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

An Australian online seller buys most of its stock offshore and pays most of its fees to platforms billed from overseas, which makes the GST treatment of imports and foreign fees the part of the books most likely to go wrong. This is an Australian ecommerce chart of accounts built for Xero, with inventory, import, and fee accounts coded for that cross-border reality. It ships as a readable reference (CSV) and a Xero import CSV.

The A$1,000 line on imported stock

The threshold that governs imported goods is A$1,000 of customs value, and which side a shipment falls on changes who charges the GST. At or below A$1,000, a GST-registered overseas supplier charges GST at the point of sale. Above A$1,000, GST is collected at the border when the goods are imported. For a seller bringing in commercial quantities, most shipments are above the line, so border GST is the usual case, and the credit is claimed on the BAS from the import declaration, not from the supplier invoice. The inbound freight and import duty account carries exactly that note, so the credit is claimed off the right document.

Inventory and cost of goods

A dedicated inventory on hand account holds stock at landed cost, coded BAS Excluded, because GST is handled at purchase or import rather than on the stock balance. Cost of goods sold is the stock purchase price plus inbound freight and import duty; everything else is an operating cost. Keeping the inventory and freight accounts distinct from the fee accounts is what makes gross margin readable.

Marketplace and processor fees are expenses, not COGS

This is the classification online sellers most often blur. Amazon, eBay, and Shopify selling fees, and Stripe and PayPal processing fees, are operating expenses, so the chart gives them their own accounts (marketplace and selling fees, payment processing fees) rather than folding them into cost of goods. Each defaults to GST on Expenses, with a note that a platform registered for Australian GST charges GST you can claim, while an imported-service fee from an unregistered overseas supplier may fall under the reverse charge. The tax invoice and the supplier’s ABN tell you which.

Selling across the border

Domestic online sales default to GST on Income; orders shipped overseas are GST Free Exports. The online product sales account lists both, so export orders are coded apart from domestic ones without needing a second account.

How to use it

1. Open the CSV: each account carries its class, a default Xero GST code, the alternatives, and a note.
2. In Xero, go to Accounting, then Chart of accounts, then Import, and upload into a demo organisation first.
3. Confirm the rates, and decide whether you track inventory perpetually or periodically before going live.
4. Brief whoever reconciles the payment-platform payouts that fees are an expense and exports are GST-free.

Cross-border volume in multiple currencies is the daily reality, and capture is built for it:

• Hubdoc pulls recurring platform and subscription invoices in.
• ExpenseFlow reads each invoice and receipt, extracts the line detail and currency, attaches the image, and posts it into Xero, while flagging a foreign supplier that has not charged Australian GST so it is recorded as a foreign-currency cost rather than wrongly treated as carrying a credit, and pointing to the import declaration as the document for the import GST credit.
• Dext applies supplier rules for repeat overseas vendors.

The chart cannot decide your inventory method or calculate import GST; those stay with you or your accountant. For the full cross-border picture, see the Australian ecommerce expenses guide. On QuickBooks instead? See the Australian ecommerce chart of accounts for QuickBooks.