How to issue an invoice and what to remember

The invoice is the document that is most popular today among sellers and buyers of goods and services. However, in order for the document to be considered an invoice, it must meet several formal requirements, and above all contain some essential information. How to issue an invoice properly and whether it is worth using an invoice software for this purpose? We present the answer in the article below.

Invoice and its necessary elements

An invoice is a basic sales document. Currently it is very popular. This is where the most important data about the transaction is entered. The invoice should be issued in two copies usually within 15. the day of the month following the month in which the product was delivered or the service rendered. There are also a few exceptions to this rule.

Entrepreneurs are increasingly taking advantage of the opportunities offered by technology. Therefore, the shift from traditional invoices to e-invoices is not surprising. Generating e-invoices is the responsibility of dedicated invoice writing software, which offer is quite large today. Regardless of whether the invoice is physical or electronic, a number of important elements should be included. These are the m.in:

• date of issue of the invoice,
• Name and surname, or the name of the taxpayer and the buyer,
• name of service or goods,
• Tax Identification Number of the seller and the buyer,
• invoice number,
• contact details of the parties involved in the transaction
• unit price of services or goods (without tax amount),
• the amount of tax,
• the total amount due.

The list of basic elements of an invoice is quite extensive. However it is advisable to describe the subject and nature of the transaction as clearly and comprehensively as possible, together with any necessary financial details. Apart from the basic information, we can also include additional data, such as: self-invoicing, cash accounting method, margin scheme or identification information of the tax representative.

Who issues the invoice and how

It is considered that anyone who is a so-called “businessman” can issue an invoice. VAT payer. So it is every entrepreneur who is registered for VAT, is exempt from it or who runs his own business. The entrepreneur may also appoint another person to issue VAT invoices on his behalf.

If you are selling goods or services, you should know that both the supplier and the buyer of a particular service can issue an invoice. If the invoice is to be issued by the buyer, this fact should be described in the relevant contract, where the method of issuing and approving invoices will be specified. Remember that also non-business organizations can issue invoices. A good example here are foundations that do not have the aforementioned business, but can, for example, sell.

e-invoices, or what kind of software to write invoices?

In times of progressive digitisation and accelerated technological development caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, no one is surprised by the popularity of e-invoices. They are no different to traditional invoices, except that they do not have to be presented to the customer on paper. Thanks to e-invoices they save time and money and can generate a large number of invoices in a very short time.

There is quite a lot of software for writing invoices and every company will find a tool that fits their needs and budget. It is worth paying attention to those e-invoicing tools that have cloud solutions, so that e-invoices can be issued from any location and from any device that has access to the data. E-invoicing software should also automatically retrieve customer data, so that you don’t have to rewrite it yourself. And there is one more thing to remember, namely the security of the stored data. It is essential to pay attention to this aspect when choosing an invoice writing program. All the essential elements are contained, among others, in the program from Rafsoft.