The short answer: a VAT invoice is an invoice from a VAT-registered business that shows the details HMRC requires, so a VAT-registered customer can reclaim the VAT on it. In the UK you must give one to a VAT-registered customer for standard-rated or reduced-rated sales, normally within 30 days of the tax point. Customers who aren’t VAT registered don’t need one, and if you aren’t registered you can’t charge VAT at all (VAT Notice 700, 16.2).
What a full VAT invoice must show
- A sequential number based on one or more series which uniquely identifies the invoice
- The time of supply (tax point)
- The date of issue, if different from the time of supply
- Your name, address and VAT registration number (a trading name is fine, but the registered name and address must appear somewhere)
- The customer’s name and address
- A description that identifies what you supplied
- For each description: the quantity or extent, the VAT rate and the amount payable before VAT
- The total payable before VAT
- The rate of any cash discount offered
- The total VAT, in sterling
- The unit price, for countable goods or services such as an hourly rate
List from HMRC VAT Notice 700, 16.3.1, which also says the unit price can be left off where it isn’t normally given in the sector and the customer doesn’t ask for it.
An example VAT invoice
A joiner invoicing a café for shelving. Names, numbers and figures are made up.
From Fenwick Joinery Ltd, Mill Street, Leeds. VAT no. GB 000 0000 00
To Harbour Café Ltd, Quay Road, Whitby
| Description | Qty | Unit price | VAT rate | Net |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oak shelving, supplied and fitted (linear metres) | 6 | £95.00 | 20% | £570.00 |
| Fitting labour (hours) | 5 | £42.00 | 20% | £210.00 |
| Total before VAT | £780.00 | |||
| VAT at 20% | £156.00 | |||
| Total due by 23 October 2026 | £936.00 | |||
Simplified VAT invoices (£250 or less)
If a sale is £250 or less and the customer agrees, you can give a simplified invoice. It needs your name, address and VAT number, the time of supply, a description, and for each VAT rate the total including VAT and the rate (VAT Notice 700, 16.6). The customer works out the VAT from the VAT-inclusive total, which is one sixth at 20%.
When you don’t issue one
- The customer isn’t VAT registered. You don’t have to issue a VAT invoice, though many businesses do when asked because they can’t tell who is registered.
- The sale is zero-rated. HMRC says you don’t have to issue VAT invoices for zero-rated supplies. If one invoice mixes rates, zero-rated and exempt items must show clearly that no VAT is due, with their own total (16.5).
- You aren’t VAT registered. You can’t charge VAT, so your invoice shows no VAT and no VAT number (GOV.UK).
Timing, deposits and pro formas
- 30 days: issue the VAT invoice within 30 days of the tax point, unless an earlier invoice already created the tax point (16.2.3).
- Deposits: most deposits create a tax point when you receive them, so the VAT on a deposit is due then (14.2.3).
- Pro forma invoices: can’t be used to reclaim VAT and should say “This is not a VAT invoice” (17.3).
- Other currencies: if you invoice a UK supply in euros or dollars, show the VAT total in sterling too (16.4).
Keeping copies
Keep a copy of every VAT invoice you issue, and keep business records for VAT for at least 6 years (VAT Notice 700/21). Selling to businesses in other countries is a different case: there is usually no UK VAT on the invoice; see how to invoice international clients. Working the VAT out line by line, with HMRC’s rounding rules, is in how to calculate VAT on an invoice.
Sources checked 9 October 2026: HMRC VAT Notice 700 (last updated 25 June 2026) and VAT Notice 700/21, GOV.UK charge, reclaim and record VAT.