Sales invoice
Making and sending invoices: that is what it is about for entrepreneurs. But what need to be on an invoice? How do you keep track of unpaid invoices?
What needs to be on an invoice?
NOTE: This is written from the context of the Dutch tax environment. It might be that requirements are different elsewhere.
An invoice needs to fulfill a few requirements:
- Company name and address
- Name and address of the customer
- Customer number
- VAT ID
- Number or ID of the trade register from the Chamber of Commerce
- Invoice number: invoice numbers need to be numbered incrementally
- Invoice date
- Clear description of the delivered goods or services, optionally with a date of delivery. It is a good custom to have separate lines on the invoice for different things, such as separate lines for materials and work. An invoice which is clear reduces the chance of a late payment.
- Per product or service the quantity
- Per product or service the amount without VAT
- Per product or service the VAT rate
- The discount percentage if it is a gross price
- The discount percentage if the discount is given on the whole invoice
- VAT percentage 21%, 9%, 0% or no VAT for trades without VAT
- VAT amount per rate
- Total amount
- Billing terms
- Payment method
The invoices created with GnuCash fulfill these requirements. Moreover, there is the option to view the generated invoices and save them as PDF.
Creating an invoice
If you don’t have any customers in your system, go to Create new customer