VAT invoice requirements: what HMRC expects on the page
Enter the price including VAT: the calculator tells you whether a simplified invoice is enough and how much VAT the price holds.
A VAT invoice is the document that lets your business customer reclaim the VAT you charge, and HMRC lists what it must contain in section 4 of VAT Notice 700/21. If you are VAT-registered, you must issue one whenever you supply goods or services at the standard or reduced rate to another VAT-registered business, normally within 30 days of the supply. A full VAT invoice carries a sequential number, the time of supply, the date of issue where it differs, your name, address and VAT registration number, the customer's name and address, a description of what you supplied, and for each line the quantity, the unit price, the VAT rate and the amount before VAT, then the total before VAT, any cash discount rate and the total VAT in sterling. For a supply of £250 or less including VAT, a simplified invoice is allowed: your name, address and VAT number, the tax point, a description, and for each rate the total including VAT and the rate. Only VAT-registered businesses can issue either kind.
Simplified or full VAT invoice?
Invoice you can issue
Simplified (or full)
| VAT inside the price | £30.00 |
| Price before VAT | £150.00 |
| Customer address needed | No |
| Line-by-line VAT detail | No, one rate total |
Threshold: £250 including VAT (VAT Notice 700/21, 4.5).
Checked by Radif Partners · Editorial policy · Methodology
The eleven details of a full VAT invoice
VAT Notice 700/21, paragraph 4.1 is a list, not a model layout. Each item has a practical reason behind it, and most refused VAT claims come down to one of them missing.
| Detail | What it means on the page |
|---|---|
| Sequential number | One or more series that identify each invoice uniquely; gaps should have an explanation |
| Time of supply | The tax point, which decides the VAT period of the sale |
| Date of issue | Only if it differs from the time of supply |
| Supplier's name, address, VAT number | Your registered details, the VAT number in full |
| Customer's name and address | The person you supplied, not necessarily the one who pays |
| Description | Enough to identify the goods or services |
| Quantity or extent | Units, hours, days for each description |
| Unit price | The price of one unit before VAT |
| Rate of VAT and amount excluding VAT | For each line, at 20%, 5% or 0% |
| Total excluding VAT and cash discount rate | The gross total before VAT in any currency; the rate of any discount offered for prompt payment |
| Total VAT | Expressed in sterling, whatever the invoice currency |
HMRC prints its own example in the notice: six radios at £25.20 and four DVD players at £23.60, all at the standard rate. The generator gives the same figures to the penny: £245.60 before VAT, £49.12 of VAT, £294.72 in total. It is one of the automated tests the site runs before each update.
Simplified and modified invoices
When the charge for a supply is £250 or less including VAT, you may issue a simplified invoice. It needs your name, address and VAT registration number, the tax point, a description, and for each VAT rate the total payable including VAT and the rate. It must not include exempt supplies. Above £250, if a customer asks for a VAT invoice, you issue either a full one or a modified one, which shows VAT-inclusive values instead of exclusive ones. The modified form suits retailers whose prices are displayed with VAT.
The calculator at the top of this page works out which form applies to a price and how much VAT that price contains: one-sixth of a standard-rated VAT-inclusive price, one twenty-first of a reduced-rated one.
Several rates on one invoice
A full invoice can mix rates, as long as each line shows its own. A nursery shop selling a child's car seat at 5%, a pushchair at 20% and clothes at 0% produces three VAT bands (the reduced and zero rates are the ones GOV.UK gives as examples for car seats and children's clothes), and the engine totals them separately.
| Rate | Net amount | VAT |
|---|---|---|
| 20% | £320.00 | £64.00 |
| 5% | £150.00 | £7.50 |
| 0% | £60.00 | £0.00 |
Exempt and outside-the-scope lines can sit on the same document, but they carry no VAT and must be clearly identified. A line at zero per cent is still a taxable supply, which is why it appears in the table with a nil amount.
Rounding the VAT
Paragraph 17.5 of VAT Notice 700 lets an invoice trader round the total VAT on an invoice down to the whole penny. When VAT is worked out line by line, each line can be rounded down to the nearest 0.1p or to the nearest 1p or 0.5p, and the final total may again be rounded down. The generator works on the whole invoice and rounds the total down, so a single line of £10.99 carries £2.19 of VAT rather than £2.20.
Special cases with extra wording
Some supplies need a statement on top of the eleven details. Under the domestic reverse charge for building and construction services, the invoice states that the customer accounts for the VAT, and the VAT is not added to the amount due; the reverse charge invoice guide gives HMRC's accepted wordings. A business in Northern Ireland invoicing a person in an EU member state adds GB before its VAT number and the customer's EU VAT number. Margin scheme invoices follow their own rules and are outside what the generator handles.
Invoices from businesses that are not registered
A business below the £90,000 registration threshold, as listed on GOV.UK, cannot issue a VAT invoice and must not show VAT. Its invoices follow the general list on GOV.UK: a unique number, its name, address and contact details, the customer's name and address, a description, the supply date, the invoice date, the amounts and the total. A sole trader with a trading name adds their own name and an address where legal documents can be delivered; a limited company uses its full name as on the certificate of incorporation. The sole trader invoice template is set up for this case.
Electronic VAT invoices
Nothing in the notice requires paper. A PDF sent by email is a VAT invoice if it carries all the details, and HMRC's separate notice on electronic invoicing covers systems that exchange invoices automatically. Whatever the format, keep a copy of every VAT invoice you issue: VAT Notice 700/21 treats them as part of your business records, and your customer relies on theirs to reclaim the tax.