What must be on a South African invoice

Every invoice you issue, VAT registered or not, is a business record. If it is ever queried — by a client, an accountant or SARS — it has to stand on its own without you explaining it. That means it needs to identify who is charging whom, for what, when and how much.

• Your business name and trading name, if they differ.
• Your business address and contact details.
• Your company or registration number, if you are a registered entity.
• The client's name and address.
• A unique invoice number.
• The date of issue, and the due date.
• A clear description of what was supplied, with quantities.
• The amount per line and the total.
• How to pay you — banking details, and any online payment option.

Once you are registered for VAT, your invoice is a tax document, and a full tax invoice is expected to carry additional information.

• The words 'Tax Invoice', 'VAT Invoice' or 'Invoice' on the document.
• Your VAT registration number.
• The client's VAT registration number, where they are registered.
• The value of the supply excluding VAT, the VAT charged at 15%, and the total — or the total with a statement that VAT at 15% is included.

• Duplicate invoice numbers, usually caused by copying last month's spreadsheet and forgetting to change the number.
• No due date, which leaves the client to decide when to pay.
• A vague description like 'services rendered', which is the single most common reason an invoice sits in a client's queries pile.
• Banking details typed by hand, occasionally with a digit wrong.
• No reference for the client to use on the EFT, making reconciliation on your side guesswork.

A VAT-registered business invoicing R4,500 excluding VAT for a repair would show:

If you quoted R4,500 including VAT instead, the split is R3,913.04 excluding VAT and R586.96 VAT. Which way round you quote matters, and it is worth being explicit about it on the document.