When creating invoices for your customers, it's essential to understand and correctly add the required information to ensure legal compliance. Whether you're a micro-entrepreneur, an SME, or a large company, here are some concepts to guide you on the mandatory and optional information to include in your invoices.
💡 If you want to add information to your invoices but there isn't a specific field for this purpose, you can use the text areas titled Header (optional) and Additional notes (optional) at the bottom of the page when adding your Products and services. The information entered can be saved and reused for your future invoices.
1. Common mandatory information
Any invoice, regardless of the recipient (professional or private individual), must include the following mandatory information:
🪪 Identity of the seller or service provider :
- Company name (or first/last name for an individual entrepreneur)
- Address of the registered office or the issuing establishment (if different from the registered office)
- SIREN or SIRET number
- RCS number and city of the registration court (for commercial companies)
- Legal form and amount of share capital (for companies)
- VAT number
- Contact details (email or PEC)
👤 Customer details
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First/last name (private customer) or company name/business name of the customer (professional)
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Customer's complete address
ℹ️ Private customers can object to having their address included on the invoice for legitimate reasons
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Billing address (if different from the main address)
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Order reference (purchase order, quote, etc.) if it exists
- VAT number
- Recipient code or PEC address for receiving electronic invoices (if applicable)
🛍️ Description and details of products or services:
- Nature of products/services
- Quantity
- Unit of measurement
- Unit price excluding VAT
- VAT rate applicable to each product/service
- Detailed description and quality of goods/services
- Any discounts
- Date of service
📄 Other information
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Invoice number: The numbering must be chronological, unique, and continuous. Incorrect numbering can be grounds for rejection during a tax audit and lead to penalties.
💡 If you use multiple tools, make sure each tool uses a distinct series of numbers (e.g., different prefixes) or implement a centralized numbering system.
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Date of issue of the invoice, and date of sale or service provision (if different from the issue date)
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Payment date or deadline
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Total amount to be paid excluding VAT, including VAT, and VAT rate
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Seller's intra-community VAT number (if subject to VAT)
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Price reductions (discounts, rebates, refunds) acquired on the date of sale/service and directly related to this operation
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Discount conditions in case of early payment
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General terms and conditions (or reference to them)
- Discount conditions: you can inform your customer whether or not you wish to grant a discount for early payment.
- Late payment penalties: you can choose between applying the ECB rate + 10%, three times the legal interest rate, or agree on a different rate with your customer.
- Legal fixed compensation: This €40 penalty applies to each invoice paid after its due date and cannot be modified.
2. Specific mandatory information
Depending on the type of business, you may need to add certain information to customer invoices, in addition to the fields mentioned above. This additional information may be related to the legal form of your business, the product(s) or service(s) you offer, the customer, and/or the payment conditions.
Here are some examples of common specific cases, not exhaustive:
Micro-entrepreneurs or self-employed
- Mention "Individual Entrepreneur" or "EI" (if applicable)
- Mention "VAT not applicable, art. 293 B of the CGI" if you benefit from the VAT franchise
- Mention "VAT not applicable, art. 262 ter 1 of the CGI" if you are exempt from VAT for intra-community supplies of goods
Other exemption regimes that require a specific mention may apply.
Invoices in foreign currencies
- Amount in the foreign currency and corresponding amount in euros (excluding VAT / including VAT)
- VAT amount in the foreign currency and in euros (since it is paid to the French tax administration)
- Exchange rate used for conversion and date of the applied exchange rate
Companies
- Legal form (SARL, SAS, SA, etc.)
- Amount of share capital
- Mention "company in liquidation" (if applicable)
Merchants
- RCS registration number (Trade and Companies Register)
- City of the court where the company is registered
Goods Deliveries
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The delivery location, even if it matches the customer’s address. Required under Italian VAT regulations (DPR 633/72)
Artisans
- Registration number in the Register of Trades (RM)
- Chamber of trades to which they belong
3. Optional, complementary information
These mentions are not mandatory but can be useful:
- Seller or service provider :
- NAF/APE code (French nomenclature of activities)
- Bank details (IBAN, BIC)
- Customer:
- Customer service contact details
- Customer's SIREN or SIRET number (recommended but not strictly mandatory)
- Customer's intra-community VAT number
- Delivery address : optional on the invoice (but useful for traceability)
- Products and services:
- Other information:
- Mention of the operation category: sale, service provision, or both sale and service distinguished (will become mandatory as part of electronic invoicing)
- Delivery terms
- Warranty period
🎉 All set? Take one last look at the completed fields, click on Create an invoice to issue it and send it to your customer via email or using a dedicated public link.
This support article is provided for informational purposes only and does not engage Qonto's responsibility in case of non-compliant invoices. Make sure to check official government websites or consult an accountant / or a lawyer to verify the specific requirements for your business.