Sattotal now works in Australia and New Zealand
Countries 48 and 49. They share a language and even the same interface English, yet we had to write them different documents — and the reason is worth reading.
Australia and New Zealand can now be chosen as your organisation country, taking Sattotal to 49 countries. The tempting thing would have been to treat them as a single market: same language, same interface English, and electronic invoicing voluntary in both. It would have been a mistake.
In Australia, accepting a device for repair without having first given a written notice is an offence. How well the repair goes is irrelevant: the breach happens at the moment you take the device in.
That is section 103 of the Australian Consumer Law. If the shop uses refurbished parts, or the device can retain customer data — which means any phone or computer — a written notice has to be given BEFORE the device is accepted. And you cannot word it your own way: the regulation prescribes the wording. That is why in Sattotal the notice appears on screen the moment you start an intake, while the customer still has the device in their hand, and again on the receipt they sign.
Where the two countries part ways
The tax and the document
GST is 10% in Australia and 15% in New Zealand. And since April 2023 the New Zealand document no longer needs to be titled a tax invoice: what the law asks for is that you keep the information about the supply, not a piece of paper with that name on it.
The repair notice
Compulsory and prescribed word for word in Australia, non-existent in New Zealand. Copying it across would have handed a New Zealand shop an obligation its own law does not impose, so its documents say something different.
Uncollected devices, and privacy
In Australia this is State law, and the differences are real: some let you sell after notice, Queensland needs a court order. New Zealand has one national rule. And the Australian privacy law exempts small businesses, while the New Zealand one exempts nobody.
Invoicing and POS are available in both from day one: neither mandates electronic invoicing between businesses, so an ordinary invoice remains valid.
To switch it on, go to Settings → Organisation and choose the country. Tax, currency, the states or regions and the legal texts adjust on their own, and you can edit them at any time from Settings → Documents.