What has to be on an invoice: UK, EU, US, Canada, Australia, India and the Gulf

There is no such thing as a worldwide invoice. There is a document that always answers five questions — who is charging, who is paying, what was done, when, and how much — and then a tax story that belongs to one country.

If you copy a UK VAT footer onto an Australian job, or put “plus GST” on a Texas invoice, you have not become global. You have become wrong in two places at once.

This is a map for a small firm that sometimes bills outside the postcode. It is not a filing. Rates, thresholds and e-invoicing mandates move; the *shape* of the problem does not. Confirm the current rule on that country’s revenue site or with the accountant who actually signs the return.

The five lines that travel

Every serious invoice on earth needs:

1. Your legal name and address (the entity, not the Instagram handle).
2. Their name and address.
3. What you supplied, in words a stranger could audit.
4. A date and a unique number.
5. The amount, with the currency named.

If you get those five right, you can add the local tax ID and the local tax treatment without redesigning the page. If you miss them, no amount of crest or colour saves you.

The tax ID is not decoration

The second layer is the identifier the tax authority uses to match you:

• United Kingdom — VAT number (and Companies House name if you are a limited company).
• EU member state — VAT ID with the country prefix.
• United States — EIN on the invoice is good hygiene; sales tax is a state permit, not an IRS VAT.
• Canada — GST/HST number.
• Australia — ABN, and GST on a *tax invoice* if you are registered.
• India — GSTIN, often on both sides for B2B.
• UAE — TRN.
• Saudi Arabia — VAT number, increasingly inside ZATCA e-invoicing.

Print the one that belongs to the supply, not the one you memorised from your first country.

United Kingdom

If you are VAT registered, the invoice is a tax document: VAT number, tax point, net / VAT / gross, rate per line. If you are not registered, do not add VAT. The registration threshold is a rolling 12-month taxable turnover set by HMRC — look it up, do not quote a blog.

CIS (construction) is a withholding on labour, not a substitute for VAT. Both can appear on the same page.

European Union

Each member state has its own VAT rate and invoice rules, but B2B invoices between VAT IDs often use reverse charge: you do not add your local VAT; you state that the customer accounts for it. B2C is different, especially for goods (OSS) and for on-the-spot work (often where the work is done).

If you fly to Germany to fit a kitchen, do not assume UK VAT applies because your company is in Kent. Place of supply is the whole game. One written opinion from a VAT practitioner is cheaper than four years of “we always did it this way”.

United States

There is no federal VAT. Sales tax is state (and sometimes local). Many states do not require a “VAT-style” invoice; they require that if you charge sales tax, you show it, and if you did not, you can show why (resale certificate, exempt buyer, service not taxed in that state).

Nexus is the trap. Doing a two-week job in another state, keeping stock there, or crossing economic thresholds can mean you should collect. A US-based 1099 tradesperson invoicing locally still needs a clean invoice: parties, description, date, amount, licence numbers where the trade board cares.

Do not put “VAT 20%” on a US invoice because your template came from MyOnlineInvoice’s UK default. Change the tax name and the rate, or turn tax off.

Canada

GST is federal; HST is a blended tax in participating provinces; QST is Québec. The invoice should show the GST/HST number and the tax as a separate amount. Charging 5% GST in a 13% HST province is how you fund a CRA conversation.

Australia

Once you are GST-registered, many supplies need a tax invoice with ABN and GST shown. A quote is not a tax invoice. The ATO is unromantic about that distinction. If you are under the GST threshold, do not add 10% “to look ready”.

India

GST invoices are data-heavy: GSTIN, place of supply, HSN/SAC, tax split (CGST/SGST vs IGST). E-invoicing is mandated above turnover thresholds that have tightened over time. If you are actually in that net, a pretty PDF from a phone is not the legal invoice — the IRN is.

UAE and Saudi Arabia

UAE VAT is 5% for many supplies; the TRN belongs on the invoice. Saudi VAT is 15%, and e-invoicing (Fatoora) is the compliance project. If you are in Phase 2, sending a branded PDF from a laptop is not “close enough”.

Cross-border in one paragraph

Ask, in this order:

1. Where is the supplier established?
2. Where is the customer?
3. Is it goods or services, and where is the work done?
4. Are both parties registered for a consumption tax?
5. What does that imply: charge local tax, reverse charge, no tax, or register in the other place?

Write the answer on the invoice (a one-line “Reverse charge — customer to account for VAT” or “Sales tax not collected — out-of-state service”) so their accounts team does not invent a story.

Currency, bank details, how they pay

Name the currency (GBP, USD, EUR, AED, AUD). Put local bank details *and* an international method if they are abroad (IBAN, ACH routing, Pay by Bank where it exists). Do not assume Stripe or PayPal. Many firms cannot use them; many customers still want a card or a bank credit.

The invoice should survive a world where the only working path is a bank transfer with the invoice number in the reference.

A setup that does not lie when you change country

• Legal entity and address in Settings.
• Tax ID field that can hold a VAT number *or* an EIN *or* an ABN.
• Default tax rate that is named (VAT / GST / sales tax / none), not a silent 20%.
• Per-line rate, because mixed supplies exist everywhere.
• Sequential numbers, never reused.
• A note field for reverse charge, exemption, or CIS/withholding.

MyOnlineInvoice already bills in more than one currency. The document still has to tell the truth for the country of the supply.

Use the table on this page as a checklist, then confirm the live rate and threshold where you actually file. Worldwide is not one template. It is five universal lines plus the humility to change the tax story.