UK VAT invoice template

Rates that were checked

GOV.UK's VAT rates page, read on 7 October 2026, says the standard VAT rate is 20 percent, a reduced rate of 5 percent applies to some goods and services such as children's car seats and home energy, and a zero rate of 0 percent applies to zero-rated goods and services such as most food and children's clothes. It also says some things are exempt, and gives postage stamps and financial and property transactions as examples. Exempt is not the same as zero-rated. The charging guide says you usually charge the standard rate unless the supply is reduced-rated or zero-rated, and that a zero rate is still VAT at 0 percent, which you account for. Check the current rates page before you type a number. Rates can change, and that guide says you apply a change from the date it changes.

The same charging guide says an invoice must include your VAT number and display the VAT separately. This PDF does that when you put the number in the tax or registration ID field and a rate in the tax field. The tax amount is calculated on the discounted subtotal and printed on its own line. VAT Notice 700/21, section 4.1, read on 7 October 2026, lists what a VAT invoice must show: a sequential number, the time of supply, the date of issue if it differs, the supplier's name, address, and VAT number, the customer's name and address, a description, and for each description the quantity or extent, the VAT rate, and the amount payable excluding VAT. It also requires the gross total excluding VAT, the rate of any cash discount offered, the total VAT chargeable expressed in sterling, and the unit price. The notice's last update shown on the page was 18 March 2024.

What this PDF prints, and what it does not

This editor has an invoice number, dates, both parties' names and addresses, a description, a quantity, a rate, one VAT percent, a VAT amount, and totals. Put the VAT number in the tax ID field so it prints. If the tax point is the invoice date, you can say that in the payment terms, which is what the sample does. If the tax point is different, VAT Notice 700/21 requires the time of supply and the issue date when they differ. There is no separate tax-point box. Write the tax point in the notes. The form's discount box is an amount, not a cash-discount rate. If you offer an early-payment discount, the notice asks for the rate of that discount. Put the rate in the notes. Do not pretend the amount box is that rate.

Notice 700/21 says the total VAT chargeable is expressed in sterling. Choose GBP so the tax line is in pounds. The PDF prints a GBP prefix and two decimals. If you switch the currency, this file does not add a second sterling VAT total. That is a gap. A simplified invoice for supplies of £250 or less including VAT has a shorter list in section 4.4 and 4.5 of the same notice. This page does not decide which list applies to you. Northern Ireland invoices to an EU customer have extra fields in section 4.2, including the customer's VAT number. This form has one tax ID field, so a customer VAT number has to go in the notes. Special rules for margin schemes and reverse charge are named by the notice and are not implemented here.

The editor on this page is the same one as the homepage. Basic downloads are free within a rolling 24-hour allowance: 3 PDFs, then the button stops until a slot is 24 hours old. It is not a midnight reset. Professional and Modern are a different drawing of the same invoice for $4.99 once. They do not add a customer list, reminders, or online card collection.

Payment terms and common mistakes

Say when the invoice is payable, and keep the due date consistent with that sentence. Payment instructions are how the customer pays you. They are not a VAT receipt. The charging guide's record-keeping section says the tax point is usually the invoice date, but it is the date of supply when the invoice is issued 15 days or more after the supply, and it can be the earlier of payment or invoice when you invoice in advance. Cash accounting uses the date payment is received. Those rows are from the GOV.UK "Keeping VAT records" guide. If your tax point is not the invoice date, the notes have to say so, because the PDF will not infer it.

Common mistakes: charging 20 percent on a reduced-rate or exempt supply because the sample said 20. Leaving GB999999999 in the file. Issuing the PDF and calling it a VAT invoice when you are not registered. The notice says only VAT-registered businesses can issue VAT invoices. Omitting the customer address. Mixing exempt and standard-rated lines under one rate. This tool applies one rate to the whole taxable amount after discount. It cannot assign a different rate to each line. If you sell mixed rates, this PDF is the wrong tool until you split the documents or the notice's recording rules are handled in your own books. None of that is tax advice. The sources are the pages linked below, read on 7 October 2026.

Sources checked 7 October 2026

• GOV.UK: VAT rates
• GOV.UK: Charge, reclaim and record VAT
• GOV.UK: Record keeping (VAT Notice 700/21)
• GOV.UK: Keeping VAT records, including the tax point

Not verified

• Flat Rate Scheme percentages, margin-scheme invoices, and the reverse charge were not copied. Notice 700/21 says special rules apply and this PDF does not implement them.
• Whether HMRC treats a "GBP" prefix as the sterling total required by Notice 700/21 was not confirmed beyond the notice's own words. Use GBP.
• Registration thresholds are not stated. They were not opened for this page.