VAT invoice template including the reverse charge
A free VAT invoice that gets the details right: your VAT number, the rate applied, the total VAT charged, and the domestic reverse charge wording for construction work between VAT-registered businesses. Prices can be entered inclusive or exclusive of VAT and the totals follow.
Three steps, about two minutes
Add your details. Your business, your client, and what you did. Drop in a logo if you have one and pick a colour that looks like you.
Check the preview. The invoice updates as you type, at real A4 proportions. What you see on screen is exactly what comes out of the PDF.
Get it by email. Tell us where to send it and a print-ready PDF lands in your inbox, ready to forward to your customer, print, or drop in your accounts folder.
What makes an invoice a valid VAT invoice
On top of the usual invoice details, a VAT invoice needs your VAT registration number, the tax point (the date of supply), the VAT rate applied to each item, the total amount excluding VAT, the total VAT charged, and the total including VAT.
Your customer needs all of that to reclaim the VAT, so an incomplete VAT invoice tends to come straight back to you. This generator sets it out in the order HMRC expects.
Inclusive or exclusive prices
If you quote trade customers, your prices are usually exclusive and 20% is added on top. If you quote domestic customers, the price you said is normally the price they pay, so VAT is already inside it.
Pick whichever matches how you quoted and the arithmetic follows. Entering inclusive prices and then adding VAT on top again is the single most common way to overcharge a customer by 20%.
The domestic reverse charge for construction
Since 1 March 2021, most construction services supplied between VAT-registered businesses fall under the domestic reverse charge. Instead of charging VAT and passing it to HMRC yourself, you charge no VAT and your customer accounts for it on their own return.
It applies where both parties are VAT registered, the work falls within CIS, and the customer is not an end user. It does not apply to work for a domestic customer, or where your customer is the end user and has told you so in writing.
Switch it on here and the invoice shows £0 VAT along with a note stating the customer must account for the VAT, citing the relevant legislation. Leaving that note off is what makes a reverse charge invoice invalid.
Nothing you type is sent to us
The whole thing runs in your browser. Your business details, your client's details and your prices stay on your own device, and the PDF is built there too. We do not need your email to use the generator and we do not store your invoice.
Your last invoice is remembered locally so a refresh does not cost you ten minutes of typing. Use Start again to wipe it whenever you like.
Frequently asked questions
What has to appear on a UK VAT invoice?
A unique invoice number, your business name and address, your VAT registration number, the customer's name and address, the tax point or supply date, a description of what you supplied, the VAT rate applied to each item, the total excluding VAT, the VAT charged, and the total including VAT.
When does the domestic reverse charge apply?
For construction services between two VAT-registered businesses where the work falls within the Construction Industry Scheme and the customer is not an end user. It does not apply to domestic customers, or where the customer has confirmed in writing that they are the end user.
What wording does a reverse charge invoice need?
It must state clearly that the reverse charge applies and that the customer is required to account for the VAT. This generator adds that note automatically, showing the VAT amount the customer must account for and citing VAT Act 1994 section 55A.
My prices already include VAT. Can I still use this?
Yes. Choose the option for prices that already include 20% VAT and the generator works backwards to show the net amount and the VAT element separately, which is what your customer needs in order to reclaim it.
Is the invoice generator really free?
Yes. Build as many invoices as you like and we email you every one as a PDF. There is no signup, no trial and no card required. The only thing on the finished invoice is a small 'Made with Zappy' line in the footer.
Is my data stored anywhere?
The invoice is built in your browser, and your last one is kept in your browser's local storage so a refresh does not lose it. Start again clears it. When you ask us to email the PDF we keep that invoice and your email address so we can send it and so you can pick it up again later. We never sell it on, and marketing emails are a separate tick box you can opt out of at any time.
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