Progress Claim Template: How to Write a Progress Claim in Australia

A progress claim template sets out the work you've completed to date, what you've already claimed, any retention held back, the GST and the amount now due. A progress claim is a request for an interim payment on a job that isn't finished yet. In construction, the same document is usually your payment claim under your state's Security of Payment Act, which gives the other side a deadline of 10 or 15 business days to respond with a payment schedule. Copy the template below, then check the state table so the claim actually triggers those rights.

What is a progress claim?

A progress claim is a written request for payment for the part of a contract you've completed so far. Instead of waiting until the end of a long job, you claim the value of work done at agreed points: monthly, at each stage, or at each milestone.

It's the same idea as "progress invoicing" in any industry. What makes construction different is the law behind it: every state and territory has Security of Payment legislation, and a claim that meets its requirements starts a statutory clock the client can't contract out of.

This page is about the claim document itself. For deposits, variations and the other invoices on a building job, see our guide to invoicing for building work.

What should a progress claim include?

A progress claim needs the standard invoice details plus a contract summary: the contract value, the work completed to date, the amount previously claimed and the amount claimed now. If you're registered for GST it must also meet the ATO's tax invoice rules, and in construction it should carry your state's Security of Payment wording.

• Heading and number. "Tax Invoice / Progress Claim No. 3" (or "Invoice" if you're not registered for GST). Use the next number in your sequence; our guide to numbering invoices explains why gaps cause problems.
• Your details: business name, ABN, licence number if you hold one, contact details.
• The client and the job: client name and ABN (required on tax invoices of $1,000 or more), site address or project name, contract or purchase order reference.
• The claim period or reference date, for example "Work completed to 31 October 2026".
• A breakdown of work: each trade, stage or contract item with its value, the percentage or quantity complete, the value to date, previously claimed and this claim.
• Approved variations on separate lines with their variation numbers.
• Retention deducted this claim and held to date, if your contract has it.
• GST shown separately, and the total payable for this claim.
• The Security of Payment statement where your state requires one (see the table below).
• Due date and payment details: BSB, account number and the reference to use.

The ATO's minimum tax invoice fields are covered in our tax invoice requirements guide.

Progress claim template you can copy

Copy this into your invoice, replace the bracketed placeholders and delete any line you don't need. The cumulative columns are what make it a progress claim rather than an ordinary invoice: anyone checking it can see the whole contract position on one page.

Not a construction job? Drop the retention and Security of Payment lines and keep the cumulative columns.

What does the Security of Payment Act require in each state?

Each state and territory sets its own rules for what a payment claim must contain, how long the client has to dispute it with a payment schedule, and when payment falls due. Most require the claim to say it is made under the Act; Queensland and the Northern Territory don't. Get these wrong and your claim may not count as a payment claim at all.

Sources: NSW Government Security of Payment guide, Victorian Building and Plumbing Commission, QBCC, and the Acts on each state's legislation register, checked October 2026. Business days exclude weekends and public holidays, and some Acts also exclude a Christmas period. Some Acts exclude residential work for a home owner (WA, for example, excludes most home building contracts of $500,000 or less with an individual), so check yours before relying on the deadlines.

The safe habit: put the "made under the Act" sentence on every construction progress claim, even where it isn't required.

How do you write a progress claim? A worked example with retention and GST

Work out the value of everything completed to date, subtract what you've already claimed, deduct retention if the contract allows it, then add GST to the net amount. Here's how that looks for a Queensland subcontractor three months into a commercial fit-out.

The job: a joinery subcontract worth $200,000 plus GST, with 5% retention deducted from each claim. Claims 1 and 2 covered $80,000 of work. By 31 October 2026, the work is 65% complete and an approved variation for extra shelving (V2, $6,000) is fully installed.

Then the bottom of the claim:

• Gross value this claim: $56,000.00
• Less 5% retention: −$2,800.00 (retention held to date: $4,000 from earlier claims + $2,800 = $6,800)
• Net claim ex GST: $53,200.00
• GST 10% on the net claim: $5,320.00
• Total payable this claim: $58,520.00

Check it the way the head contractor's quantity surveyor will: value to date ($136,000) minus retention held ($6,800) is $129,200, and earlier net claims ($76,000) plus this one ($53,200) also equal $129,200.

When is GST on retention payable?

If you account for GST on an accruals basis, the ATO's particular attribution rules for retention payments generally let you account for GST on the retained amount when you receive it or invoice it, not when you issue the progress claim. That's why the example charges GST on the $53,200 net claim, and you'd invoice the $6,800 retention plus GST when it's released after the defects period. Cash-basis businesses simply report GST when payment arrives. The rule sits in the GST retention payments determination; confirm the treatment with your tax agent if your contract handles retention differently, for example through a bank guarantee.

How often can you submit a progress claim?

As often as your contract allows, and under Security of Payment law, generally once per reference date. If the contract doesn't set a date, most Acts default to monthly claims. In NSW you can serve one payment claim per month under each contract; in Queensland the default reference date is the last day of the month the work was done.

There are outer limits too: NSW and Tasmania, for example, allow a claim within the contract's period or 12 months after the work was last done, whichever is later.

What happens after you send a progress claim?

The client either pays the full amount by the due date or sends a payment schedule within the deadline saying how much it will pay and why. If it does neither, most Acts make it liable for the full claimed amount, and you can recover it as a debt or apply for adjudication.

A payment schedule that pays less than you claimed opens the adjudication route, a fast decision on what's owed. The timeframes to apply are short, so diarise the response deadline the day you serve the claim. If the client goes quiet on an ordinary invoice instead, our guide to chasing overdue invoices covers the reminder sequence, and a letter of demand is the usual next step outside the Security of Payment process.

How does progress billing work outside construction?

Consultants, designers, developers and agencies use the same structure without the statutory overlay. You bill at agreed milestones or by percentage complete, show the running total, and add GST to each claim if you're registered.

Take a brand designer quoting $24,000 plus GST for a rebrand, billed 30% at discovery, 40% at concept approval and 30% at final files:

Define each milestone as something the client can see ("concepts approved in writing"), and put the schedule in the quote so it's agreed before you start; our guide to writing a quote shows where it goes.

On GST, the ATO's ruling GSTR 2000/35 treats each progressive component as a separate supply, so the GST on each milestone goes in the BAS for the period you issue that invoice or get paid for it, whichever comes first (or when paid, on a cash basis). You don't owe GST on the whole $24,000 up front.

Designers and engineers whose work feeds into a build may be covered by Security of Payment laws too, because the Acts extend to some services related to construction work. For more on billing professional work, see how to invoice as a consultant.

What are the most common progress claim mistakes?

• Claiming work that isn't done. It hands the client a legitimate reason to schedule a lower amount.
• No cumulative columns. "Progress payment: $50,000" can't be checked. Show value to date and previously claimed on every claim.
• Missing the statutory wording in states that require it, so the claim doesn't start the Security of Payment clock.
• Unapproved variations bundled into a contract line. Claim them separately with the variation number and approval date.
• Charging GST on retention twice, once on the claim and again on release. Pick the treatment that matches your accounting basis and stick to it.

This article is general information, not legal or tax advice. Security of Payment laws change and their deadlines are strict, so check the current Act or your state regulator, see the ATO for GST, or speak to a construction lawyer or tax agent about your contract.

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