To send an invoice you need three things: an invoice that contains everything the tax rules require, a channel your customer accepts, and a habit of following up when the due date passes. Most businesses send invoices as a PDF by e-mail, but structured e-invoices over the Peppol network are becoming the norm for business and government customers. In this guide you can read what belongs on the invoice, how to send it and how to chase the payment.
Table of contents
Make sure the invoice is complete
A complete invoice carries your company details including your VAT identification number, your customer’s details, a unique and sequential invoice number, the issue date and the due date, a clear description of the goods or services with quantities and unit prices, and the total amount with the VAT split out per rate. Your payment details belong on it too, because an invoice without a bank account number simply sits there. The minimum content is set at EU level by the VAT Directive, but member states add their own requirements and an invoice has to follow the rules of the country where the supply is taxable, so check your national rules as well. The European Commission publishes the EU baseline on its invoicing rules page. For the drafting side, see our guide on creating invoices.
Choose how you send the invoice
- By e-mail: the most common and the fastest. Attach the invoice as a PDF rather than pasting it into the body, because a PDF is harder to alter and easier to file. Give the message a subject line that names the invoice number.
- By post: uncommon now, but some formal or long-standing customers still ask for it. Keep a copy for your own records.
- Through invoicing software: your accounting or invoicing package creates and sends the invoice for you, often with automatic reminders. For business and government customers you can also send a structured e-invoice in UBL format over the Peppol network, which lets the recipient’s software read it without anyone retyping the data.
Example covering e-mail:
| Subject: Invoice [invoice number] for [project or service] Dear [customer name], Please find attached invoice [invoice number] for the services we delivered. We kindly ask you to transfer the total of [amount] before [due date] to [account number]. If anything is unclear, do let us know. Kind regards, [your name and company] |
Follow up on the payment
Sending is only the first step. This is how you keep the money coming in on time:
- Send a reminder: once the due date has passed, a friendly reminder usually does it, because a missed payment is far more often an oversight than a refusal.
- Automate the reminders: invoicing software can send them on a schedule, so chasing does not depend on you remembering.
- Pick up the phone: for larger amounts or invoices that have been open for a while, a call works better than another e-mail.
What if the customer does not pay?
- Send a final demand: set a clear deadline and keep the tone professional but direct.
- Involve a collection agency: a reasonable step once several attempts have gone unanswered.
- Consider legal action: a last resort, and worth weighing against the amount at stake and the cost of the procedure in your country.
And the invoices you receive? TriFact365
This article is about the invoices you send. TriFact365 works on the other side of that flow: it processes the purchase invoices that come in. The software reads the invoice, prepares a booking proposal with a general ledger account and VAT code per line, and once you have checked and sent it through, the journal entry lands in your accounting package. In other words, your invoicing software handles the outgoing side and TriFact365 handles the incoming side. Read how the route from receipt to journal entry works.
Frequently asked questions about sending invoices
As soon as the work is finished or the goods are delivered, because the payment term only starts running once the invoice reaches the customer. Some countries also set a deadline for issuing the invoice, so check your national rules.
A PDF for most customers, because it is hard to alter and easy to file. Business and government customers increasingly ask for a structured e-invoice in UBL over the Peppol network.
Yes, provided it contains everything the VAT rules require and the recipient agrees to receive it electronically. Note that upcoming e-invoicing mandates in several countries will require structured formats rather than a PDF.
Start with a friendly reminder, then a final demand with a clear deadline. If that goes unanswered, a collection agency or legal action are the remaining options.
No. TriFact365 processes the purchase invoices you receive and turns them into a booking proposal for your accounting package. You create and send your outgoing invoices with your own invoicing software.
In closing
Sending an invoice does not have to be complicated. A complete invoice, a channel your customer accepts and a fixed moment to follow up will get you paid on time in most cases. The rest is a matter of tooling, so that the administration does not eat into the time you would rather spend on the work itself.
