Does a tutoring centre charge GST?

6 min read · Updated 2026-10-18

General information, not legal advice. Laws and the regulators' rules change: check the sources below, and talk to your own adviser about your centre.

A new owner opens a second room, enrolments climb, and an accountant asks over coffee: "Are you registered for GST yet?" The owner had been told education is GST-free, so it never came up. "Education is GST-free" is one of the most repeated half-truths in small business. Some education is GST-free; private tutoring a centre sells to families is not. Whether you charge GST comes down to one question: has your business reached the GST turnover threshold? This article sets out what the ATO says, and what changes on your invoices once the answer is yes.

Do you have to register?

The ATO says you must register for GST when your business has a GST turnover of $75,000 or more, or $150,000 or more for a non-profit organisation. The threshold belongs to the entity that runs the centre, and GST turnover is its gross income from all its businesses, not profit, less a few items such as the GST in your sales. You reach the threshold if either your current turnover (this month and the previous 11) or your projected turnover (this month and the next 11) is at or above it, and a new centre that expects to reach it in its first year must register from the start.

• You need an ABN before you can register.
• Once you are required to register, you have 21 days to do it.
• Below the threshold, registering is optional, and if you choose to you generally stay registered for at least 12 months.
• If you should have registered and did not, the ATO says you may have to pay GST on sales since then, even if you never charged it, plus penalties and interest.

A busy single campus can pass $75,000 within its first year, so check your turnover every month rather than once a year.

Is tutoring GST-free education?

No, not when a centre sells it to families. The ATO lists "some education courses" among GST-free sales, and its public ruling GSTR 2000/30 says which: a primary course delivered in line with a recognised primary curriculum by a school recognised as a primary school under state or territory law, and secondary courses delivered by bodies such as recognised secondary schools.

Following the NSW syllabus does not make a tutoring centre a school. The ruling goes further: when students pay a provider of instruction directly, that supply is not GST-free as an education course, unless the provider is itself approved by the relevant state or territory body to conduct a pre-school, primary or secondary course. Its example is a school engaging a private tutor for a Year 7 student: the tutor charges the school a GST-inclusive fee, and it is the school's supply to the student that is GST-free.

What changes once you are registered

A registered business includes GST, which is 10 per cent, in the price of its taxable sales, claims credits for the GST in its business purchases, and reports and pays through its activity statements. In practice that means a price list that says whether prices include GST, and a decision about whether to absorb the 10 per cent or pass it on. Our article on pricing tutoring lessons shows where GST sits in a lesson's price.

Tax invoices

If a customer asks for a tax invoice, the ATO says you must provide one within 28 days, unless the sale is $82.50 or less including GST. For a taxable sale under $1,000, a tax invoice must make clear seven things:

1. That the document is intended to be a tax invoice.
2. The seller's identity.
3. The seller's ABN.
4. The date it was issued.
5. A brief description of what was sold, with quantity and price.
6. The GST amount, or the words "Total price includes GST" when GST is exactly one-eleventh of the total.
7. The extent to which each sale on it is taxable.

From $1,000, which a term's fees can easily reach, the invoice must also show the buyer's identity or ABN. The ATO's rules on including GST in prices and issuing tax invoices apply to businesses that are registered for GST, or required to be; if you are neither, talk to your adviser before putting GST on anything.

• ✓ABN in place before you register for GST.
• ✓Current and projected GST turnover checked each month against $75,000.
• ✓Registration lodged within 21 days of reaching the threshold.
• ✓Registered, or required to be? Your lessons to families carry 10 per cent GST.
• ✓Price list says whether prices include GST.
• ✓Tax invoices carry the seven details, plus the buyer's identity from $1,000.
• ✓Not registered and not required to be? Check with your adviser before adding GST or a "Tax invoice" heading.

How XTutio handles the GST question

The usual failure is not the law, it is the paperwork: a price list that changed but an invoice template that did not, or a Tax invoice heading printed by a centre that never registered. XTutio asks the question once, plainly. The billing screen asks whether your centre is registered for GST as a required Yes or No, with nothing chosen for you, and every billing version you save carries your answer. An invoice is headed Tax invoice, with your ABN, only when the centre is registered and the ABN passes the ATO's check; otherwise it is headed Invoice, and a centre that is not registered adds no GST at all.

GST is stamped on each line of the family's ledger with the reading that produced it, so if your answer changes on the day you register, new charges carry GST and old ones stay exactly as they were. A sibling discount comes off before GST is worked out, so GST follows the discounted price. Each centre has its own run of invoice numbers, and a lesson taken back off an issued invoice gets a credit note rather than a crossing-out. See services, prices and billing, family money and payroll and our article on family billing models for how the four ways of charging handle the same figures.

Questions centres ask

Is private tutoring GST-free in Australia?

No, not when a centre sells it to families. The ATO's ruling GSTR 2000/30 treats primary and secondary courses as GST-free only when a recognised school delivers them, so a centre that is registered for GST, or required to be, charges GST on its lessons.

When does a tutoring centre have to register for GST?

When its GST turnover reaches $75,000 a year, or $150,000 for a non-profit, measured on current or projected turnover. You must register within 21 days and need an ABN first. Below the threshold, registering is optional.

Can I put GST on my invoices if I am not registered?

The ATO's rules on adding GST to prices and issuing tax invoices apply to businesses registered for GST, or required to be. If you are neither, ask your tax adviser before adding GST to an invoice.

Sources

• How GST works, Australian Taxation Office. Read 2026-10-17.
• Registering for GST, Australian Taxation Office. Read 2026-10-18.
• When to charge GST (and when not to), Australian Taxation Office. Read 2026-10-17.
• GST-free sales, Australian Taxation Office. Read 2026-10-17.
• GSTR 2000/30 - Goods and services tax: supplies that are GST-free for pre-school, primary and secondary education courses, Australian Taxation Office. Read 2026-10-17.
• Tax invoices, Australian Taxation Office. Read 2026-10-18.
• A New Tax System (Goods and Services Tax) Act 1999, Federal Register of Legislation. Read 2026-10-17.