Australian Chart of Accounts for Xero with GST Codes (Free)

This is an Australian chart of accounts built specifically for Xero, with the right GST treatment set on every account using Xero’s own tax-rate names. It ships as a readable reference (CSV) and a ready-to-import CSV that carries the GST code on each account, so a new Xero organisation starts correctly coded for the business activity statement instead of defaulting everything to a single rate.

Two files that do different jobs

• The reference CSV lists every account with its class, its default Xero GST code, the other codes legitimately used on that account, and a note explaining the treatment.
• The Xero import CSV matches Xero’s chart-of-accounts import format and puts the real Australian tax-rate names in the Tax Code column, so accounts arrive already coded.

GST in Australia is one flat rate, but four treatments

The rate itself is simple: GST is 10% and has been since 2000. What the chart actually encodes is the treatment, because four very different things all look like “no GST on the invoice”:

• GST-free supplies (basic food, medical, education, exports) are reported on the BAS but carry no GST, and you can still claim credits on related costs. In Xero these are GST Free Income, GST Free Expenses and GST Free Exports.
• Input-taxed supplies (financial services, residential rent) carry no GST and block the credit on related costs. That is why bank fees default to Input Taxed here, not GST-free.
• Outside scope items (wages, superannuation, ATO payments, transfers) are BAS Excluded and stay off the activity statement entirely.
• Capital acquisitions get their own GST on Capital rate so they land in the right BAS label.

Getting those four apart is most of the value in a coded chart, because the wrong one quietly distorts the BAS rather than throwing an error.

The account code is a default, not a rule

In Xero the tax rate on a transaction line is chosen by priority: the contact’s default first, then the item’s, then the account’s, with a manual override always available. So the GST code on an account is the lowest-priority fallback that prefills the line. That is exactly what you want, a sensible starting point that is right most of the time, which is why the reference lists the other codes used on each account: a travel account defaults to GST on Expenses for domestic fares but shows GST Free Exports as the alternative for an international airfare.

The Australian defaults worth knowing

• Sales default to GST on Income, with GST Free Income, GST Free Exports and Input Taxed as the listed alternatives.
• Equipment, computers and vehicles default to GST on Capital.
• Bank and merchant fees are Input Taxed; interest income is Input Taxed.
• Client entertainment is BAS Excluded, because the GST credit is blocked and the cost is usually not deductible, with a note that it can also attract fringe benefits tax.
• Wages, superannuation and depreciation are BAS Excluded.

What the import leaves out

The import CSV excludes the system control accounts (accounts receivable, accounts payable, the GST account and retained earnings) because Xero creates them automatically. Importing your own would duplicate them. The readable CSV still lists them, marked as system accounts, so nothing is missing from the picture.

How to use it

1. Open the CSV and adapt the account names to the business, keeping the GST defaults.
2. In Xero, go to Accounting, then Chart of accounts, then Import, and upload the file into a demo organisation first.
3. Confirm the rates exist in your org, and switch on the advanced rates if you use GST on Capital.
4. Use the other-codes column to brief whoever codes transactions on the legitimate alternatives per account.

Keeping the codes right on every transaction afterwards is the recurring work, and where most BAS errors creep in:

• Hubdoc remembers the coding for recurring suppliers.
• ExpenseFlow reads each receipt and tax invoice, applies the correct Australian GST treatment for the supply including the input-taxed and GST-free cases, and posts it into Xero against the right account, so the chart you imported stays correctly coded as volume grows.
• Dext applies supplier rules so repeat costs land in the same place.

The chart uses range-based numbering (assets 1000s, liabilities 2000s, equity 3000s, revenue 4000s, cost of sales 5000s, overheads 6000s) with gaps so a new account always has a free number in the right range.

On QuickBooks instead? See the Australian chart of accounts for QuickBooks. For the codes themselves, see the Australian GST codes in Xero reference.