Record the purchase as an expense of the business that benefits from it, and record where the money came from. If you’re a sole trader there is nothing to repay, because you and the business are the same taxpayer. If the business is a company or a trust, it is a separate entity, so your payment is a loan from you to it, and the business owes you the money until it pays you back.
The GST in the purchase is claimed by the business if it’s registered for GST and you have a tax invoice, the same as if the business card had been used. This article is as at October 2026, from the ATO’s own pages (linked at the end).
Sole trader: no loan
A sole trader isn’t a separate entity from the business. The ATO’s example of a sole trader notes that all income is business income on the individual’s tax return regardless of what moves between accounts. So if you buy a business item on your personal card, there is no debt between you and the business.
The usual way to record it:
- the expense goes into the business’s costs for the item (and the GST into your GST credits, if you’re registered), and
- the other side is the owner’s own money going in (often called an owner contribution or capital introduced), not a loan.
Nobody needs to “pay you back”. If you later take money out of the business for yourself, that’s drawings, which are not a deduction. The ATO says a sole trader doesn’t have to open a separate business account but it’s better to, because it makes it easier to separate business and personal transactions. If an expense is partly business and partly private, you can only claim the business portion and you need records showing how you worked it out.
Company or trust: a loan from you
A company is a separate legal entity, and a trust is kept separate from you too: it is run by its trustee, keeps its own records and lodges its own tax return. The ATO says a business run through a company or trust must have its own bank account. When you pay a business cost from your personal card, the business has received something (the item or service) and owes you for it. That is a loan from you to the business.
Recording it takes two steps in the business’s books:
- When you pay: the expense, the GST credit if it has one, and a liability to you (often a “loan from director” or “loan from owner” account). It’s an expense in the business, not in your personal records.
- When the business repays you: the payment reduces that liability. It isn’t another expense, and it isn’t income to you. It is the business giving you your own money back.
If the business never repays, the balance just stays on its books as an amount owed to you. Keep the card statement and the tax invoice: the ATO says a private company should keep records of all drawings, dividends and loans, and that records must show the date, amount, description, GST information and the purpose of each transaction.
Claiming the GST
A business can claim a GST credit if it’s registered for GST, the purchase is for the business, the price included GST, it is liable to provide payment for the item, and there is a tax invoice for purchases over $82.50 (GST included). The GST credit is one eleventh of the GST-inclusive price when you use the item fully for business.
Some points that matter when the card was personal:
- Only one of you claims. For reimbursed employee expenses, the ATO says an employer is entitled to the credit once the employee gives it a tax invoice or receipt, and that the employer and employee can’t both claim the credit for the same expense. For a company or trust, the purchase is the business’s, so the credit is claimed on the business’s BAS, not through anything personal to you.
- Whose name is on the invoice? For purchases of $1,000 or more, the tax invoice has to show the buyer’s identity or ABN. Where you can, get the invoice made out to the business rather than to you personally.
- Timing. Which BAS period you claim in depends on your GST accounting method (cash or non-cash). On the cash basis the ATO says you claim in the period payment is made, and with a personal card paid for the business, a registered tax or BAS agent can confirm which period applies to you.
- Four years. You have 4 years to claim a GST credit, so an item you notice late isn’t lost.
A worked example
Priya is the sole director of Nair Design Pty Ltd, which is registered for GST. On 12 August she pays $660 for a year of design software on her personal card. The tax invoice is addressed to the company.
| In Nair Design’s books | Debit | Credit |
|---|---|---|
| Software expense | $600 | |
| GST on purchases (1B) | $60 | |
| Loan from Priya | $660 |
The GST is $660 / 11 = $60 and the expense is the remaining $600. The company now owes Priya $660. In September the company has cash and pays her back $660:
| In Nair Design’s books | Debit | Credit |
|---|---|---|
| Loan from Priya | $660 | |
| Bank | $660 |
Priya’s balance is back to zero. The payment is not salary or a dividend, and it isn’t income to her; it returns the money she put in.
If Priya were a sole trader, the first entry would be the same except for the last line: the $660 would be credited to the owner’s contribution rather than a loan, and nothing would be paid back.
Questions
Can the business just reimburse me?
Yes, repaying what you paid out of your own pocket is what clears the loan. Keep the card statement and invoice that show what was paid.
What if I use my personal card for business all the time?
It works, but it adds a lot of sorting, and the ATO says a company or trust must have its own bank account. A business card or account in the business’s name keeps things simple.
What if the purchase is partly personal?
Only the business part is the business’s expense, and for GST only the business part can be claimed. Keep records showing how you split it.
Where Beans fits
Beans records bank lines and receipts in the right entity’s books as they arrive, across several entities and your personal money, and receipts can be emailed in. It only asks when the call is yours to make, such as whether a purchase is the business’s or personal. It also flags a purchase that’s still missing a tax invoice, so you can chase the supplier before the BAS.
Sources (all ato.gov.au, checked 15 October 2026): Using your business money and assets for private purposes, Banking records, Overview of record-keeping rules for business, When to do record-keeping and reporting tasks, When you can claim a GST credit, GST and employee reimbursements, Tax invoices, Choosing an accounting method for GST.
General information, not tax advice.