How to write an invoice: what a UK trade's invoice must show

↑ Part of the Getting Paid series · Getting paid on time

An invoice is a dated, written request for payment for work you have done. In the UK it has to carry a short list of things: a unique invoice number, your name and address, the customer's name and address, the invoice date and the date the work was done, a clear description of the work, the amount charged and the total owed. Get those on the page and the rest is about wording it so the money turns up on time.

This page sits under our guide to getting paid on time, which covers deposits, stage payments and chasing. Here it is the document itself: what goes on it, what changes once you are VAT registered, and the habits that stop invoices going missing or being ignored.

Part 1An invoice is not a quote

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A quote sets the price before the work. An invoice collects the money after it, or at the stages you agreed. The quote is an offer; the invoice is a bill with a due date on it. If your quote set out a deposit and stage payments, each invoice simply calls in the next slice of that plan, and the customer has already agreed to every one of them.

Send it promptly. An invoice that goes out the day you finish (the day of practical completion, on most jobs) gets paid sooner than one that follows a fortnight later, when the job has faded from the customer's mind. On longer work, invoice at each agreed stage rather than at the end, so you are never funding weeks of labour and materials out of your own account.

Part 2What every invoice must show

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HMRC's list for an ordinary invoice, from a trade who is not VAT registered:

• A unique invoice number. One sequence, no gaps, no repeats. INV-001 then INV-002 is plenty.
• Your name, and any business name you trade under. If you use a business name, add an address where legal documents can be delivered to you.
• Your address and contact details.
• The customer's name and address.
• The invoice date, and the supply date: when the work was actually done, if that is different.
• A clear description of what you are charging for. "Works as quoted" is thin; "Rewire of ground floor, as quote Q-0142 accepted 3 March" ties the bill to the agreement.
• The amount or amounts charged, and the total owed.

A limited company uses its full name as it appears on the certificate of incorporation, and if it lists any directors on the invoice it has to list all of them.

That is the legal core. A logo and a neat layout are presentation, not law, but they earn their place: a clear invoice reads as a business that keeps its books straight, and that is the business a customer pays first. Add how and when to pay as well. It is not on HMRC's list, and it is the line that decides when you get your money.

Part 3If you are VAT registered: the extra lines

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Once you are registered, an invoice to another VAT-registered business has to be a full VAT invoice. On top of the list above it shows:

• Your VAT registration number.
• The time of supply (the tax point), where it differs from the invoice date.
• For each line, the price excluding VAT, the quantity and the VAT rate.
• The total excluding VAT, the total VAT, and the total including VAT.
• The rate of any discount you have given.

Labour	£1,800.00
Materials supplied and fitted	£1,200.00
Total excluding VAT	£3,000.00
VAT at 20%	£600.00
Total due	£3,600.00

The rate is not always 20%. Some conversions and long-empty homes drop to 5%, and new dwellings are zero-rated; our guide to VAT rates on building work sets out which. A single invoice can carry two rates when a job spans both, provided each part sits on its own lines.

Not registered? Then you must not show or charge VAT at all. The invoice lists plain amounts and no VAT line.

Part 4The CIS split and the reverse charge

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Two situations change the invoice for construction work between businesses.

Under the Construction Industry Scheme, the contractor deducts tax from your labour, not from the materials you supplied. Show the two separately on every invoice, or the contractor may deduct from the whole figure and you wait until the end of the tax year to get the difference back. Our CIS guide for subcontractors walks through the split.

Under the domestic reverse charge, which covers most VAT-registered construction work for another VAT-registered business that is not the end user, you do not charge the VAT. The invoice still shows the VAT amount, says the reverse charge applies, and the customer accounts for it instead. The wording to use is in our reverse charge guide.

Part 5Payment terms that get you paid

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The strongest line on any invoice is a specific due date. "Payment due by 14 March" beats "payment on receipt", because a vague term is easy to put aside and forget. Pick a period you can live with, put it on the quote as well as the invoice, and keep it the same every time so customers learn your rhythm.

Make paying easy. Put your bank details on the invoice itself, ask for the invoice number as the payment reference, and offer card payment if you can take it. Every extra step between reading the invoice and paying it is somewhere for the money to stall.

If a business customer pays late, the law is on your side. The Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998 gives statutory interest of 8% above the Bank of England base rate on an overdue commercial invoice, plus a fixed sum towards the cost of recovering it. If your contract sets its own interest rate, that rate applies instead. Our guide to late payment interest shows the sums. The Act does not cover homeowners, so for domestic work the interest you can rely on is the interest in terms they agreed before the job started. Without a clause, a court can still add interest if you end up making a claim, but that is the court's decision, not yours.

Part 6Numbering and keeping copies

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Number invoices in one unbroken sequence. Gaps and duplicates look careless, and once you are VAT registered they are a real problem, because HMRC expects every number accounted for. A running number also makes a missing payment easy to spot: if INV-014 cleared and INV-013 did not, you know exactly who to ring.

Keep copies:

• A sole trader keeps business records for at least 5 years after the 31 January self-assessment deadline for the tax year they belong to.
• A limited company keeps them for 6 years from the end of the financial year they relate to.
• VAT records are kept for at least 6 years.

Keep them somewhere you will not lose them. A folder of PDFs that a laptop failure can wipe out is one bad afternoon away from being no records at all.

Common questionsHow to write an invoice: quick FAQ

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What has to be on a UK invoice?

A unique invoice number, your name and address (and any business name, with an address for legal documents), the customer's name and address, the invoice date, the supply date if it differs, a clear description of the work, the amounts charged and the total owed. A VAT-registered trade also shows its VAT number, the VAT rate and amount on each line, and the VAT total.

Do I need to be VAT registered to send an invoice?

No. Anyone doing paid work should invoice for it. If you are not registered you must not show or charge VAT, so the invoice lists plain amounts with no VAT line.

What payment terms should a tradesperson use?

Whatever you can live with, stated as a date rather than "on receipt". Many trades use 14 or 30 days. Agree it on the quote first, then put the same term on the invoice.

Can I charge interest on a late invoice?

On a business-to-business invoice, yes: statutory interest of 8% above the Bank of England base rate, plus a fixed recovery sum. If your contract sets its own interest rate, that applies instead. It does not apply to homeowners, so for domestic work put a late-payment clause in your terms before the job.

Should labour and materials be shown separately?

Under CIS, yes, always: the contractor deducts tax from labour only. Outside CIS it is still worth doing, because it shows the customer what they are paying for and makes a disputed line easier to settle.

How long do I keep copies of my invoices?

A sole trader keeps them at least 5 years after the 31 January deadline for the tax year. A limited company keeps them 6 years from the end of its financial year, and VAT records are kept at least 6 years.

This guide is general information for UK tradespeople, current to the best of our knowledge in 2026, and is not tax, accounting or legal advice. Rates, thresholds and how they apply to you change, so confirm your position with HMRC, a qualified accountant or a solicitor before relying on it. TradeDraft accepts no liability for decisions made on the basis of this guide. Questions: hello@tradedraft.co.uk.