Introduction

In Australia, supply of most goods and services is subject to a federal goods and services tax (GST) of 10%. If you are a publisher based in Australia, you may be required to collect AU GST from some of your advertiser partners.

Collecting Tax in Australia

To determine whether you are required to collect tax in Australia, consider your total annual revenue, the location of your servers, where your content is produced, and whether you have a physical presence in Australia. In general, businesses based in Australia with a total annual revenue of over 75,000 AUD are required to collect AU GST.

If the services you provide as a publisher are delivered directly from a server located outside Australia and contracts are concluded, payment is processed, and content is produced outside Australia, it is likely that your supplies are not subject to AU GST.

ABN Number

If you are required to collect AU GST, you will receive an Australian Business Number (ABN) as part of your GST registration process. The ABN is a tax identification number. Please provide this number to us via your Publisher Manager if you have one, or in response to the email we send asking you to notify us of your ABN status. If you do not have an ABN when you launch your program but register for one later, it is your responsibility to provide your ABN to us.

Adding or Updating Your ABN

You can add or update your ABN in your account details in the Publisher Dashboard:

1. Go to Account in the navigation header and click Account Details.
2. In the General tab, scroll down to the Tax Declaration section to add your ABN. 

When is AU GST applied?

If you are subject to AU GST, Rakuten Advertising will collect a 10% tax from advertisers on your behalf. If you are partnering with an advertiser physically located outside of Australia, as a general rule your taxable supply is considered an export, and therefore is not taxed. If you are not subject to AU GST, we will not collect this tax from any advertiser on your behalf.

Tax Invoice Details

Once your advertiser partners approve your related commissions, invoices are generated for each calendar month during which you have provided services to the respective advertisers. Events such as a bonus or cancellation of commissions previously accepted by advertisers can also trigger the generation of a tax invoice. The tax invoice states the amounts of commissions approved, commissions cancelled, and bonus granted by the respective advertiser. AU GST is added to these amounts where applicable.

We generate publishers’ tax invoices addressed to advertisers through our platform, in the name and on behalf of the publisher. Such invoices indicate the ABN number of the publisher and the ABN number of the advertiser. Rakuten Advertising has no GST obligations in relation to the publisher-advertiser supply, and therefore the invoices do not contain the ABN for Rakuten Advertising.

Rakuten Advertising is only part of the transaction in the specific case of Direct Engagement or Accelerate Engagements. If you have entered into such engagement, your publisher commissions will be invoiced to Rakuten Advertising and not to the Advertiser. 

The publisher tax invoices are generated with VAT/GST invoicing requirements in mind and contain the mandatory elements generally required for tax invoices. However, you as the publisher are responsible for verifying the local invoicing requirements of your country; should the tax invoice generated by Rakuten Advertising not satisfy those requirements. For example, if you need an invoice in another language, or special format digital invoices, it is your responsibility to insure compliant invoices for the services you have provided, for your own tax records and filings. 

For More Information

If you encounter problems in accessing tax invoices or have further questions, please contact your Publisher Manager or Customer Support.