Australian Ecommerce Chart of Accounts for QuickBooks (Import GST + Fees)

For an online seller on QuickBooks Online, the books live and die on two cross-border questions: how GST on imported stock is recorded, and whether the platform fees coming out of every payout carry a claimable credit. This is an Australian ecommerce chart of accounts built for QuickBooks Online, mapped to the right GST codes for both. It comes as a readable reference (CSV) and a QuickBooks import CSV.

Structure first, then the GST codes

QuickBooks Online imports the account structure with no tax column, so you import first and bulk-assign GST codes second from the mapping. For ecommerce the codes worth attention are on freight and import, the marketplace and processor fees, and export sales, all of which the readable CSV spells out.

Imported stock and the A$1,000 threshold

The line that governs imported goods is A$1,000 of customs value. At or below it, a registered overseas supplier charges GST at the point of sale; above it, GST is collected at the border. For a seller importing commercial volumes, border GST is the normal case, and it is claimed on the BAS from the import declaration, not from the supplier’s invoice. Inbound freight and import duty map to GST on non-capital in a cost-of-sales account, with a note pointing to the customs documentation, because QuickBooks does not generate a dedicated import code by default.

Inventory and the margin line

A dedicated inventory on hand account holds stock at landed cost, mapped to Out of Scope, since GST is dealt with at purchase or import. Cost of goods sold is landed stock plus inbound freight and duty; everything else is operating cost. The clean separation is what keeps gross margin meaningful.

Fees are operating expenses

Marketplace selling fees and payment processing fees are operating expenses, not cost of goods, so they get their own accounts mapped to GST on non-capital. A platform registered for Australian GST charges GST you claim; an imported-service fee from an unregistered overseas supplier may fall under the reverse charge. The accounts carry a note to check the tax invoice and the ABN, so a foreign processor fee is not wrongly treated as carrying a credit. The reason this matters beyond tidiness is the payout statement: a marketplace nets its fees out of your sales proceeds, so unless the fee is booked to its own expense account it disappears into the deposit and the sale is understated. Splitting the gross sale from the fee is what makes both the revenue and the claimable GST on the fee visible.

Selling overseas

Domestic online sales map to the sales code GST; orders shipped abroad map to GST free export. The online product sales account lists both, so export orders are coded apart from domestic ones on the same account.

How to use it

1. Open the CSV: each account is mapped to its QuickBooks GST code, with alternatives and a note.
2. In QuickBooks Online, go to Settings, then Import data, then Chart of Accounts, and upload the CSV for the structure.
3. After import, use Batch actions, then Set default GST code, to apply the mapping.
4. Decide your inventory method, and brief whoever reconciles payout statements that fees are an expense and exports are GST-free.

Capture handles the multi-currency invoice stream that an online store generates:

• Dext photographs and extracts vendor invoices.
• ExpenseFlow reads each invoice and receipt, extracts the line detail and currency, attaches the source, and posts it into QuickBooks Online, while flagging a foreign supplier that has not charged Australian GST and pointing to the import declaration as the document for the import credit.
• Hubdoc pulls recurring platform invoices in.

Choosing an inventory method and calculating import GST stay with you or your accountant. For the full cross-border picture, see the Australian ecommerce expenses guide. On Xero instead? See the Australian ecommerce chart of accounts for Xero.