A VAT-compliant EU invoice must carry 13 details defined by Article 226 of the VAT Directive: date of issue, a sequential unique number, both parties' full names and addresses, the supplier's VAT number (and the customer's where they are liable), quantity and nature of the supply, unit prices excluding VAT, discounts, the VAT rate, and the VAT amount payable. Miss one and your customer can be refused their VAT deduction. This guide walks through every requirement, the simplified-invoice shortcut, and reverse charge — then shows you how to build the PDF without uploading anything.
These are the minimum particulars the EU VAT Directive requires on a full VAT invoice. Member states may add national details on top, but these 13 are non-negotiable everywhere in the EU:
Short version: if your invoice shows who, what, when, how much before tax, which rate, and how much tax — with both VAT numbers and an unbroken invoice number — you are compliant in any EU member state.
You don't always need all 13 items. The Directive allows simplified invoices for supplies up to €100 (member states may permit them up to €400, or where commercial practice makes a full invoice difficult). A simplified invoice must still show the date of issue, your VAT number, the type of goods or services, and the VAT amount payable — but it can skip the customer's details, line-item unit prices and the sequential number.
Use simplified invoices for low-value retail-style sales. Use the full version for everything B2B, everything cross-border, and anything your customer's accountant will need to reclaim VAT on.
The sequential-number rule trips up more freelancers than any other requirement. The rules are simple: one or more series (per year, per branch, per document type are all fine), but within each series the numbers must be unbroken — no gaps, no duplicates. A common pattern is 2026-0001, 2026-0002, and so on, restarting each calendar year. Void an invoice by marking it void and keeping it in the sequence — never delete it and reuse the number. Tax auditors check this first.
Selling services to a VAT-registered business in another EU country? You generally charge 0% VAT and let the customer account for it — the reverse charge mechanism. On the invoice: include the customer's VAT number, write the words "reverse charge" on the document, and verify their VAT number first on the European Commission's VIES checker. An invalid or unchecked VAT number means you cannot zero-rate the supply — charge your local rate instead.
Selling digital services to EU consumers (not businesses)? Different regime: you normally charge the VAT rate of the customer's country, simplified through the One-Stop Shop (OSS) so you register in one member state instead of 27. And note the horizon: under the EU's ViDA package, structured e-invoicing becomes mandatory for cross-border B2B from 1 July 2030 — PDFs remain fully valid today, but keep an eye on your country's domestic mandates arriving sooner.
The most common rejection reason. Your VAT ID is mandatory on every full invoice; your customer's is mandatory whenever they are liable for the tax (reverse charge supplies).
Gaps or duplicates in invoice numbering are an audit red flag. Keep one unbroken series per year and mark voids as void instead of deleting them.
The Directive wants unit prices excluding VAT, the rate, and the tax amount. "€1,190 total" is not a compliant line.
Standard rates range from 17% (Luxembourg) to 27% (Hungary); reduced rates apply to specific categories. Charging your home rate on a foreign supply is a classic error — check the customer's country's rules.
Zero-rating a cross-border B2B supply without the literal words "reverse charge" on the invoice fails the requirement. Two words, zero cost, big compliance value.
Always run the customer's VAT ID through the VIES checker before zero-rating. An invalid number means you should charge your local VAT.
Blurry, phone-photo "invoices" scream unprofessional and can fail legibility requirements. Generate a real, searchable PDF — crisp at any zoom.
Most free invoice generators process your data on their servers: your clients' names, addresses, VAT numbers and billing amounts travel over the network and sit in someone else's database — a data transfer under GDPR, making the tool your data processor and you responsible for the safeguards. Our generator assembles the PDF with JavaScript on your device. Nothing uploads, nothing is stored, nothing can leak from a server you don't control. For client-confidential paperwork, the architecture is the privacy policy. Read the full breakdown in Are Online PDF Tools Safe? and our accounting-documents privacy guide.
Article 226 of the EU VAT Directive lists the required particulars: date of issue, a sequential unique number, the supplier's VAT number, the customer's VAT number where the customer is liable for the tax, full names and addresses of both parties, quantity and nature of the goods or services, the date of supply where different from the issue date, the taxable amount per rate, unit prices excluding VAT, any discounts, the VAT rate applied, and the VAT amount payable.
For low-value supplies: the VAT Directive permits simplified invoices up to €100, and member states may allow them up to €400 or where commercial practice makes a full invoice difficult. A simplified invoice still needs the date of issue, the supplier's VAT number, a description of the supply and the VAT amount payable — but it can omit the customer's details.
Yes. The Directive requires a sequential number, based on one or more series, that uniquely identifies the invoice. You may run several series — for example per year or per branch — but within a series the sequence must be unbroken and numbers must never be reused or skipped.
Reverse charge means the customer — not the supplier — accounts for the VAT, typically on cross-border B2B supplies within the EU. On the invoice, charge 0% VAT and include the words 'reverse charge' plus the customer's VAT number. The customer then declares the VAT in their own return.
Use the European Commission's VIES (VAT Information Exchange System) online checker before zero-rating an intra-EU supply. If the customer's VAT number is invalid or unverified, you generally cannot apply the reverse charge and must charge your local VAT rate.
Yes. Use a generator that includes all Article 226 fields — sequential number, both VAT IDs, line-item prices excluding VAT, the rate and the VAT amount — and exports a clean, searchable PDF. Our free invoice generator does exactly this, entirely in your browser, so client details are never uploaded.
Yes. The EU accepts electronic invoices including PDFs as long as the authenticity of origin, integrity of content and legibility are guaranteed — which ordinary business controls (your accounting records, the email thread) normally satisfy. Structured e-invoicing mandates are arriving under the ViDA package from 2030, but PDFs remain fully valid today.
Your customer can be refused their VAT deduction — which is why buyers reject non-compliant invoices — and you can face penalties from your tax authority. The fix is simple: run every invoice against the 13-item checklist before sending.