Invoicing EU clients for consulting services

When you sell you need to take in account VAT regulations. These vary depending on what you sell. There are special rules for digital services eg computer software licenses.

There are a number of scenarios where a UK company sells services to a European company. Some of the rules are designed to deal with the fact that VAT is not the same in different countries.

. UK not vat registered UK VAT registered EU not vat registered EU VAT registered UK not VAT registered No VAT charged No VAT charged ? ? UK VAT registered 20% charged 20% charged, reclaimable Charge UK VAT Do not charge VAT Need Customer VAT number

Other Notes

Transferwise have an article on invoicing EU customers, which I thought was quite clear and KF accounting also have a good introduction. I though the HMRC General notes not very helpful but HRMC notes was a bit better. This is even though it was really focused on selling digital services.

I thought this is quite clear https://transferwise.com/gb/blog/invoicing-eu-customers-as-uk-business HMRC less good and https://www.gov.uk/vat-businesses/vat-services-to-eu-businesses.

Extract:

If you're registered for VAT and you're selling services

If you're selling services to a customer without a VAT ID, you should charge UK VAT.

If you're selling services to a business customer with a VAT ID, you do not need to charge VAT. The customer is responsible for paying VAT in their own country. However, you'll need to make a note on the invoice.

What information should go on the invoice?

To comply with EU regulations, here's what you should include on your invoice:

The date of issue
A unique invoice number (based on one or more series)
Your full name and address (If 'you' are a company, this should be your company's full name, registered address
and company registration number)
The customer's full name and address (and registration number, if they're a company)
A description of the goods or services
The quantity of goods supplied or services rendered
The date of supply
The place of supply
The total amount payable

Your VAT number
The VAT number of your customer (if they're a business)
The VAT rate(s) you're charging
The taxable amount per rate
The VAT amount payable
The sterling equivalent of VAT payable if your invoice isn't in sterling
If you're rendering a service and the VAT rate is zero, you should state: "Article 44 of the EU VAT Directive;
VAT is due by the recipient of the service"