Setting up in Australia
Everything in Initial setup applies. This page collects the parts that are specific to operating in Australia, so you are not reading around American defaults to work out what applies to you.
Australia is a self-serve market. You can sign up, connect Stripe and take money without talking to anyone.
Stripe and payouts
Stripe onboarding in Australia asks for:
- ABN (Australian Business Number), and ACN as well if you are a company
- Registered business name and address, matching your ABN registration
- BSB and account number for payouts
- Government-issued photo ID for the account representative, usually a driver licence or passport
Verification normally completes in one to two business days. Start it on day one, because it blocks nothing else in setup but it does block collecting money.
Your settlement currency is AUD. It is set from the country you choose during Stripe onboarding and cannot be changed afterwards without creating a new account, so make sure Australia is selected rather than the pre-filled guess from your browser.
GST
Australian operators configure one tax line, not the stacked state-and-county arrangement a US operator uses.
Under Admin > Store settings > Taxes:
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Tax name | GST |
| Tax rate | 10 |
| GL code | Your GST payable account, in the 3050 to 3064 range |
| Apply to bookings | On |
| Apply to slips | On, if you run marina slips |
Show prices including GST
Australian consumer law expects a single total price, and your customers compare on the all-in number. Turn on Show inclusive pricing under Admin > Store settings > Pricing display so your booking page shows one figure rather than a base price with GST appended at checkout.
GST still reports separately in the tax report, which lists GST alongside the other tax types for filing. Inclusive pricing changes what the customer sees, not what your accountant gets.
Card surcharging is banned from 1 October 2026
Under RBA regulation, surcharging customers for card payments is prohibited in Australia from 1 October 2026.
This affects the Charge interchange fee (credit card fee) toggle under Admin > Store settings > Pricing and payments. Australian locations see a warning against it.
The setting stays toggleable and the warning is advisory. Compliance is yours, and so is the timing of your own change. We do not switch a live pricing setting on your behalf.
If you currently surcharge, plan the transition: absorb card processing and fold it into your rates before the deadline, rather than discovering it on the day.
Card processing in Australia is billed at your local rate, and it is materially cheaper than North America, because Australian interchange genuinely costs less. Your four rates — online domestic, in-person domestic, online international, in-person international — are shown on your Subscription page. In-person is cheaper than online, so a tapped card at the counter costs you less than the same booking taken on your website.
Dates, language and formatting
Set these under Admin > Store settings so every screen, invoice and customer email reads the way your staff and guests expect.
| Setting | Australian value |
|---|---|
| Date format | dd/mm/yyyy |
| Language | en-AU |
| Currency | AUD |
| Timezone | Your actual state timezone |
Australia spans three standard timezones, and some states observe daylight saving while their neighbours do not. Perth, Adelaide, Brisbane and Sydney are all different, and Brisbane and Sydney diverge for part of the year.
Changing the timezone later does not move bookings already taken. This is the cheapest mistake to avoid and one of the most expensive to unpick.
Phone and SMS
Australian phone numbers are fully supported for calls, SMS confirmations and AI phone answering.
Provision one under Admin > Phone system and choose Australia as the country. The AI assistant matches the accent to the number's country, so an Australian number does not answer in an American accent.
Numbers are billed at $5 per number per month. Calls and messages carry no per-minute or per-message fee. See Pricing.
What differs for Australian operators
Reserve & Pay is not available
Reserve & Pay lets a customer book now and pay in instalments, with RentalTide advancing the money to you up front. Funding that advance requires a cross-border transfer that Stripe only supports into the United States, United Kingdom, EEA, Canada and Switzerland. Australian, New Zealand and Japanese locations do not see the option, and it cannot be enabled on request.
Deposit Payment Plans work normally. You can take a deposit now and collect the balance later, on a schedule, automatically. The difference is that you receive each payment as the customer makes it rather than receiving the full amount up front. For most operators this is the arrangement they wanted anyway.
Everything else works identically
Bookings, POS, terminals, waivers, memberships, gift cards, tours and charters, marina slips, staffing, marketing, the API and the AI surfaces all behave the same in Australia as anywhere else.
Privacy and data
RentalTide is designed to align with the Australian Privacy Principles and the reforms in the Privacy and Other Legislation Amendment Act 2024. Sub-processors are listed in full, and on request we will confirm which AWS regions hold your data and the transfer mechanism relied on for anything leaving Australia.
See Data privacy and AI usage for the detail, including what to tell your own customers.