Requirements for invoicing
04.04.2019So, you registered your company, started working and you need to issue an invoice for the service provided or the goods sold, in order to do it correctly, you need to know what requirements this document must meet.
What should be in your texture?
Your data:
- Your full name. You provide the legal name of your business. A trade name is also possible if it is registered with a chamber of commerce (KvK) together with an address.
- your full address. You indicate the address where the company is actually located. Mentioning only the mailbox number is not enough.
- your BTW number
- your KvK number (registration number in the IP Chamber of Commerce)
What else can you indicate in the section about you: your bank account number, logo, motto (this is not necessary, but it is also possible, it will make the texture more solid), the location is not limited in any way (most often, of course, this is done in the header).
Buyer details:
- your client's full name
- tav (terattentievan) of the client, if the client's company has a specific person to whom the account is intended
- full customer address
- registration number (highly desirable, especially if it is a foreign buyer) it is not required by law
- if the sale or service is within the EU, then the buyer's BTW number (be sure to check it for validity)... In this case, you will be able to sell goods to him with a zero VAT rate. If this number is not there, the tax office will not be able to do this. The same is true in the BTW verleg situation (transferring BTW to another payer, the payer's BTW number is required).
Invoice credentials:
- the date on which the invoice was issued
- the date until which the invoice is valid
- sequential invoice number (it is very important that the numbering begins with one and there are no missing numbers, as this will raise questions from the tax office). A situation may arise when you need to delete some invoice (the client refused the service or returned the goods). In this case, if the invoice is the last one, you can simply delete it and write out a new one with this number. If it is not the last one and new invoices have already been issued after it, you need to write out another invoice (credit note) with the corresponding serial number, which will cancel the invalid one. It should contain all the same information as in the first invoice and the same amount, but with a minus. When numbering, you can use letters or complex numbers, the main thing is not to confuse or duplicate the numbering.
- the name of the goods or services that you have provided
- the number of goods or the volume of services provided by you (it is possible with an explanation)
- the date on which the goods or services were provided, or the date of prepayment (optional, usually the period of the services provided, as a standard, the invoice must be issued within a month after their provision)
- the amount you charge excluding VAT
What to do if you provide services with different VAT rates?
Do you provide services with different VAT rates? In this case, please indicate separate amounts. Also include the unit price, if possible.
- the VAT rate that you charge
- VAT amount
- amount due
The amount is rounded by the mathematical method to 2 decimal places.
In some cases, special billing rules apply. They can be found on the website of the tax here
We will discuss the exceptions, who may not display invoices or display them in some other way, in another article.