What the ACCC does

  • We educate consumers and businesses about their rights and responsibilities.
  • We accept reports where people consider a business is doing something they shouldn’t. We use those reports to inform our education, compliance and enforcement work.
  • We can investigate if a business breaks the rules about providing receipts or bills. We may take some form of compliance or enforcement action.

What the ACCC can't do

  • We don’t resolve individual disputes about receipts or bills not being provided.

On this page

Businesses must provide a receipt

Businesses must give consumers a receipt for anything that costs over $75.

For anything under $75, the consumer can ask for a receipt, and the business must provide it within 7 days.

A receipt can be a:

  • GST tax invoice
  • cash register docket
  • hand-written document
  • a digital receipt.

The receipt must include:

  • the business’s name
  • the business’s ABN or ACN
  • the product or service
  • the date the product or service was supplied
  • the price of the product or service.


 Visit the ATO website for information on GST requirements for tax invoices.

Businesses must give an itemised bill for services if asked

Consumers can request an itemised bill or account for a service. If a consumer asks for this, the business must provide it within 7 days. Consumers have up to 30 days after receiving the original bill to ask for an itemised version.

An itemised bill must show:

  • how the price was worked out
  • the number of labour hours and hourly rate, if relevant
  • materials used and the amount charged for them, if relevant.

Businesses can ask for proof of purchase before repairing, replacing or refunding

If a consumer requests a repair, replacement or refund, the business can ask for a receipt or another form of proof of purchase.

Other forms of proof of purchase include a:

  • credit or debit card statement
  • lay-by agreement
  • receipt number or reference number given over the phone or internet
  • warranty card with details of the manufacturer or supplier, date and amount of purchase
  • serial or production number linked with the purchase on the supplier’s or manufacturer’s database.

The consumer may need to provide more than one of these things.

The law doesn’t give a definition of how much proof is enough – the consumer just needs to reasonably demonstrate that they bought the item.

The consumer can provide original documents, photos or photocopies.

Next steps if a business doesn’t provide a receipt or bill

If a business hasn’t given you a receipt or bill when they should, your first step is to contact the business to explain the problem.

If the business doesn’t resolve the problem, there are more steps you can take.

Get help taking a problem further

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