Invoice questions › Do invoice numbers have to be sequential?
Do invoice numbers have to be sequential?
Yes. An invoice needs a sequential number that identifies it uniquely, and each number is used once.
Your invoice numbers have to form a running series. Each number appears exactly once and there are no gaps in it. That is how a tax authority can see your records are complete.
What the series looks like is up to you, and the rules explicitly allow more than one. Plenty of businesses start again each year: 2026-001, 2026-002. A separate series per kind of document is fine too, as long as each one runs cleanly upward within itself.
If you make a mistake, do not throw a number away. Correct it with a credit note, which takes the next number itself. In the editor you enter the number yourself, so it follows on from your own series.
In the editor you enter the next number yourself, so it follows on neatly from your own series. No account needed to look around.
Create an invoiceRelated
- Correcting a mistake on an invoice you already sent
- When do I have to send an invoice?
- How long do I have to keep an invoice?
This page is a summary, not legal advice. Invoicing is set at EU level but the details are national, so check with the European Commission or your own tax authority if your situation is unusual.