What has to be on an invoice?

An invoice has to carry a fixed set of details. Below is what is required. This is a short summary of the EU rules, which every member state applies; the official list is linked at the foot of the page.

This always goes on

• Your own name and full address.
• Your VAT identification number.
• Your customer's name and full address.
• The date you issue the invoice.
• An invoice number. Numbers run upward and each one is used only once.
• The date you supplied the goods or performed the service, where that differs from the invoice date.
• What you supplied: the quantity and nature of the goods, or the extent and nature of the service.
• The unit price excluding VAT.
• Any discounts or rebates not already in that price.
• The VAT rate you are charging.
• The taxable amount, that is the amount before VAT.
• The VAT amount payable.

More than one VAT rate

Are there several rates on one invoice? Then show, per rate, what the amount before VAT is and how much VAT belongs to it.

Special cases

• Reverse charge. Put the words "Reverse charge" on the invoice, together with your customer's VAT number. The wording is required, not optional.
• Supply to another EU country. On an intra-Community supply you put your customer's VAT number on the invoice.
• Exemption or a special scheme. If the supply is exempt, or you use one of the margin schemes, that has to be stated on the invoice — for instance "Margin scheme — second-hand goods".
• Self-billing. Where your customer draws up the invoice on your behalf, it has to say "Self-billing".

Small amounts, and what differs per country

Lighter rules apply to small amounts: below a threshold a simplified invoice with fewer details is allowed, and the threshold itself is national. A few supplies need no invoice at all. Currency, language and how long you keep the invoice are national too, so check your own tax authority for those.

Invoicing from the United States

None of the above applies. There is no VAT in the United States and no federal law setting out what an invoice has to contain — a US invoice is a commercial document rather than a tax document, shaped by state sales tax rules, your contract, and what your customer needs before they will pay. What to put on one, how numbering and payment terms work, and when a client sends you a 1099-NEC are covered under Invoicing from the United States and Do I charge sales tax on my invoice?