Progress Claim Template and Calculator

This page summarises the law as at 7 September 2026, and the Queensland retention figures as at 8 September 2026. It is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Building contracts differ, several of these rules can be changed by the contract itself, and one of the instruments below is due to sunset. Check the current version of anything you plan to act on, and confirm your own position with the ATO, your state regulator or your own adviser.

What a progress claim has to contain to be a valid tax invoice

A progress claim is not automatically a tax invoice. Section 29-70(1) of the A New Tax System (Goods and Services Tax) Act 1999 sets out what a document has to let the reader work out before it is one. In Compilation No. 96 of the Act, dated 1 January 2026, the requirements are:

• that it is issued by the supplier, and that it was intended to be a tax invoice;
• the supplier's identity and the supplier's ABN;
• the recipient's identity or ABN, where the total price is $1,000 or more. That threshold is a GST inclusive total price, and no regulation raises it, so nearly every progress claim is over it;
• what is supplied, including the quantity where that applies, and the price;
• the extent to which each supply is a taxable supply;
• the date the document is issued;
• the amount of GST payable on each supply.

Two details catch builders. The ATO states at paragraph 18 of GSTR 2013/1 that putting the words "Tax Invoice" in the heading satisfies the intention requirement, and at paragraph 22 that a builder's registration or licence number is not enough on its own to identify the supplier. So a claim headed with the licence number and no ABN is not a tax invoice, and the client cannot use it to claim their GST credit. The claim this tool builds prints the heading, your ABN, the client's details and the GST amount, and it stops calling itself a tax invoice the moment you switch GST registration off.

Retention has its own rule, and it is the one worth reading twice. Paragraph 30 of GSTR 2013/1 says that where the recipient retains part of the contract price pending performance or the end of a defects liability period, the price of what is supplied is the total consideration payable including the retention amount, and the tax invoice must let that total be clearly ascertained. The same paragraph then says the invoice may also show the net amount payable, and describes the layout: the price of what is supplied, the retention shown separately, and a net amount payable. That is exactly the shape of the document here, and it is why the retention appears as its own line rather than being quietly netted off the total.

When the GST on retention becomes payable

Money you have not been paid can still carry GST, and that is the trap this part of the tool exists for. The Commissioner made a determination under s 29-25 of the GST Act to deal with it: the Goods and Services Tax: (Particular Attribution Rules for Retention Payments) Determination 2017, known as PAR 2017/2, registered as F2017L00344 and commenced on 31 March 2017.

• Clause 5(c): the GST payable on a retention amount is attributable to the earlier of the tax period in which the retention amount is invoiced, and the tax period in which it is received.
• Clause 5(b): the GST on the rest of the claim runs on the ordinary rule, being the earlier of the invoice being issued and any consideration being received.
• Clause 6(c) gives the client the mirror image on the credit side, and clause 8(c) confirms the determination does not override the requirement to hold a tax invoice, which is why the total price still has to be ascertainable from your claim.
• Clause 4: the determination applies only to entities that do not account on a cash basis. On a cash basis the GST already follows the money, which the Commissioner explains at paragraph 102 of GSTR 2000/29.
• Clause 7 sets the method in two steps: identify the retention as a percentage of the total consideration, then apply that percentage to the GST payable on the supply. The GST on the rest is that figure subtracted from the GST on the whole claim.

Consideration is the GST inclusive amount, so the step 1 percentage is not automatically the rate written in your contract. Retention of 5% struck on a $110,000 claim including GST is $5,500, which is 5% of the consideration, so $500 of the $10,000 GST is deferred and $9,500 is attributable now. The same 5% struck on the GST exclusive value of that claim is $5,000, which is 4.5455% of the consideration, so $454.55 is deferred and $9,545.45 is attributable now. The calculator asks which basis your contract uses and prints the derived percentage, so you can see when it differs from the rate you thought you were withholding.

When the retention is released, the ATO's GST issues register for property and construction records that GST applies the same way as it does to the progress payments, because the release is not consideration for a separate supply; and that where retention is not fully released, the amount withheld is treated as a reduction in the consideration for the supply. PAR 2017/2 is listed on the Federal Register of Legislation as due to sunset on 1 April 2027. If it is remade, the clause numbers quoted here are likely to change.

Where the retention percentage itself comes from

The rate is usually a contract term. Queensland fixes percentages in the Queensland Building and Construction Commission Act 1991, as current at 1 February 2026: for a building contract, retention and securities held before practical completion cannot together exceed 5% of the contract price (s 67K(1) and (2)), the same 5% applies to a subcontract (s 67L(1)), no more than 10% of any one payment may be deducted (s 67M(2)), and after practical completion the total cannot exceed 2.5% of the contract price (s 67N(1)). The head contract cap can be contracted out of where the contract is in writing, explains the condition, expressly excludes it and the parties initial that provision (s 67K(4)); there is no equivalent for the subcontract cap. Victoria, Tasmania and the Australian Capital Territory fix no maximum percentage. Security of payment law also sets claim and payment schedule deadlines and, in some states, trust account duties for retention money, and none of that is in this arithmetic.

From the claim to the books

This page does one claim at a time and forgets it when you close the tab. If you would rather the running total looked after itself, see how progress claims and retention work in OneBookPlus, where the claim withholds the retention at the contract percentage, shows it as its own line on the tax invoice and keeps the running total on the claims screen. Progress claims are part of the Builder Suite add-on rather than the free core. The general ledger, profit and loss, balance sheet, GST and BAS reports are on every plan including Free, which is set out in the buyer's guide to accounting software for builders. BAS is prepared in the app, not lodged.