Updated August 2026 · 9 min read
General information for Irish trade businesses, not tax advice. Every requirement below comes from Revenue's own guidance, linked throughout; confirm anything specific to your situation with your accountant or Revenue.
There are two kinds of invoice problems. The loud kind is the customer disputing the bill. The quiet kind is an invoice missing something Revenue requires, which may not surface until a business customer's accountant bounces it back or your records are reviewed. The good news: the VAT invoice requirements in Ireland are specific, but Revenue publishes the full list, so you can check yours against it systematically. This is that list, translated into plain English for a trade business, with the traps marked.
Who this applies to
If you're VAT registered, the checklist below is what goes on a VAT invoice when you issue one; Revenue separately sets out the circumstances in which you must issue one, mainly around supplies to other VAT-registered businesses and certain other cases, on its "who must issue a VAT invoice" page.
If you're not VAT registered, the rule runs the other way, and Revenue is direct about it: a trader not registered for VAT should not issue an invoice showing an amount of VAT, and any trader who does so will be liable for the VAT shown on the invoice. Your document is an ordinary invoice: who, what, when, how much, no VAT line.
The checklist: what Revenue requires on a VAT invoice
Straight from Revenue's own list, grouped the way you'd actually build the invoice.
| Required on the invoice | |
|---|---|
| You | Full name, address and VAT registration number |
| The customer | Full name and address |
| The invoice | Date of issue, and a unique sequential number |
| The supply | The date the goods or services were supplied |
| Advance payments | Where a payment was made before the supply, the date it was made, if that differs from the invoice's issue date |
| Goods | Quantity and nature (the boiler, the metres of cable, the fittings) |
| Services | Extent and nature (what labour was done) |
| Pricing | The VAT-exclusive unit price, and the amount received net of VAT |
| Discounts | Any discounts or price reductions |
| VAT | The breakdown by VAT rate, and the total VAT payable |
On the sequential number: Revenue's requirement is a unique sequential number, and the practical version of that is a numbering system you keep consistent and could explain if your records were ever reviewed. A real series, no reused numbers, and not "whatever today's date is". Restarting from 1 whenever the spreadsheet gets messy is how numbering stops being explainable.
There is a deadline
In Revenue's words: a VAT invoice must issue within 15 days of the end of the month in which the goods or services are supplied. Finish a job on the 3rd of the month and the outer limit is six weeks away; finish on the 28th and it's closer to two and a half. If your habit is invoicing from the van the moment the job's done, you'll never meet this deadline coming the other way, which is the correct direction to never meet it from.
Advance payments have their own version of the same shape: where you receive a payment before the supply, Revenue requires a VAT invoice not later than the 15th day of the month following the one in which that payment was received.
The trades-specific traps
A deposit is a VAT event, not just money off the final bill. This is the one that catches people. Revenue treats a supply as having taken place at the time you receive the payment: VAT is chargeable on the pre-payment, and you pay it over in that period's VAT return, rather than waiting for the job to be finished and invoiced. So a deposit taken in March belongs in March's return even if the bathroom is finished in June. The checklist above covers where the advance-payment date goes on the invoice; the timing is the part that costs people money. If you take deposits, this is worth ten minutes with your accountant, and it is another reason to read taking deposits properly alongside this.
Business customers need your invoice to be right. A householder rarely reads past the total. A property manager's or main contractor's accounts department reads everything, because their VAT reclaim rests on your invoice being valid, and Revenue's own pages note that enabling the customer's reclaim is half of what a VAT invoice is for. Missing VAT numbers and missing rate breakdowns are where B2B payment delays come from.
Subcontracting under RCT is its own world. If you work as a subcontractor under Relevant Contracts Tax (RCT, the construction withholding system), special rules apply to how VAT is accounted for and what appears on the invoice; Revenue specifically notes that the normal reverse-charge notation does not apply to construction services under RCT. We're covering RCT properly in its own piece; until then, that's one for your accountant, not a template.
Foreign currency still means euro figures. If you ever invoice in sterling or dollars, Revenue requires the corresponding figures in euro on the same invoice, using the Central Bank's selling rate. Rare in domestic trade work, but it catches border-county businesses.
Small amounts can be simpler. Revenue allows a simplified invoice where the amount of the invoice is not greater than €100. It still has to show the date of issue, your full name, address and registration number, a description of what was supplied, and the tax payable or the price exclusive of tax, and it cannot be used for intra-Community supplies of goods or services. If you regularly issue invoices of €100 or less, it's worth knowing the option exists.
Don't assume a template is compliant
An invoice can look professional and still be missing things Revenue requires. If your invoice lives in Word, Excel or a template someone set up years ago, run one recent invoice against the table above. Five minutes, and either you get peace of mind or you find the gap before it matters.
That check is worth doing whatever software you use, ours included. We ran ours against this list while writing this piece, which is the only honest way to publish a checklist.
Where JobFlow fits
In JobFlow, the invoice is built from the job: your business details and the customer's carry over, every line carries the correct Irish VAT with the totals broken down by rate, invoices are numbered in a real sequence (INV, the year, then the number, generated in order rather than typed), deposits are deducted automatically with the payment recorded, and the invoice goes out from your phone the moment the work's done, with a payment link attached and automatic reminders if it goes unpaid. The VAT summary behind it follows your VAT basis, cash receipts or invoice basis, so what your accountant sees at the end of the period matches what you actually issued. It also makes the 15-day deadline a non-event, because the invoice usually exists before you've left the street.
What it doesn't do is decide the checklist for you. Run the table above against a real invoice from whatever you use, and take up anything missing with the people who make it.
Questions tradespeople ask about VAT invoices
What must a VAT invoice include in Ireland?
Revenue's list: date of issue, a unique sequential number, your full name, address and VAT number, the customer's name and address, the date the goods or services were supplied, the quantity and nature of goods and the extent of services, the VAT-exclusive unit price, any discounts, the amount received net of VAT, the breakdown by VAT rate, the total VAT payable, and, where a payment was made before the supply, the date of that payment if it differs from the issue date.
What is the deadline for issuing a VAT invoice in Ireland?
Revenue's rule: a VAT invoice must issue within 15 days of the end of the month in which the goods or services were supplied. Advance payments have their own version of the same shape: an invoice must issue not later than the 15th day of the month following the one in which the payment was received.
Can I use a simplified VAT invoice?
Revenue allows a simplified invoice where the amount of the invoice is not greater than €100. It must still show the date of issue, your full name, address and registration number, a description of what was supplied, and the tax payable or the price exclusive of tax. It cannot be used for intra-Community supplies of goods or services.
Do I put VAT on my invoices if I'm not VAT registered?
No. Revenue is direct about it: a trader not registered for VAT should not issue an invoice showing an amount of VAT, and any trader who does so will be liable for the VAT shown on the invoice. Your invoices are ordinary ones, with no VAT line.
How do I invoice a job where the customer paid a deposit?
The deposit comes off the balance, and where it was paid before the supply, its payment date goes on the invoice if that date differs from the issue date. Note the timing too: Revenue treats a supply as having taken place when you receive the payment, so VAT is chargeable on the deposit and goes into that period's VAT return rather than waiting for the job to finish.
Do I need the customer's VAT number on the invoice?
For an ordinary domestic Irish supply, the customer's VAT number is not among the general fields on Revenue's list. It's required in specific situations, including certain reverse-charge and cross-border EU supplies, which most domestic trade jobs aren't. If a business customer asks you to include theirs anyway, there's no harm in it.
Sources
- Revenue, "What is a VAT invoice?". What the document is for and the 15-day issuing deadline.
- Revenue, "Information required on a VAT invoice". The checklist above.
- Revenue, "Who must issue a VAT invoice?" and "Invoices issued by unregistered persons".
- Revenue, "Other types of VAT invoices". Simplified invoices, the €100 figure and the intra-Community exclusion.
- Revenue, "VAT invoice requirements for advance payments received" and "Payments in advance and deposits".
Money and VAT guides for Irish trades. Previous: cash receipts or invoice basis. Also useful: taking deposits properly and how invoicing works in JobFlow.