Great, I can send an invoice! But wait, what information should I put on the invoice? And which legal requirements must the invoice meet in order to be legally valid? The Dutch tax authorities have clear rules for this.

This should be on the invoice

The following are mandatory on every invoice. 

• Your (company) name
• Customer's name
• Your and your customer's address (so no PO box number)
• VAT identification number (This number always starts with NL)
• Chamber of Commerce number (if you are registered with the Chamber of Commerce)
• Date of the invoice
• Invoice number (These must be unique and sequential)
• What you sell or deliver and how much, including when it was performed or delivered
• Price without VAT. If you use different VAT rates, this must be stated separately per product or service.
• VAT rate that applies
• VAT value

That is indeed a whole list of requirements for a simple invoice. If you have arranged your financial administration smartly, for example with online software to do this, it is very easy to put all this neatly on your invoice.

Keeping up with financial administration

In addition to creating and sending a correct invoice, it is important that you store the invoices properly. You do this in your financial administration, and that for no less than 7 years. That is the minimum retention period of your administration.