Your invoices should be as good as your work

For an invoice to be complete and flawless, there are a total of 10 elements you mandatorily need to insert.

1. Your invoices must be sequenced; make sure that your invoice has the correct sequence number.
2. Your data; the exact name of your company, the address, the company registration number, and the VAT-number.
3. The data of your customer; name, address and VAT number.
4. The date on which you sent the invoice and the date on which your product or service was delivered.
5. A description of the delivered product or service.
6. The price per unit and the number of units (could also be hourly rate).
7. The total amount without VAT.
8. The correct VAT percentage that is relevant for your activity (0, 6, 12 or 21%).
9. In case your exempt from VAT, you have to put the legal reasons why you’re exempt from VAT on the invoice by referencing the relevant European directive or national provision.
10. The total amount of money to be paid, including VAT.

Belgian VAT laws are not always valid in your transactions with foreign countries. For instance, regarding intra-EU deals, VAT payments have to be paid in your client’s country. This process is called reverse charge. Despite this obscure term, this means a reversal of the legal responsibility for VAT. You would hence have to input a 0% VAT rate and to write down the corresponding legal mention at the end of your invoice.

Getting the payment right is, at the end of the day, the most important part of an invoice. We usually advise not to be shy and to ask for a receipt confirmation as soon as you have sent the invoice to your client. Regarding the reminders, from experience, don't wait for your client to forget your invoice. It is common to send the first reminder 10 Days after invoice is overdue. To avoid late payments and complications, we advise you too always explicit well beforehand to the client what different items will be added on the invoice.

Legal mentions are ways to justify and legalize particular actions by introducing specific legal phrasings. For an invoice, legal mentions are required only when you apply a 0% VAT rate. If, for example, your client is a business outside of Belgium and you have delivered a specific service, you would insert "Reverse charge – Art 51 § 2, 5°"

Your legal status does not influence the core of the invoice. However, you are allowed to apply a 0% VAT rate on your invoices. You would need to justify this by inserting « Special Regime - Small Company Business "Franchise" » in the Comments section of your invoice.

Accountable helps you to create, send, and manage your invoices easily and with peace of mind. You can, as well, synchronize your bank account to deal with your invoices in your accounting. Both on the mobile and the web app, you get a live view of your current and expected revenue.