When an agent sells on your behalf, the sale is yours, and so is the GST. Division 153 of the GST Act and the ATO's ruling GSTR 2000/37 follow the common law: a supply made through an agent is the principal's supply, so the principal accounts for GST on the full selling price and the agent charges GST only on the commission, which the principal claims back as a credit. The same rule sorts consignment once you know which kind you have: under an agency consignment the GST follows the owner (goods sold for an unregistered private owner carry no GST on the sale, though the commission still does), while under sale or return you buy the goods the moment a buyer is found, making you a reseller who owes 1/11 of the full retail price. Registered businesses can also rewrite the default with a written Subdivision 153-B agreement that treats the agent as the supplier for GST purposes.
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The default rule: your agent's sale is your sale
Agency in GST means what it means everywhere else in the law: someone sells with your authority, and the contract they make binds you, so the customer is buying from you, through them. GSTR 2000/37 and Division 153 take that at face value, so the GST consequences split cleanly in two. The sale belongs to the principal: if you're registered, you account for 1/11 of the full price the customer paid, even though the money landed in the agent's account first and arrived with the commission already taken out. The commission is the agent's own supply (a service of selling, made to you), so a registered agent adds GST to it, and you claim that GST back as a credit on the agent's tax invoice.
Numbers make it obvious. Mia, a GST-registered ceramicist, sells through a gallery that takes 20% commission. A piece sells for $1,100: Mia owes $100 of GST on the sale (1/11 of $1,100) although the gallery banked the money and remitted her $880. The gallery invoices its commission of $220 including $20 GST, reports the $20 on its own BAS, and Mia claims the $20 back. The ATO ends up with $100 on the whole arrangement, exactly as if Mia had sold the piece herself and paid for the selling some other way.
Two consequences catch people out. Turnover: because the sales are the principal's, they count toward the principal's $75,000 GST turnover at full price, and toward the agent's not at all, with only commission counting for the agent. Paperwork: the agency rules let either the principal or the agent issue the tax invoice for a sale, but never both for the same sale, and a customer who asks must get one within 28 days, so decide whose system issues them before the first sale, not after a customer has two.
Selling for someone who isn't registered
Because the sale is the owner's sale, the GST follows the owner's registration, not the shop's. A consignment store selling private people's belongings as their agent charges no GST on those sales (a private person clearing out their own furniture isn't carrying on an enterprise, can't register, and owes nothing), and the shop's registration doesn't change that, because the shop never made the supply. What the shop does make is its service of selling: sell an unregistered owner's $400 sofa for a $110 commission and there's no GST anywhere on the $400, but the commission includes $10 of GST for the shop's BAS. Flip the owner and the answer flips with it: stock consigned by a GST-registered business sells with GST in the price, and that owner reports it like any other sale.
The store's own registration question is run entirely on its commissions. A consignment shop can move $300,000 of other people's goods in a year and have a GST turnover of only $90,000 at 30% commission, but $90,000 is over the threshold, which means registration is required within 21 days of the rolling figure crossing $75,000. It also means the shop's books need to keep two rivers apart: money collected for owners, which is never the shop's income, and commission, which always is.
Agency or sale or return: the agreement decides
"Consignment" covers two legally different animals, and the ATO's guidance splits them exactly here. Under an agency consignment, the goods stay the owner's property until a customer buys them from the owner, through you: everything above applies. Under sale or return, you purchase the goods from the owner yourself, but only once you've found a buyer: the classic sign is that the owner's figure is agreed in advance and you keep everything you can get above it, setting the retail price and carrying the risk. That makes you a reseller, not an agent: for a registered shop, every sale carries GST of 1/11 of the full retail price, even though the goods arrived from a private owner with no GST in them. The quick map:
| The arrangement | Who accounts for what |
|---|---|
| Registered owner sells through an agent: the artist and the gallery | Owner: GST on the full price · Agent: GST on the commission, which the owner claims back |
| Agency consignment for an unregistered private owner | No GST on the sale · the registered shop still owes GST on its commission |
| Sale or return: the shop buys the goods once a buyer is found | Shop: GST is 1/11 of the full retail price · a second-hand goods credit may offset it |
| Subdivision 153-B written agreement, both parties registered | Agent: GST on the retail sale · Principal: GST on a supply to the agent of price minus commission |
| Australian seller on eBay, Amazon or Etsy | Not agency: the seller accounts at full price, the platform just bills its fees |
Sale or return has a consolation built in. Buying stock from unregistered owners means no GST in your purchase price and no tax invoice to claim from, but the second-hand goods rules give a registered reseller a special GST credit on second-hand goods bought to resell, precisely because the seller couldn't charge GST. The owner can't issue a tax invoice, so your own purchase records (who, what, when, how much) are what support the claim. One trade lives on this boundary: a used-car dealer taking a car on consignment is either selling the owner's car for a commission (no GST on a private owner's car, GST on the commission) or buying and reselling it (GST on the full sale price, softened by the second-hand credit on what the dealer paid), and the signed consignment agreement, not the word "consignment", decides which BAS it lands on, as our GST on motor vehicles guide shows from the buyer's side.
Subdivision 153-B: putting the agent into the GST chain
The default split (principal reports the sale, agent reports the commission, principal claims the commission GST back) is accurate but chatty, and for a principal with dozens of agents it multiplies paperwork. Subdivision 153-B is the opt-out: a written agreement between a registered principal and a registered intermediary under which, for GST purposes only, the agent is treated as a supplier in its own right. The agent is treated as making the sale to the customer, and the principal as making a sale to the agent for the price minus the commission, so the commission stops existing as a separate supply and simply becomes the agent's margin. The ATO points the arrangement at intermediaries that facilitate transactions: billing agents, paying agents and commission agents.
Run the numbers and the ATO collects the same $20 either way. A $220 tour sold through an agent on $44 commission: under the default, the principal reports $20 on the sale, the agent reports $4 on the commission and the principal claims the $4 back, net $20. Under a 153-B agreement, the agent reports $20 on the $220 retail sale and claims $16 on the $176 it's treated as paying the principal, who reports that $16: net $20 again. Nothing changes hands differently, ownership never moves, and the customer sees the same receipt; what changes is whose accounting system carries the retail sale. Both sides must be registered, the agreement must be in writing, and each party then reports its leg on its own BAS.
Quick answers
Who pays the GST when an agent sells on my behalf?
You do, as the principal. Division 153 of the GST Act and the ATO's ruling GSTR 2000/37 follow the common-law position that a sale your agent makes with your authority is your sale, so if you're registered you account for GST on the full selling price, even though the customer paid the agent and the agent kept a commission before passing the rest on. The agent's own GST liability is limited to the commission: they charge you GST on it, and you claim that back as a credit on your BAS.
I run a consignment store: do I charge GST on the full price of goods I sell for private owners?
It depends on which kind of consignment you run. If you sell as the owner's agent, the sale is the owner's sale: a private, unregistered owner means no GST on the sale at all, and your only GST is on the commission you charge. If your arrangement is sale or return (you buy the goods from the owner the moment you find a buyer, typically at a price fixed in advance) you're a reseller, and if you're registered you owe 1/11 of the full retail price on every sale. Same shop, same rack of goods, very different BAS.
How do I tell whether my arrangement is agency or sale or return?
Look at what the agreement actually does, not what it's called. Pointers toward sale or return: the amount the owner receives is agreed in advance, you set the retail price and keep everything above the owner's figure, and you carry the risk on the sale. Pointers toward agency: you sell with the owner's authority, your reward is a commission or set fee, and the goods stay the owner's until a buyer appears. The ATO's consignment sales guidance draws exactly this line, and GSTR 2000/37 works through the factors: put the structure in writing before the goods hit the shelf.
Does the commission attract GST even when the sale itself doesn't?
Yes. The commission is your own supply of agency services, separate from the goods being sold, so a registered agent charges GST on it regardless of what happened on the sale: GST-free goods, an unregistered owner, it makes no difference. Sell an unregistered owner's $400 sofa for a $110 commission and there's no GST on the $400, but $10 of your commission is GST for your BAS.
Do sales I make as an agent count toward my $75,000 registration threshold?
Only your commission does. The sales themselves are your principal's supplies, so they count toward the principal's GST turnover at full price and never toward yours. But a busy agency clears $75,000 of commission faster than people expect: a consignment store moving $300,000 of other people's goods at 30% commission has $90,000 of turnover and a 21-day window to register. Registering is free through the ATO's own online services; our BAS-agent service is $119 + GST if you'd rather have it reviewed and lodged for you, with backdating up to 4 years +$25 + GST.
Who issues the tax invoice: the principal or the agent?
Either of you can, but never both. The GST law's agency rules let the agent issue a tax invoice for the principal's sale as if the agent had made the supply, which is what makes shopfront consignment workable, but the principal and the agent must not both issue tax invoices for the same sale, and a customer who asks for one must get it within 28 days. Agree up front whose paperwork runs the sales, and keep the other side's records pointing at it.
What is a Subdivision 153-B arrangement?
A written agreement between a registered principal and a registered agent that moves the GST accounting onto the agent. For GST purposes only, the agent is treated as selling to the customer in its own right, and the principal is treated as selling to the agent for the price minus the commission, so the agent reports the GST on the retail sale, the principal reports GST on the smaller supply to the agent, and the commission stops being a separate charge. Ownership never moves and the ATO collects the same amount; it's bookkeeping relief, best suited to billing, paying and commission agents handling volume, and both sides must be registered for it to work.
Is eBay or Amazon my agent for GST purposes?
No: for an Australian seller the marketplaces are service providers, not Division 153 agents. You're the seller of everything you list, the platform supplies you listing and transaction services for its fees, and the GST on your sales is yours to account for at full price. The special rules that make a platform responsible for GST are aimed at overseas sellers into Australia, not locals. Our GST on marketplace sales guide covers that whole landscape.
Related guides: GST on marketplace sales · GST on motor vehicles · Tax invoice requirements · How GST credits work · When to charge GST · How to calculate GST · Crossing the $75,000 threshold
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