Bathroom fitter invoice template UK (2026): suites, wet rooms, CIS and VAT

A bathroom fitter invoice in the UK is not one document. A lived-in suite swap for a homeowner, a ground-floor wet room for a disabled client, a first-fix on a contractor’s plots, and a full family bathroom in a two-year empty house all use the same trade — and they are not the same bill.

Get the customer type wrong and the rest follows. CIS does not sit on a private householder. Reverse charge does not sit on a customer who is not VAT-registered. “Bathroom works as discussed” is how a dispute starts. Suite, tiles and labour in one line is how a contractor deducts 20% of the sanitaryware. Zero-rating a standard refurb because a disabled adaptation can be 0% is how you invent a VAT rate HMRC did not write.

This is the 2026 bathroom fitter template: copy-paste fields, labour versus kit, stages on supply-and-fit, CIS when a contractor pays you for bathroom fitting or a water/sanitation system, VAT under VAT Notice 708 and the narrower disabled-adaptation rules in VAT Notice 701/7, the tax point on a deposit, late-payment wording, and how Water Regulations or Building Control appear on a bill. InvoiceAdept does not issue Water Regulations notifications, Building Control completions, competent-person certificates, or CIS300 returns.

Rules from GOV.UK. Figures are worked examples, not a price list. General information only, not tax, legal, Building Regulations or Water Regulations advice. InvoiceAdept is from Tech Me Today Ltd, Companies House 15917255, ICO ZB944663. Free: five invoices a month. Pro £7.99. Pro+ £12.99 (CIS). WhatsApp send on Pro. No platform fee on Stripe. We do not file CIS300, VAT returns or MTD updates to HMRC.

Sister pages: plumber, electrician, builder, carpenter, gas engineer, locksmith. Walkthrough: how to invoice a UK client as a tradesperson. Deposits: deposit invoice template UK. CIS: invoicing subcontractors CIS UK. Reverse charge: domestic reverse charge invoice UK.

In short

Decide who you are billing. Homeowner: normal invoice, VAT only if registered, at the rate that actually applies to this job. A standard bathroom refurb on a lived-in house for an able-bodied private client is usually standard-rated 20% if you are VAT-registered. A qualifying disabled bathroom adaptation can be 0%. A bathroom in the course of constructing a new qualifying dwelling can be 0%. An empty-home renovation (empty two years) or a qualifying residential conversion can be 5%. Check the notice. Do not guess.

Contractor: labour/materials split, UTR, CIS at 0%, 20% or 30% on labour when the work is a construction operation. Bathroom fitting and tiling are finishing operations in HMRC’s CIS manuals. Isolated tap or basin repairs can sit outside. Both VAT-registered and reverse charge applies: show the VAT, do not add it to what they pay. Never reverse-charge a 0% disabled adaptation or a 0% new-build bathroom.

Name the address, the room, the suite or wet-room spec, and the stage. Invoice the deposit when you take it — especially before you order the suite, tiles or shower tray. Call-out is labour. Merchant tickets are materials. Free-issue kit is not yours. Retention is not a deposit.

First invoice: invoice generator. Free is five a month — deposit plus first-fix plus tiling plus final can burn the cap on one family bathroom.

Three jobs, three invoices

Most “bathroom fitter invoice template UK” pages treat every customer as a name and a total. On site they are not.

A contractor working for a homeowner is still a contractor. No reverse charge on a private customer — that does not make the contractor an end user for the fitter who bills them. See HMRC’s reverse charge supplier page. Homeowners only: skip CIS and reverse charge, still read stages, the tax point, and Notice 708.

What must be on a UK bathroom fitter invoice

GOV.UK is narrower than most blogs. You must give an invoice by law when both you and the customer are VAT-registered. If you are not, keep numbered records of what you charged — that is also how you get paid. What the invoice must include:

• a unique identification number

• your name (or company name), address and contact information

• the customer’s name and address

• a clear description of what you are charging for

• the date the goods or service were provided (supply date)

• the date of the invoice

• the amount being charged

• VAT amount if applicable

• the total amount owed

Sole trader with a trading name: show your own name and a serviceable address. Limited company: registered name, company number, registered office.

VAT-registered: VAT number, rate, net, VAT in sterling. Threshold £90,000 — register for VAT if you have gone over, or will. The old £85,000 figure is stale. For a bathroom fitter, “clear description” is what gets you paid.

Weak versus usable descriptions

A WaterSafe, Gas Safe or competent-person number can sit in the header if you hold it and the job actually used that competence. It is not a legal invoice field, and InvoiceAdept does not issue it. Do not print a number you are not on. Do not print Gas Safe on a tiling-only job that never touched gas.

Checklist you can tick in the van

Copy-paste bathroom fitter invoice fields

Delete the lines that do not apply. Do not leave “N/A” hanging on a domestic bill.

Invoice number / date / supply date / due date
Your legal name, address (company number + registered office if limited)
VAT number only if registered · UTR only if this invoice is under CIS
Customer legal name and address · site / plot / PO
Description a stranger can identify · room · suite/wet-room spec · stage · variation refs (V01…)
Labour (strip-out, first-fix, tiling, second-fix, silicone, hours/days, rate)
Materials this job only (what you paid — merchant tickets) · hire ticket if passed through
Net · VAT rate actually used (20% / 5% empty-home or conversion / 0% new dwelling or disabled adaptation) or reverse-charge wording · CIS deduction if contractor · amount payable now
Bank details or card link · retention withheld + release date · competent-person number (description only if held)
Water Regulations / Building Control / guarantee — attached, not this PDF
Customer VAT-relief declaration (disabled adaptation) — on your file, not printed as the invoice

Labour versus materials: suite, tiles, wastes and call-out

On a homeowner invoice the split is courtesy. On a contractor invoice it is the CIS calculation.

HMRC’s contractor rules: start with the gross, take off VAT, consumable stores, fuel (not travelling), plant hired for that job, manufacturing or prefabricating materials, and materials you paid for directly. No receipts? They estimate. What is left is the CIS base at 20%, 30% or 0%. Same list from the subbie side: what does not count as CIS pay.

Materials = what you paid for this job (bath, WC, basin, taps, shower, tray or former, tiles, adhesive, grout, tanking, wastes, traps, silicone, pipe and fittings). Mark-up stays in the labour base. Free-issue kit from the main contractor is not yours, and neither is a suite the customer bought from a merchant and asked you to fit. Call-out and snagging time are labour, not a materials line and not a way to shrink CIS.

Two habits that cost money: one lump “bathroom £6,000” (20% of the suite as well), and stuffing mark-up into materials so CIS looks smaller.

Van stock used on the job can sit in materials if you can show what it cost. Guessing a round figure is how a contractor estimates against you.

Allowable expenses (tools, van, training, WaterSafe fees) are a Self Assessment question, not an invoice line.

Sample line items: full suite, wet room, suite swap, labour split

Worked figures below are illustrative round numbers, not a price list. Your quote will differ. They assume a lived-in house at 14 Oak Lane unless the row says otherwise. VAT is shown only in later worked examples.

Full family-bathroom supply-and-fit

Name the room. “Bathroom” on a house with two is how the wrong suite gets argued.

Wet room (level-access)

A wet room for an able-bodied client on a lived-in house is still usually 20% if you are VAT-registered. A wet room that is a disabled adaptation under Notice 701/7 is a different rate — see the VAT section. Do not copy 0% onto this table because the floor is level-access.

Suite swap (existing first-fix reused)

If the same visit also includes tiling a wall, moving a soil, or making good to plaster, say so as its own lines. A mixed contract is how CIS and VAT arguments start on contractor jobs.

Labour-only (customer-supplied suite)

Do not list the customer’s suite as your materials. On a CIS invoice that is how you get a fight about deductions. On a domestic invoice it is how they think you sold them a suite they already paid for at the merchant.

Deposits, stage payments and retention

A Saturday suite swap is one invoice. A family bathroom you have to order is not. Name the stage on every bill. Illustrative labels only — match your quote:

1. Deposit — before you order the suite, tiles, tray or wet-room former. Invoice when you take it. State the percentage. See deposit invoice template UK.

2. First-fix / tiling — wastes in, tanking done, or tiles on. Labour this stage and materials this stage.

3. Second-fix / practical completion — suite live, silicone done, balance less any agreed retention, plus variations they approved in writing.

Retention is not a deposit. Deposit = money you take before or during. Retention = money held after completion against snagging. Show full value, retention withheld, and release date, then invoice retention when due. Stage percentages in the quote, not a voice note.

If you are VAT-registered, a deposit you actually receive is usually a tax point for that amount on the day it lands, even if the suite is still at the merchant. A card payment on completion is usually a tax point that day. InvoiceAdept will date the invoice you raise. It will not decide the tax point and it will not put the figure on your VAT return.

Free (5/month) burns on deposit + stages + final. Pro removes the cap.

Sole trader versus limited company

The invoice has to show the legal person who is charging.

Sole trader. Your own name, plus a trading name if you use one, and an address where documents can be delivered. CIS, if it applies, is in your name and UTR. GOV.UK on sole traders.

Limited company. Registered company name, company number, registered office. A trading style (“Oak Lane Bathrooms”) is not enough on its own. CIS for a company is the company’s UTR, not the director’s personal one. GOV.UK on limited companies. InvoiceAdept does not file confirmation statements or accounts.

Do not mix them mid-job. If the quote was in the company name, the invoices are in the company name. Competent-person registration must match the business that is doing the notifiable work — the invoice name should not be a different legal person.

CIS when a contractor pays you for bathroom work

CIS covers most construction work to buildings. You invoice the contractor the gross. They withhold from labour as an advance on your tax and NI.

Bathroom work sits in two places in HMRC’s internal manuals. Neither is a blog shortcut.

Finishing operations. CISR14240 (Finance Act 2004 s.74(2)(f)) lists operations that form an integral part of, or are for rendering complete, construction. The finishing list includes kitchen and bathroom fitting and tiling. Fitting a bathroom on a contractor’s site, or tiling as part of that package, is typically in.

Building service systems. CISR14090 (s.74(2)(c)) covers installation of systems of drainage, sanitation and water supply — not their repair, maintenance, alteration or a simple extension.

From those manuals, in plain terms:

• In, when a contractor pays you: bathroom fitting and tiling as finishing work; installing a sanitation or water-supply system (toilets and associated pipework; hot and cold to baths, showers and tanks as part of installing the water system); new-build first-fix and second-fix bathrooms; a complete replacement of a system (HMRC treats complete electrical rewiring as installation — the same idea for a full sanitation/water install).

• Usually out, if that is all the contract is: replacing a defective tap, replacing a broken wash basin, soldering a leaking pipe. CISR14090 is explicit: those are repairs to a part of the overall building system.

• Dragged in: if the repair contract also includes making good to the building, or one contract mixes an excluded repair with in-scope construction (tiling, bathroom fitting, structural making-good), the scheme can apply to the payment. Do not invent a split PDF to dodge a mixed contract.

• Prefabricated bathrooms: CISR14100 treats bathrooms including the enclosing/supporting structure as a construction operation when the contract is for construction, and mixed contracts pull the whole payment in.

Private householder: no CIS line. An ordinary occupier commissioning a bathroom on their own home is not a CIS contractor. GOV.UK CIS. The income is still taxable. You still raise a numbered invoice.

Landlords and agents: do not blindly print CIS. Most individual landlords are not construction contractors. A business can be a “deemed contractor” if its expenditure on construction operations exceeds £3 million in a rolling 12 months — CISR12050. That is not a typical buy-to-let bathroom. A construction company, developer or main contractor paying you for bathrooms is the usual CIS customer. InvoiceAdept does not decide CIS status.

Subcontractor rates: 20% verified; 30% unverified or wrong name; 0% gross payment status. Use the legal name and UTR you registered with.

Show UTR, labour, materials, rate, deduction, net payable. That printout is not a CIS300. The contractor files. InvoiceAdept does not file CIS300. CIS is on Pro+ £12.99 only. Feature: CIS invoices. More on billing as a subbie: invoicing subcontractors CIS UK.

CIS applies because a contractor pays you for construction operations, not because you own a tile cutter. A private family bathroom you sold on WhatsApp: no CIS line.

VAT on bathroom work: Notice 708, conversions, empty homes and disabled adaptations

If you are not VAT-registered, do not charge VAT. Threshold £90,000, not £85,000 — when to register.

If you are registered, the rate is not “bathrooms = 0%” and it is not “bathrooms = 5%”. Read VAT Notice 708 (page last updated 26 August 2026; checked 1 September 2026) for ordinary building work, and VAT Notice 701/7 for disabled adaptations. InvoiceAdept will not decide the rate.

Notice 708 section 2.1 is the starting point: the construction of a new building and work to an existing building is normally standard-rated. The exceptions are listed. A standard bathroom refurb on a lived-in house is not, by itself, one of those exceptions.

The common cases, in one table

If you are unsure, say so on the quote, charge the standard rate until the person who files your return has read the notice, or get advice. Do not invent a 5% “home improvement” rate for Great Britain — that reduced rate is an Isle of Man rule in Notice 708 s.2.1, not a mainland bathroom discount.

Disabled adaptations — narrow, not a style of tile

VAT relief on certain building work if you have a disability and Notice 701/7 paragraph 6.3:

You can zero-rate providing, extending or adapting a bathroom, washroom or lavatory as long as the work is necessary to suit the condition of a disabled person, in their private residence (or, for a charity, in residential accommodation or a qualifying day centre).

GOV.UK examples that can qualify:

• bath removed and replaced with a shower or walk-in bath because, due to disability, they cannot use a traditional bath

• bathroom installed on the ground floor because they cannot get upstairs

• existing bathroom altered to allow wheelchair access around the room

GOV.UK is explicit about what it does not include: a new bathroom installed, or an existing bathroom re-fitted, repaired or redecorated, as a general home improvement.

Preparatory work and making good that is directly related can also be 0% (footings for a downstairs bathroom, connecting water and drainage, necessary re-tiling after a walk-in shower). Work that is not on the list stays standard-rated even if it is “because of the disability” — kitchens, bedrooms, heating upgrades, replacement windows, conservatories, carer’s rooms.

Who qualifies. Chronically sick or disabled: a physical or mental impairment with a long-term and substantial adverse effect on everyday activities, or a condition the medical profession treats as a chronic sickness. It does not include someone only temporarily disabled (a broken limb) or someone who is elderly but not chronically sick or disabled. They do not need to be registered disabled. You, the supplier, are responsible for the rate. Keep a written eligibility declaration, separate from the invoice. Do not send it to HMRC. InvoiceAdept does not store a statutory declaration for you and does not decide eligibility.

Lost space. Notice 701/7 para 6.3.3: if the adaptation reduces another room, restoring that lost floor area (and only that area) can be 0%. Extra new space beyond the lost area is standard-rated. Apportion. Do not zero-rate a full rear extension because a downstairs shower sits in one corner.

Grant-funded work. A Disabled Facilities Grant may be paid to the client or to you. If it is paid to you, the invoice should still show the work was done for the individual disabled person. The grant does not, by itself, change the VAT tests in 701/7.

Subcontractors. Notice 708 para 2.1.3: supplies of disabled adaptations (and mobility aids for over-60s) are listed among the cases where a subcontractor does not simply copy the main contractor’s rate. If you are a subbie on someone else’s disabled-bathroom package, check 701/7 and the person who files before you print 0%.

New build, conversion, empty home — do not guess from the postcode

New qualifying dwelling. Zero-rate only when you are in the course of constructing a qualifying building (designed as a dwelling, or relevant residential / charitable purpose) and the other s.3 conditions are met. Snagging that forms part of the original zero-rated contract can stay 0%. A bathroom you fit after the house is complete, under a separate supply to the buyer, is work to an existing building — usually 20%. Notice 708 example: a conservatory specialist locked out until after completion cannot zero-rate. The same logic hits a bathroom fitter called after handover.

Housing association conversion, 0%. Only if you supply conversion services to a relevant housing association and s.6 is met. Subcontractors billing a main contractor are not zero-rated under that rule.

Changed-use conversion, 5%. Section 7 is about changing the number or type of dwellings (office to flat, house to two flats, and similar). Fitting a nicer bathroom in a house that remains one house is not a s.7 conversion.

Empty two years, 5%. Section 8. Proof. Ignore squatters and “guardians”. Do not ignore a second-home weekend use. If people move back in after you start, the first rule in 8.3.4 still reduced-rates work that had already qualified at the start — read the notice before you split invoices.

Hold certificates where Notice 708 s.17 requires them (relevant residential / charitable purpose). InvoiceAdept does not issue those certificates.

Reverse charge

Domestic reverse charge when all of these hold: both VAT-registered, payment reported within CIS, supply standard- or reduced-rated, not an employment business supplying staff, and no written end-user notice. Show VAT, do not add it to payable. Use the words reverse charge (for example “Reverse charge: VAT Act 1994 Section 55A applies”).

0-rated work is not reverse charge. Reverse charge is for standard- and reduced-rated construction. A qualifying new-build bathroom at 0%, or a qualifying disabled adaptation at 0%, does not go through RC even if a contractor pays you under CIS.

RC usually sits on the full net supply-and-fit value; CIS ignores materials. Keep lines split. Never reverse-charge a private householder. Walkthrough: domestic reverse charge invoice UK.

The VAT tax point on deposits

If you are VAT-registered, the tax point is when the supply is treated as taking place for VAT. It is not always the day you silicone the bath. In outline — check GOV.UK’s VAT time-of-supply rules, or the person who files, before you rely on a date:

• A deposit you actually receive is usually a tax point for that amount on the day it lands, even if the suite is still at the merchant.

• A card payment on completion is usually a tax point that day.

• An invoice you issue can create a tax point for the amount invoiced.

• The basic tax point for services is often when the work is completed; for goods, when they are delivered or made available.

• Notice 708 also has special time-of-supply rules for builders (VAT Regulations 1995 regs 89 and 93). If you use stage invoices, do not assume the software has applied those regulations for you.

If you take a 30% bathroom deposit in August and complete in September, August’s VAT period needs that deposit. InvoiceAdept will date the invoice you raise. It will not decide the tax point.

Quoting versus invoicing, and variations

A quote is an offer. An invoice is the bill for what you actually did. Do not paste the quote PDF into InvoiceAdept and call it an invoice. Number them separately. When the job changes, the invoice has to reconcile to the quote plus numbered variations — not to a memory of a WhatsApp voice note.

Confirm extras in writing (chat is fine). Price labour and materials separately. Code them V01, V02. Put each on the next stage as own lines, or raise a variation invoice the same day. Never bury an extra run of large-format porcelain, a vanity upgrade, a towel radiator, or a moved soil inside an inflated bathroom lump.

Typical bathroom variations that need their own lines:

• tile upgrade (ceramic to porcelain, small format to large format)

• vanity and worktop instead of a pedestal basin

• extra wall of tiling, or a tiled niche

• shower screen instead of a curtain, or a different tray size

• moving a soil or adding a mechanical extract

• underfloor heating in the bathroom floor (the heat source may be a different VAT analysis — do not assume the bathroom 20% covers a heat-pump pack)

• making good beyond the room (landing carpet, bedroom plaster)

If the variation changes a deposit you already took, show original package, extra, new total, already paid.

The general walkthrough is how to invoice a UK client as a tradesperson. Variation orders sit on their own page if you need the longer version.

Late payment

Put a due date on every invoice. “Payment due on receipt” is vague. “Due 8 September 2026” is a date. Seven days is common on domestic bathrooms once the suite is in. Contractor accounts are often 14 or 30 days, or whatever the subcontract says.

Domestic homeowners are consumers. The Late Payment of Commercial Debts rules are a business-to-business regime — GOV.UK on late commercial payments. Statutory interest is B2B, not consumer bathroom invoices. Do not print “statutory interest at 8% over base” on a private suite invoice as if it automatically applies to a householder.

Contractor invoices are different. If both sides are acting in the course of a business, statutory interest can apply when a qualifying debt is late, unless the contract has a different substantial remedy. Interest walkthrough: how to calculate late payment interest UK.

A reminder is not a new invoice. Do not raise a second live number for the same bathroom because they have not paid. InvoiceAdept Pro can send reminders. That is a chase, not a filing to HMRC.

Worked example: the same bathroom, four invoices

A sole-trader bathroom fitter supplies and fits a family bathroom at 14 Oak Lane, a lived-in house. Labour is £2,000 (strip-out, first-fix, tiling, second-fix, silicone). Materials the fitter bought for this job (suite, shower, tiles, adhesive, wastes, tanking — merchant tickets on file) came to £2,800. Gross before VAT: £4,800.

Worked example only — not a price list. Illustrative round figures. Your quote will differ. This is an existing lived-in dwelling, able-bodied private client, ordinary refurb: VAT 20% if you are registered, per Notice 708 s.2.1. It is not 0% disabled adaptation, not 5% empty-home, not 0% new build.

CIS on examples C and D assumes a contractor is paying you for construction operations (bathroom fitting / tiling as finishing work). A straight like-for-like basin swap billed as a repair can sit outside CIS under CISR14090. InvoiceAdept does not decide. If CIS does not apply, drop the deduction lines.

A — Homeowner, you are not VAT-registered (no CIS, no reverse charge)

No VAT line. No UTR. No CIS. Due date and a sort code or pay link.

B — Homeowner, you are VAT-registered, standard-rated existing dwelling

Same job. Lived-in house. Not empty two years. Not a conversion. Not a disabled adaptation.

You account for £960 output tax. Still no CIS. If you already invoiced a £1,440 deposit (30%), that deposit already had a tax point. The final invoice is the balance.

C — VAT-registered contractor, CIS-verified at 20%, reverse charge applies

Same labour and materials, billed to a main contractor. Both VAT-registered. No written end-user notice. Payment reported under CIS. Supply standard-rated, so reverse charge can apply.

Wording: Reverse charge: VAT Act 1994 Section 55A applies. Customer to pay the VAT to HMRC. Contractor pays you £4,400 and remits £400 CIS. You do not receive the £960 VAT. A one-line £4,800 bill is how they deduct 20% of the suite.

D — Same contractor, not CIS-registered (30%)

That extra £200 stays out of your account until Self Assessment. CIS registration is free.

Short disabled-adaptation contrast (illustrative, not a quote)

Same address, but a ground-floor wet room necessary to suit the customer’s condition, with a written eligibility declaration on file. Labour £3,200. Materials the fitter bought (former, tanking, linear drain, mixer, screen, WC, basin, tiles — receipts on file) £4,100. Gross £7,300. If Notice 701/7 paragraph 6.3 is actually met: VAT 0%. Show VAT at 0%, VAT amount £0.00, and a short note pointing at 701/7. Keep the declaration. Not reverse charge if 0% applies. CIS may still apply to labour if a contractor is paying you for bathroom fitting — a private resident still does not deduct CIS.

Do not copy this 0% onto examples A–D. A level-access tray on an able-bodied refurb is not 701/7.

Short empty-home contrast (illustrative)

Same £4,800 package, but 14 Oak Lane has not been lived in for two years and you hold an Empty Property Officer letter. If Notice 708 s.8 conditions are met: VAT 5%. VAT-registered homeowner path: net £4,800, VAT £240, they pay £5,040. Still no CIS on a private owner. If the house was used as a second home in those two years, you are back on 20%.

Short stage sketch (domestic, not VAT-registered)

Same £4,800 package. Illustrative stages only.

When 28 September arrives, raise INV-0304 for the retention. Do not leave it as a chat reminder.

Water Regulations, Building Control and what the invoice is not

The invoice is the bill. Notifications and certificates are separate PDFs.

• Water fittings / Water Regulations — some bathroom work has to be notified to the water undertaker, or carried out by an approved contractor. A WaterSafe or equivalent number can sit as a description if you hold it. InvoiceAdept does not notify the water company and does not issue approval.

• Building Regulations — drainage, hot water, ventilation and electrical work in a bathroom can be notifiable. Competent-person schemes notify the local authority. InvoiceAdept does not notify Building Control.

• Electrical certificates — an extract fan on a lighting circuit is not yours to certify unless you are the person qualified to issue the certificate. Attach it. Do not pretend the invoice is the EIC or minor-works certificate.

• Workmanship guarantee — period and what is covered. Attach it. The invoice footer is not the guarantee.

• Manufacturer warranties — suite and shower warranties stay with the customer and the brand. Your invoice is not a substitute.

Do not write “Building Regs certified” as a substitute for a notification you made. Do not bill a wet room as if the PDF in InvoiceAdept is the Water Regulations record.

Making Tax Digital: records, not filing

If your qualifying income is over £50,000 for 2024–25, Making Tax Digital for Income Tax applies from 6 April 2026. The line drops to £30,000 from April 2027 (2025–26 income) and £20,000 from April 2028 (2026–27 income). GOV.UK on when you need MTD.

InvoiceAdept keeps digital invoice records you can export for an accountant or HMRC-recognised filing software. It does not submit quarterly Income Tax updates, the Self Assessment return, your VAT return, or CIS300. Records are not filing. MTD for UK trades.

Keep the numbered invoices, the merchant tickets that support your materials lines, the quote and variation thread, and — if you used 0% or 5% — the declaration or empty-property evidence. HMRC’s VAT record-keeping is not the same as “the WhatsApp chat still loads”.

How to send it, and how InvoiceAdept actually fits

Domestic jobs sold in WhatsApp: put the invoice in that thread. Native send is Pro; Free users attach the PDF. WhatsApp invoicing UK. Contractors: email accounts with the PO. Disabled-adaptation jobs: invoice in the thread, declaration on your VAT file, not as a second “invoice”.

Bank details on every invoice. No InvoiceAdept platform fee on Stripe. Published Stripe UK cards 1.5% + 20p (2.5% + 20p international) on pricing. InvoiceFree adds 1% on its payment links plus Stripe — honest difference, not a sneer. InvoiceFree: unlimited free + CIS on free. InvoiceAdept: five free invoices/month; CIS on Pro+. Vs InvoiceFree.

Try Free, WhatsApp on Pro, CIS on Pro+, card without the extra 1%. InvoiceFree if you want unlimited free + CIS and mostly take bank transfer. Annual plans on InvoiceAdept are advertised at 20% off; 14-day trial on paid. Pricing.

A family bathroom with a deposit, a tiling stage, a final, a variation and a retention invoice is five documents. That is the Free cap on one job. Pro is the honest next step if you stage-bill.

Mistakes that delay a bathroom fitter invoice

• “Bathroom works” with no address, no room and no stage name.

• One lump sum on a CIS job, so 20% comes off the suite and the tiles.

• Charging VAT to a VAT-registered contractor when reverse charge applies, or putting reverse charge wording on a homeowner invoice.

• Reverse-charging a 0% new-build bathroom or a 0% disabled adaptation.

• Printing 0% VAT on a standard lived-in refurb because wet rooms, or disabled adaptations, can be 0% in other cases.

• Telling a lived-in family bathroom it is 5% without the two-year empty test, or calling a suite swap a “conversion”.

• Copying a housing association’s 0% onto your subcontractor invoice (Notice 708 para 2.1.3).

• No UTR, or a trading name that does not match CIS registration.

• Printing CIS on a private householder because “it’s construction”.

• Calling retention a deposit, or never invoicing the retention when it falls due.

• Taking a suite deposit and never raising a numbered invoice for it, then missing the VAT tax point.

• Listing free-issue kit or a customer’s own suite as your materials.

• Treating call-out as materials, or stuffing mark-up into the merchant total.

• Burying a tile upgrade or a vanity change inside the lump so the final account cannot be reconciled to the quote.

• Printing WaterSafe or Building Control as if InvoiceAdept issued the certificate. The invoice is not the record.

• Using the old £85,000 VAT threshold. It is £90,000.

• Assuming the invoicing app files CIS300, the VAT return, or MTD. Neither InvoiceAdept nor InvoiceFree does.

Frequently asked questions

What should a UK bathroom fitter invoice include?

Legal names and addresses, unique number, dates, a description that names the address, room and stage, quantities and rates, due date, and a way to pay. Split labour and materials. VAT only if registered and reverse charge does not apply. UTR and CIS only under a contractor, and only when CIS actually applies. GOV.UK invoice list.

Do bathroom fitters need a CIS invoice?

Only when a contractor is paying you for construction operations. Bathroom fitting and tiling are finishing operations in CISR14240. Installing drainage, sanitation or water-supply systems is typically in under CISR14090. Isolated tap or basin repairs can sit outside if that is all the contract is. A homeowner job you sold yourself: no CIS. InvoiceAdept does not decide. Skip registration and they deduct 30% instead of 20% when CIS does apply.

How do CIS deductions work on a suite, tiles and labour?

CIS is on labour only, including strip-out, tiling time and snagging. The suite, tiles, adhesive and wastes you paid for come off the gross if the contractor is satisfied you paid for them. A mark-up is not a material. Free-issue is not your material. A customer-supplied suite is not your material. HMRC deduction steps.

Is a private domestic bathroom subject to CIS?

No. An ordinary householder is not a CIS contractor. You still invoice them, you still pay tax on the income through Self Assessment, and you still charge VAT if you are registered. CIS is about the payer, not the fact that tiling is construction.

Do I charge 0% VAT on a bathroom refurb?

Usually no. Notice 708 s.2.1: work to an existing building is normally standard-rated 20%. 0% is for listed cases: new qualifying dwellings in the course of construction, certain housing-association conversions, and disabled bathroom adaptations that actually meet Notice 701/7. A standard family-bathroom refurb for an able-bodied client in a lived-in house is not those cases.

When is a bathroom 5% VAT?

Two Notice 708 routes that come up in practice: a qualifying residential conversion (s.7) and renovation of a dwelling empty for two years (s.8). Both have conditions and evidence. A lived-in suite swap is not 5% because you used a nicer tile. Mobility aids for someone aged 60 or over (grab rails, walk-in baths with sealable doors, showers with built-in seats, and similar listed items) can be 5% on supply-and-install of those items — not a 5% rate on the whole bathroom package unless the notice actually covers it. Check, do not guess.

When can I zero-rate a wet room or walk-in shower?

If you are VAT-registered and you are providing, extending or adapting a bathroom, washroom or lavatory necessary to suit the condition of a chronically sick or disabled person in their private residence, Notice 701/7 paragraph 6.3 can apply at 0%. Keep a written declaration. A wet room as a design choice on a standard refurb is still 20%. Re-tiling a previously zero-rated disabled bathroom later is not the same relief (para 6.7).

When does domestic reverse charge apply to a bathroom fitter?

Both VAT-registered, work reported under CIS, standard- or reduced-rated, no written end-user notice: show VAT, do not add it to payable. HMRC check. Never on a private householder. Never on a 0-rated supply.

Can I charge statutory late-payment interest on a homeowner bathroom invoice?

The statutory regime on GOV.UK is for commercial (business-to-business) debts. Do not paste “8% over base plus compensation” onto a consumer invoice. Put a clear due date and chase. Contractor invoices: late commercial payments.

Should I invoice the deposit before I order the suite?

Yes. Raise a numbered deposit invoice when you take the money. If you are VAT-registered, that payment is usually a tax point for that amount. See deposit invoice template UK.

Does InvoiceAdept file CIS, VAT or Making Tax Digital to HMRC?

No. It raises the invoice, stores the record, and on Pro+ prints CIS. It does not file CIS300, VAT returns or MTD quarterly updates. See MTD for UK trades.

How does InvoiceAdept compare to InvoiceFree for bathroom fitters?

InvoiceAdept Free: five invoices a month, £0. Pro £7.99 excl VAT with WhatsApp send. Pro+ £12.99 excl VAT with CIS. No platform fee on Stripe (UK cards 1.5% + 20p). InvoiceFree: unlimited free + CIS on free, 1% platform fee on payment links. Prices checked 1 September 2026. Pricing · vs InvoiceFree.

About this guide

InvoiceAdept is invoicing software for UK trades (Tech Me Today Ltd, Companies House 15917255, ICO ZB944663). CIS on Pro+. We do not file CIS300, VAT returns or MTD updates, and we do not issue Water Regulations notifications, Building Control completions, or competent-person certificates.

Invoice generator · Pricing · Plumber / electrician / builder / carpenter / gas engineer / locksmith templates · deposit invoices · CIS invoices.

Last reviewed: 1 September 2026. Check the GOV.UK pages linked above before you rely on a rate. General information for UK bathroom fitters, not tax, legal, Building Regulations or Water Regulations advice.