What to put on an invoice in the UK (VAT and non-VAT)

There's no single UK law that says exactly what a non-VAT invoice must look like — but there is a very specific list of things HMRC expects on a VAT invoice, and getting it wrong is one of the most common reasons a corporate accounts team bounces an invoice back and asks you to resend it. This is written for UK sole traders, freelancers and small businesses, whether or not you're VAT registered.

Do you need to charge VAT at all?

Only if you're VAT registered. Registration becomes compulsory once your VAT-taxable turnover looks like it will pass a set threshold in a rolling 12-month period — it's been around £90,000 in recent years, up from the long-standing £85,000, but the exact figure is set by the government and does move, so check the current threshold on gov.uk or with your accountant before you decide anything based on a number in a blog post.

Below the threshold, registration is optional. Some freelancers and small businesses register voluntarily anyway, because it lets them reclaim VAT on things like equipment, software subscriptions or a work vehicle. Others hold off deliberately, because charging VAT effectively puts your prices up 20% for non-VAT-registered clients. Either is a legitimate choice — it depends on who your clients are and what you're buying for the business, so it's worth a proper conversation with an accountant rather than guessing.

If you're not VAT registered, don't put a VAT number or a VAT line on your invoices at all, even "just in case."

What every UK invoice needs, VAT or not

Whether or not VAT applies, a solid invoice should include:

A unique invoice number, sequential and never reused. INV-0001, INV-0002, and so on.
Your business name and address (and your own name too, if you trade under a different business name).
The client's name and address.
The date the invoice was issued.
A clear description of the goods or services, with quantity where relevant.
The amount due, and how you'd like to be paid — usually your bank sort code and account number, with a note to use the invoice number as the payment reference.
A due date. "Due 4 October 2026" gets paid faster than "payment due within 30 days," because it's a date on a calendar rather than a sum the client has to do themselves.

None of this is a legal requirement for a non-VAT-registered business in the way VAT invoicing is, but it's what a client's accounts department will expect to see before they'll process payment — and most of it is just good practice for your own records at tax time.

What a full VAT invoice must include

If you are VAT registered, HMRC expects a "full" VAT invoice to contain everything above, plus:

Your VAT registration number.
The tax point (also called the "time of supply") — usually the invoice date, unless goods or services were supplied on a different date.
A description of each item, with the quantity and the price per item, excluding VAT.
The rate of any discount offered, if applicable.
The total amount excluding VAT.
The VAT rate charged on each item (most things are standard-rated at 20%, but some goods and services are reduced-rate, zero-rated or exempt — check which applies to what you sell with your accountant if you're not certain).
The total VAT charged.
The total amount including VAT.

If your invoice mixes items at different VAT rates, HMRC expects each rate shown separately rather than one blended VAT figure — worth checking that whatever tool you invoice with handles this automatically, because doing it by hand in a spreadsheet is where small VAT errors tend to creep in.

Simplified VAT invoices for smaller amounts

For retail-style sales under £250 including VAT, you're allowed to issue a simplified VAT invoice instead, which only needs:

Your business name, address and VAT number.
The date.
A description of the goods or services.
The VAT rate applied.
The total price including VAT.

This is mostly relevant if you sell in person or handle a lot of small transactions — most service invoicing to other businesses will naturally end up using the full format anyway, since the amounts tend to be higher and clients expect the fuller breakdown regardless of the £250 line.

Common mistakes that hold up payment

Charging VAT without a VAT number on the invoice — some accounts teams won't process it.
A blended VAT total on an invoice with mixed rates, instead of each rate broken out.
No tax point, or a tax point that doesn't match when the work was actually delivered — this matters more than people expect, since it determines which VAT period the sale falls into.
Skipped or reused invoice numbers, which look messy at VAT return time and can raise questions if HMRC ever looks closely.
Charging VAT at all when you're not registered — never add a VAT line "to be safe."

Record keeping

HMRC generally expects VAT records to be kept for six years. Digital records are fine — in fact, if you're VAT registered you're likely required to keep digital records and file VAT returns using compatible software under Making Tax Digital rules, so it's worth checking your invoicing and bookkeeping setup actually qualifies rather than assuming a plain spreadsheet still does the job. Your accountant is the right person to confirm exactly what applies to your situation.

Making this automatic

Building a fully compliant VAT invoice by hand in Word or Excel is doable, but it's easy to get a small detail wrong every time — a missing tax point, a blended VAT figure, an invoice number that skips by accident. InvoiceCharlie generates correctly formatted UK invoices automatically, VAT or not: the right fields, rate breakdowns handled for you, sequential numbering, and every invoice stored so you're not hunting for one three years later.

If you just need to send one invoice right now, the free invoice generator will build one with no account needed. For ongoing invoicing with numbering, reminders and online payment sorted automatically, your first 10 invoices are free — and if you're chasing a client who's gone quiet, our guide on getting invoices paid faster covers the habits that actually move the needle.