Invoice Requirements by Country: What Every Invoice Must Include (2026)

Invoice Requirements Vary More Than You Think

Quick Answer: Every invoice must include seller/buyer details, a unique invoice number, date, service description, and tax breakdown. Beyond that, each country adds its own mandatory fields: Germany requires your Steuernummer and the service period (Leistungszeitraum); Spain requires NIF and IVA breakdown with IRPF for freelancers; France requires SIRET and late-payment penalty notice; the UK requires VAT registration number for VAT-registered businesses; Serbia, Croatia, and Bosnia each require their own tax identifiers and formats. This guide covers what the law requires in each country, with a comparison table.

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Sending an invoice that looks professional is not the same as sending an invoice that is legally compliant. Tax authorities in Germany, Spain, France, and other countries can disallow VAT deductions — or impose fines — for invoices that are missing mandatory fields.

If you invoice clients across borders, or operate in multiple markets, knowing exactly what each country requires saves you from problems during audits, VAT returns, and payment disputes.

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At-a-Glance Comparison

Field	UK	DE	ES	FR	PT	RS	HR	BA
Seller name + address	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅
Buyer name + address	✅ B2B	✅	✅ B2B	✅ B2B	✅ B2B	✅ B2B	✅ B2B	✅ B2B
Invoice number (sequential)	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅
Invoice date	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅
Service/supply date	—	✅	✅	—	if different	✅	✅	✅
Seller tax ID	VAT no.	Steuernr./USt-IdNr	NIF	SIRET/TVA no.	NIF	PIB	OIB	JIB
Buyer tax ID (B2B)	VAT no.	—	NIF	TVA no.	NIF	PIB	OIB	JIB
Net amount	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅
Tax rate + tax amount	✅ VAT	✅ MwSt	✅ IVA	✅ TVA	✅ IVA	✅ PDV	✅ PDV	✅ PDV
Gross total	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅
Freelancer income tax	—	—	IRPF ✅	—	IRS retención	—	—	—
Payment terms + late fee notice	—	—	—	✅ mandatory	—	—	—	—
Digital certification code	—	—	TicketBAI*	—	ATCUD ✅	—	JIR/ZKI ✅	—
VAT-exempt notice	✅	✅ Kleinunternehmer	✅	✅ art. 293B	✅ art. 9 CIVA	✅	✅	✅

*TicketBAI applies in select Spanish regions and thresholds (Basque Country, Navarre).

Ready to invoice in a specific country? Use our country-ready generators with the correct tax defaults built in: United Kingdom, Germany, Spain, France, Portugal, Serbia, Croatia, and Bosnia.

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United Kingdom

Governing law: HMRC VAT Notice 700/11

Required fields (VAT-registered businesses)

• Supplier name, address, and VAT registration number
• Customer name and address
• Unique sequential invoice number
• Invoice date and tax point (if different)
• Description of goods or services supplied
• Total excluding VAT
• VAT rate and VAT amount
• Total including VAT

Simplified invoices (up to £250 including VAT)

Retail VAT invoices under £250 can use a simplified format: supplier name, VAT number, unique number, date, description of goods, total including VAT, and the VAT rate. Full buyer details are not required.

Non-VAT registered businesses

If you are below the VAT threshold (currently £90,000 turnover), there are no legally mandated invoice fields in the UK. However, for payment disputes and audit readiness, include all the fields above except the VAT number and VAT amount.

Construction Industry Scheme (CIS)

If you are a subcontractor working under CIS, your invoice must also show the CIS deduction amount and the net payment (gross minus CIS deduction). See our UK CIS invoice guide for full details.

Use the InvoiNova United Kingdom preset for correct sterling formatting and VAT labels.

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Germany

Governing law: §14 Umsatzsteuergesetz (UStG)

Required fields

• Full name and address of the supplier
• Full name and address of the recipient
• Steuernummer (tax number) or Umsatzsteuer-Identifikationsnummer (USt-IdNr) of the supplier
• Invoice issue date (Ausstellungsdatum)
• Sequential invoice number (fortlaufende Rechnungsnummer)
• Description of goods or services (Art und Menge / Art und Umfang)
• Service period or delivery date (Leistungszeitraum or Lieferdatum) — mandatory even if identical to invoice date
• Net amount per tax rate (Entgelt aufgeteilt nach Steuersätzen)
• VAT rate (MwSt-Satz) and VAT amount (MwSt-Betrag)
• Gross total

Invoices below €250 (Kleinbetragsrechnung)

Simplified invoices under €250 do not require buyer details or net/tax split — only the gross total, tax rate, and supplier details are required.

Kleinunternehmer (small business exemption)

If you use the §19 UStG exemption, you must include: "Gemäß §19 UStG wird keine Umsatzsteuer berechnet." Do not show a VAT line.

Reverse charge (EU B2B)

Add the notice: "Steuerschuldnerschaft des Leistungsempfängers" (tax liability transfers to recipient).

Use the InvoiNova Germany preset for MwSt labels, DD.MM.YYYY date format, and IBAN/BIC fields.

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Spain

Governing law: Reglamento de Facturación (Real Decreto 1619/2012)

Required fields

• Invoice number and series (número y serie de factura)
• Issue date (fecha de expedición)
• Supplier name and NIF (Número de Identificación Fiscal)
• Recipient name and NIF — mandatory for all B2B transactions; required for B2C above €3,005.06
• Recipient address (B2B)
• Description of goods or services (descripción de las operaciones)
• Service date if different from issue date (fecha de operación)
• Tax base per rate (base imponible)
• IVA rate (21%, 10%, or 4%) and IVA amount (cuota del IVA)
• Gross total

IRPF (freelancers and professionals)

Freelancers invoicing Spanish companies must apply IRPF income tax withholding (retención):

• Standard rate: 15% (deducted from your invoice total)
• First-year rate: 7% (applies for the year you start + next 2 years)

The IRPF line must appear on the invoice as a negative amount. The client pays you the net after deducting the withholding and remits it to Agencia Tributaria on your behalf.

VAT-exempt (autónomo below threshold or specific services)

Add the reference to the relevant exemption article: "Exención del IVA según Art. [X] Ley 37/1992."

Use the InvoiNova Spain preset for IVA and IRPF field support.

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France

Governing law: Code Général des Impôts (CGI), Articles 289 and 289 bis

Required fields

• Supplier name, address, and SIRET number (mandatory for all registered businesses)
• Numéro de TVA intracommunautaire (if VAT registered)
• Customer name and address
• Customer's EU VAT number (for intra-EU B2B)
• Sequential invoice number (numérotation continue)
• Issue date (date d'émission)
• Description of goods or services
• Quantity and unit price excluding VAT
• Applicable VAT rate(s) and amount (20%, 10%, 5.5%, or 2.1%)
• Total HT (excluding VAT) and total TTC (including VAT)
• Payment terms and due date
• Mandatory late payment notice: "En cas de retard de paiement, application d'une pénalité de [rate]% et d'une indemnité forfaitaire de recouvrement de 40 €." — this line is legally required on all B2B invoices.

Auto-entrepreneur / micro-entrepreneur (VAT-exempt)

Add: "TVA non applicable, article 293 B du CGI." Do not include a VAT line.

Reverse charge (EU B2B)

Add: "Autoliquidation de la TVA par le preneur."

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Portugal

Governing law: Código do IVA (CIVA), Código do IRS

Required fields

• Supplier name, address, and NIF (Número de Identificação Fiscal)
• Customer name and NIF — mandatory for B2B; required for B2C above €1,000
• Sequential invoice number
• Issue date
• Date of supply if different from issue date
• Description of goods or services
• Quantity and unit price (net)
• IVA rate (23%, 13%, or 6%) and IVA amount
• Total net, total IVA, total gross

ATCUD (mandatory since 2023)

All invoices must include an ATCUD code — a unique document code generated by certified billing software. Invoices generated outside AT-certified software technically require ATCUD to be valid for tax purposes.

IRS income tax withholding (retenção na fonte)

For certain categories of professional services (liberal professionals — advogados, arquitetos, consultores, etc.), a 25% IRS withholding applies on invoices to Portuguese companies. Include the withholding as a deduction line.

VAT-exempt

Add the applicable article reference: "IVA — Artigo 9.º do CIVA" or equivalent.

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Serbia

Governing law: Zakon o porezu na dodatu vrednost (PDV zakon), Zakon o računovodstvu

Required fields

• Naziv (name) and adresa (address) of issuer
• PIB (Poreski identifikacioni broj) of issuer
• Matični broj (MB) of issuer
• Invoice number and date (broj i datum fakture)
• Date of supply (datum prometa) — mandatory even if same as invoice date
• Buyer name, address, and PIB (for B2B)
• Description of goods or services
• Quantity and unit price without VAT
• PDV rate (20% standard, 10% reduced) and PDV amount
• Total with PDV

VAT reverse charge (prenos poreske obaveze)

Add: "PDV obračunava primalac."

VAT-exempt

Add: "Oslobođeno PDV-a u skladu sa čl. [X] Zakona o PDV-u."

Use the InvoiNova Serbia preset for PIB/MB custom fields and Serbian language labels.

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Croatia

Governing law: Zakon o porezu na dodanu vrijednost (PDV), Zakon o fiskalizaciji

Required fields

• Naziv i adresa izdavatelja (seller name and address)
• OIB (Osobni identifikacijski broj) of the issuer
• Buyer name, address, and OIB (for B2B)
• Invoice number — in fiskalizacija format: consecutive number / billing device / business location (e.g., 1/1/1)
• Invoice date
• Date of supply
• Description of goods or services
• Quantity and unit price excluding PDV
• PDV rate (25% standard, 13%, 5%) and PDV amount
• Gross total

Fiskalizacija (mandatory fiscal certification)

Invoices from VAT-registered Croatian businesses must include either:

• JIR (Jedinstveni identifikator računa) — unique invoice identifier returned by the Tax Administration (ePorezna) system
• ZKI (Zaštitni kod izdavatelja) — the issuer's protection code (QR-based)

Fiskalizacija applies to all cash transactions. Non-cash (wire transfer) invoices from non-fiskalized businesses are exempt from ZKI/JIR but must still carry the standard fields.

Use the InvoiNova Croatia preset for OIB field and Croatian PDV labels.

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Bosnia and Herzegovina

Governing law: Zakon o porezu na dodanu vrijednost BiH, Zakon o računovodstvu i reviziji FBiH/RS

Required fields

• Naziv i adresa dobavljača (supplier name and address)
• JIB (Jedinstveni identifikacijski broj) of the supplier
• PDV broj (PDV registration number) if VAT-registered
• Buyer name, address, and JIB (for B2B)
• Invoice number and date
• Date of supply
• Description of goods or services
• Net amount
• PDV rate (17% — Bosnia uses a single standard rate) and PDV amount
• Gross total

VAT-exempt

Add reference to the relevant exemption article under BiH PDV law.

Use the InvoiNova Bosnia preset for JIB field and Bosnian language labels.

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How InvoiNova Covers These Requirements

Every country above has its own combination of mandatory identifiers, tax labels, and date formats. InvoiNova handles the most common requirements through language presets and custom fields:

Built-in presets:

• DE: MwSt label, DD.MM.YYYY date, Steuernummer/USt-IdNr fields
• ES: IVA/IRPF labels, NIF fields, correct decimal formatting
• FR: TVA label, date format, SIRET field support
• GB: VAT label, sterling currency, UK date format
• SR: PDV label, PIB/MB field support
• HR: PDV label, OIB field support
• BS: PDV label, JIB field support
• PT: IVA label, NIF field, EUR currency

Custom fields let you add any remaining required identifier — ATCUD codes, JIR/ZKI, IRPF withholding, reverse charge notices, or VAT exemption references.

Create a compliant invoice for free → — no account required, select your country preset and start immediately.

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For country-specific invoicing details, see: UK invoicing guide · German invoicing guide · Spanish invoicing guide · French invoicing guide · Portuguese invoicing guide · Serbian invoicing guide · Croatian invoicing guide · Bosnian invoicing guide

Related: What to include in an invoice · Invoice numbering requirements · Invoice payment terms