Invoice Generator

A VAT invoice has eleven legally required contents. This checks yours against all of them as you type.

The invoice
A sequential number that uniquely identifies the document is the first item on HMRC's list. The button under the preview steps it on and keeps the padding.
Leave it blank for today.
Required where it differs from the invoice date. Blank uses the invoice date.
A convention, not a rule. It is what starts the clock on a late payment.
Required on a VAT invoice. Leave blank if you are not VAT-registered — then what you issue is an ordinary invoice, not a VAT invoice.
Leave the VAT number blank above if you are not registered — then what you issue is an ordinary invoice, not a VAT invoice.
Sufficient to identify the goods or services. "Professional services" on its own generally is not.

How this is worked out

A full VAT invoice is a legal document with a prescribed list of contents. HMRC sets it out in VAT Notice 700/21, section 4.1, and there are eleven items:

a sequential number based on one or more series which uniquely identifies the document; the time of supply (the tax point); the date of issue where it differs from the tax point; your name, address and VAT registration number; the customer's name and address; a description sufficient to identify the goods or services; for each description the quantity, the VAT rate and the amount payable excluding VAT; the unit price; the gross total payable excluding VAT; the rate of any cash discount offered; and the total VAT chargeable, expressed in sterling.

The panel beside the form tests the invoice you are looking at against that list and names anything missing. The two most commonly absent are the VAT registration number and the per-line rate.

The £250 exception. For a supply not exceeding £250 including VAT you may issue a simplified VAT invoice instead, which needs only your name, address and VAT number, the tax point, a description, the VAT rate charged, and the total including VAT.

The reverse charge in one sentence. Where the domestic reverse charge applies, the customer rather than the supplier accounts for the VAT to HMRC: you charge no VAT, and the invoice must show the rate or amount that would have applied together with a reference to the reverse charge — HMRC accepts wording such as "reverse charge: customer to pay the VAT to HMRC".

A worked example

First line
8 × £120.00 = £960.00
Second line
24 × £95.00 = £2,280.00
Total excluding VAT
£3,240.00
VAT at 20%
£648.00
Total due
£3,888.00
Above the simplified-invoice limit?
yes — £3,888 is over £250, so a full VAT invoice is required
Terms
Net 30 — due in 30 days
Invoice number
INV-0001, next INV-0002
Required items present
11 of 11
Where the file is built
in your browser — no upload, no account, no watermark

Sequential, and what a gap looks like

The first item on HMRC's list is a sequential number based on one or more series which uniquely identifies the document. "Sequential" is doing real work in that sentence: the point is that the series can be shown to be complete.

Multiple series are explicitly allowed — one per company, one per year, one per branch — so long as each number is unique within its scheme. What is not allowed is a number that repeats, and what invites questions is a number that is missing.

If you cancel an invoice, keep the number and mark it void rather than reusing it or deleting it. A voided invoice you can produce is a complete answer; a hole in the sequence is a question you have to answer from memory, possibly years later. The button under the preview steps the number on and preserves the padding, so 0009 becomes 0010 rather than 10.

The tax point is not always the invoice date

The time of supply — the tax point — is what determines which VAT period a supply falls into, and it is a separate item on HMRC's list precisely because it is not always the date you typed the invoice.

The basic tax point is when the goods are removed or made available, or when the service is completed. Issuing a VAT invoice within 14 days of that basic tax point normally creates an actual tax point on the invoice date instead; receiving a payment in advance creates one at the payment. The result is that an invoice raised in early April for work finished in March may belong to the March period.

This form gives the tax point its own field for that reason. Leave it blank and it follows the invoice date, which is right for the ordinary case. Fill it in when they differ, which is when it matters.

Registered, not registered, and the difference on the document

You can only issue a VAT invoice if you are VAT-registered. Registration is compulsory once taxable turnover passes the threshold — £90,000 on the figures carried in this site's UK constants — and voluntary below it.

If you are not registered, leave the VAT registration number blank. The document produced is headed "Invoice" rather than "VAT Invoice", carries no VAT line, and is a perfectly ordinary invoice. What you must not do is charge VAT while unregistered; that is a straightforward offence, not a paperwork slip.

Charging VAT without showing your registration number is the more common error, and it is the one your customer will notice — without the number they cannot reclaim the VAT, so they will ask you to reissue.

Why this runs in your browser

An invoice carries your client's legal name, their registered address, what you did for them and what you charged. It is commercially sensitive on both sides and it is exactly what should not be handed to a free web service in exchange for a template.

Nothing here is uploaded. The PDF is composed in your browser by a library served from this site, and the page makes no external request of any kind. Open the network tab and check: every request goes to this origin, and none carries your data.

The trade-off is that nothing is stored between visits. Use the copy-link button to keep the invoice in the URL, or export the PDF and keep the file. There is no account to create and nothing to delete afterwards.

Assumptions and sources

UK VAT invoice contents
HMRC, "Record keeping (VAT Notice 700/21)", section 4.1 — the eleven items a full VAT invoice must show, beginning with a sequential number that uniquely identifies the document. https://www.gov.uk/guidance/record-keeping-for-vat-notice-70021 checked 2026-08
UK simplified invoice, £250
VAT Notice 700/21, section 4.5. A simplified VAT invoice may be issued for a supply not exceeding £250 including VAT. https://www.gov.uk/guidance/record-keeping-for-vat-notice-70021 checked 2026-08
UK invoice basics
GOV.UK, "Invoices — what they must include": a unique identification number, your name and address, the customer's name and address, a clear description, the supply date, the invoice date, the amounts, the VAT amount if applicable, and the total owed. https://www.gov.uk/invoicing-and-taking-payment-from-customers/invoices-what-they-must-include checked 2026-08
UK domestic reverse charge
HMRC, "VAT reverse charge technical guide": the invoice must show the VAT rate or amount that would have applied and a reference to the reverse charge — "reverse charge: customer to pay the VAT to HMRC" or "VAT Act 1994 Section 55A applies" are both accepted. https://www.gov.uk/guidance/vat-reverse-charge-technical-guide checked 2026-08
UK VAT rates and registration threshold
GOV.UK VAT rates and the £90,000 registration threshold, carried in tax/uk-2026-27.js with its own source line.
Tax point rules
The basic and actual tax point rules are summarised here for context and are set out in VAT Notice 700, the VAT guide. https://www.gov.uk/guidance/vat-guide-notice-700 checked 2026-08
Not covered
State and local US sales tax rates and taxability, Quebec's mandatory billing rules and QST invoicing requirements, EU cross-border VAT and OSS, e-invoicing mandates, Making Tax Digital, construction industry schemes, and late-payment interest legislation.
Rates current as of 2026/27 — verify before relying on this. This is a document generator, not tax advice. It checks the presence of the items HMRC lists; it cannot judge whether your description identifies the supply sufficiently, whether your tax point is right, or whether the reverse charge applies to your contract.
Questions

What people ask about VAT invoices

What must a VAT invoice contain?

Eleven items, under VAT Notice 700/21 §4.1: a sequential unique number; the tax point; the date of issue where it differs; your name, address and VAT number; the customer's name and address; a description sufficient to identify the supply; per line, the quantity, VAT rate and amount excluding VAT; the unit price; the total excluding VAT; the rate of any cash discount; and the total VAT in sterling.

What is a simplified VAT invoice?

A shorter form permitted for a supply not exceeding £250 including VAT. It needs your name, address and VAT registration number, the tax point, a description, the VAT rate charged and the total including VAT. Exempt supplies cannot appear on one, and above £250 you need a full or modified invoice.

What is the domestic reverse charge?

A mechanism where the customer, not the supplier, accounts for the VAT to HMRC. You charge no VAT, and the invoice must show the rate or amount that would have applied plus a reference to the reverse charge — "reverse charge: customer to pay the VAT to HMRC" or "VAT Act 1994 Section 55A applies" are both accepted by HMRC.

Is the tax point the same as the invoice date?

Often, but not always, which is why HMRC lists them separately. The basic tax point is when the service is completed or the goods made available; issuing a VAT invoice within 14 days of it usually moves the actual tax point to the invoice date, and an advance payment creates one at the payment. It determines which VAT period the supply falls into.

Why does the invoice number have to be sequential?

Because a numbered series with holes in it invites the question of what was in the holes. A complete sequence is evidence that the ledger is complete; a gap looks like a deleted invoice, and an auditor is entitled to ask you to account for it. If you void one, keep the number and mark it void rather than reusing it or letting it vanish.

Is my client's data sent anywhere?

No. Everything is held in your browser, the PDF is written in your browser, and this site makes no external request of any kind — you can confirm that in your browser's network tab. There is no account, no email gate and no watermark on the file. Your client's name, their address and what you charged them are exactly the things that should not be uploaded to a free web service.

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