bill is later disputed — and an invoice in their name is the evidence that they, not the owners corporation, engaged the contractor.

Before you pay: the checks that belong earlier

For anything beyond a small repair, most of these should have happened before the work started. If they did not, the invoice is the last moment to find out.

Check the licence on the register, not the letterhead. NSW requires a contractor licence for building or trade work over $5,000 in labour and materials including GST. Look the number up on the Fair Trading register rather than trusting the quote.
Check there is a contract of the right kind. A small works contract is required from $5,000 to $20,000, and a full home building contract above $20,000. Above $20,000 there is also Home Building Compensation cover.
Sight a certificate of currency. Public liability at minimum, and workers compensation if the contractor has employees. Work on common property that injures someone is the owners corporation’s problem too.
Match the invoice to the accepted quote. Same scope, same price, or a written variation explaining the difference. An invoice that quietly exceeds the quote is the most common way a committee overspends without ever deciding to.
Confirm it is common property you are paying for. Owners corporation money maintains common property. Paying for work inside a lot is not generosity, it is a misapplication of other owners’ levies.

Practice note

A tradesperson who will not give you an ABN, a licence number or a certificate of currency has told you something useful about how the job will go if anything is wrong with it. The cheapest quote stops being the cheapest at the first dispute.

Then the strata side of the paperwork

Code it to the right fund as you enter it. The Act requires separate accounting records for the administrative fund and the capital works fund, so the repair-or-replacement call has to show up in the books, not only in the minutes. A repair that keeps something serviceable is administrative; replacing it is capital.

Record the payment promptly — the treasurer must record particulars of money disbursed as soon as practicable after the transaction, not in a catch-up before the AGM.

Keep it for seven years, along with the financial statements and accounting records it feeds. File the invoice against the accepted quote, the other quotes you obtained under s 102, and the maintenance request itself. The invoice alone proves you spent money; the invoice with the quotes and the request proves you spent it properly.

If the job was a dividing fence shared with the neighbour, keep it itemised — you are recovering half from someone who was never party to your contract, and “half of $4,000” is a much weaker position than a priced scope.

The official sources

ATO — Tax invoices — what a valid tax invoice must contain
ATO — Withholding if an ABN is not provided — the 47% obligation and its exceptions
ATO — Statement by a supplier — the form that avoids withholding where it genuinely applies
NSW — General building work licensing — licence required above $5,000
NSW — Guide to providing home building contracts — contract and insurance thresholds
NSW — Strata record keeping requirements — what an owners corporation must keep, and for how long
Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 (NSW) — ss 96, 98, 102 and 180

Still working out whether the repair was yours to pay for at all? Who fixes the fence? covers the common-property question that comes first.

Current as at 15 September 2026. Strata surfaces statutory rules as guidance, but it is record-keeping software, not legal advice, and no page here accounts for the particulars of your scheme. Check the Act, your registered strata plan and your by-laws, and get advice before acting on anything with money or a dispute attached.

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