How to invoice a client in the UK as a tradesperson (2026)

The job is finished, or the deposit is due, and you are still on site. The question is not “how do I write an invoice” in the abstract. It is: who am I billing, what tax sits on this job, and how does this customer actually pay?

That first fork — homeowner or contractor — decides almost everything else. CIS does not apply to a kitchen in someone’s house. Domestic reverse charge does not apply to a private customer who is not VAT-registered. A main contractor’s accounts inbox will bounce a WhatsApp PDF that a homeowner would tap and pay the same afternoon.

This is the 2026 on-site trades version. We already have first-time and sole-trader how-tos. Those stay. This one is the invoice you raise after a day’s work: labour versus materials, deposits, CIS at 20% or 30%, reverse charge wording, WhatsApp versus accounts email, card versus BACS, and an honest look at when InvoiceAdept or InvoiceFree is the better fit.

Rules below are from GOV.UK, not from a template. Prices were checked on 28 August 2026. This is general information, not tax advice. If the job is large or the VAT position is messy, ask your accountant before you send the PDF.

In short

Decide who the client is. Put every field HMRC and the Companies Act actually ask for. Split labour and materials. Invoice the deposit or stage as soon as it is due. If you are a CIS subcontractor billing a contractor, show the 20% or 30% deduction on labour only. If both of you are VAT-registered and reverse charge applies, do not add VAT to the total — write HMRC’s wording on the face of the invoice. Send it where the payer looks. Chase on the due date, not three weeks later.

You can raise a first invoice in the invoice generator. Free is five invoices a month. That is the real cap, not a soft limit.

First decision: homeowner or contractor?

Most “how to invoice a client UK” pages treat every customer as the same person with a name and an address. On a trade job they are not.

A contractor working for a homeowner is still a contractor. HMRC is explicit: a private domestic customer is not VAT-registered, so reverse charge does not apply on the invoice to the householder. That does not turn the contractor into an end user. Subcontractors billing that contractor still apply reverse charge if the other conditions are met. See HMRC’s reverse charge technical guide. The old shortcut “they’re doing a house, so they’re an end user” is wrong.

If you only ever bill homeowners, skip the CIS and reverse charge sections and still read deposits, WhatsApp, and card versus BACS. If you only ever bill contractors, do not send them a domestic-looking invoice with VAT tacked on.

What legally must be on a UK invoice

GOV.UK is narrower than most blogs. You must give an invoice by law when both you and the customer are VAT-registered (a business-to-business supply). That invoice must say how much they pay and when. A receipt is something else: it acknowledges payment after the money has landed.

If you are not VAT-registered, HMRC still expects you to keep records of what you charged. A numbered invoice is how you do that. It is also how you get paid. There is no prize for a handwritten “£480 please” in the chat.

Full VAT invoice (you are VAT-registered)

HMRC’s record-keeping notice and VAT Notice 700 set out the full invoice. In practice you need:

• A unique sequential number. No gaps, no reused numbers.

• The time of supply (tax point), and the date of issue if that is different.

• Your name, address, and VAT registration number.

• The customer’s name and address.

• A description that actually identifies the work.

• Quantity or extent, unit price, VAT rate, and amount excluding VAT, for each line.

• The net total, any cash-discount rate, the VAT in sterling, and the gross total.

You must issue that VAT invoice to another VAT-registered business. You do not have to issue a VAT invoice to a private customer, but you almost always should: they need something to pay against, and you need the tax point on file.

Do not charge VAT unless HMRC has given you a VAT number. The registration threshold is still £90,000 of taxable turnover in a rolling 12 months, or if you expect to go over it in the next 30 days — register for VAT. Below that, VAT is optional (voluntary registration). Inventing a “VAT: N/A” line on a non-VAT invoice just confuses people. Leave VAT off.

Limited company extras

If you trade as a limited company, the invoice is a business document. Show the registered company name, company number, and registered office. Trading as “Dave’s Plumbing” is fine if “Dave’s Plumbing Ltd, company 01234567, registered office…” is also there. InvoiceAdept is operated by Tech Me Today Ltd, Companies House 15917255, ICO ZB944663. Put the same standard on your own paperwork.

Sole trader

Use your own name. If you have a trading name, show both. You do not need a company number because you do not have one. Your UTR belongs on a CIS invoice to a contractor; it does not belong on a homeowner invoice as decoration.

Checklist you can tick on the van

How to raise it on site, in order

1. Confirm who you are billing

The person who said “go on then” is not always the person who pays. On a domestic job that is usually the homeowner. On a site it is the contractor named on the order, not the site manager’s personal WhatsApp. Get the legal name, the billing address, and the PO or job number before you type a line.

2. Number it and date it today

Invoice the day the work is done, or the morning after, or the day the deposit is due. Waiting a fortnight to “do the paperwork on Sunday” just moves the due date. Sequential numbers are not a style choice. They are how you and HMRC see a complete set.

3. Write the work so nobody can rewrite it

“Plumbing works” is how disputes start. “Replace bathroom basin taps and waste, 14 Oak Lane, 28 August 2026, 3 hours plus chrome taps and trap” is an invoice. Put the site, the dates, and what changed from the quote. If extras were agreed in WhatsApp, say so on the line. The chat is evidence; the invoice is the bill.

4. Split labour and materials

Two reasons, and they are not the same reason. CIS is calculated after you take materials (and certain plant, fuel and consumables) out of the gross — GOV.UK, how contractors deduct. Domestic reverse charge, when it applies, usually treats goods supplied with the construction service as one supply, so the reverse charge sits on the full net value. Showing the split still matters for CIS. Do not hide a materials mark-up inside “labour” and then complain when 20% comes off the lot.

5. Set a due date you will actually enforce

Seven or fourteen days is normal for a tradesperson. Thirty days is what contractors put in their terms if you let them. GOV.UK on late commercial payments says that if you never agree a date, the payment is late 30 days after they get the invoice, or after you finish the work if that is later. Write the date. “Net 14” on its own is weaker than “Due 12 September 2026”.

6. Add VAT, CIS, or reverse charge — only the ones that apply

Not every invoice gets all three. A non-VAT plumber billing a homeowner: total, due date, pay link. A VAT-registered electrician billing a homeowner: VAT on. A VAT-registered CIS brickie billing a main contractor: labour / materials split, CIS deduction, reverse charge note, no VAT in the amount they pay. The next three sections are the detail.

7. Say how to pay, then send it where they look

BACS details on every invoice. Card link if the customer is a human with a phone. WhatsApp for the domestic thread; email for accounts. More on both below.

8. Keep the copy

Making Tax Digital for Income Tax is about digital records, not about an invoicing app filing your return. InvoiceAdept does not send quarterly updates to HMRC and does not file Self Assessment. Keep the invoice in the app or export it. The longer MTD piece is InvoiceAdept and MTD for trades.

Labour versus materials

On a homeowner invoice the split is courtesy and cashflow. They can see what the taps cost. On a contractor invoice the split is the CIS calculation.

HMRC’s contractor rules start with the gross invoice, then take off VAT, consumable stores, fuel used (not travelling), plant hired for that job, manufacturing or prefabricating materials, and materials the subcontractor paid for directly. The contractor can ask for receipts. If you have none, they estimate. What is left is the CIS base. Then they apply 20%, 30%, or 0%.

Worked numbers, verified subcontractor, no VAT:

If you had dumped £1,000 in one line, a cautious contractor deducts 20% of the lot and you are £40 light until Self Assessment. If you are not registered for CIS they deduct 30% of the labour. Register. The subcontractor overview is short and worth a bookmark.

Materials means what you actually paid for that job. A mark-up on bricks is not a material for CIS. The extra sits in the labour base. Plant you hired in is usually out of the deduction; travelling fuel is not a materials deduction.

Deposits and stage payments

A deposit is not a vibe. If you take money before the work, that payment is a tax point for VAT when you receive it — VAT Notice 700, deposits. Invoice it. Number it. Call it a deposit invoice for the named job, and say what it is 30% of.

Typical pattern on a domestic refurb:

1. Deposit invoice, 30–50%, payable before you order materials or book the week.

2. Stage invoice when first fix is signed off, if the job runs more than a fortnight.

3. Final invoice for the balance, less deposit and any retention you actually agreed.

Write the percentages in the quote, not in a voice note. Retention is not a deposit. Retention is money they hold after completion against snagging. If you agree 5% for 30 days, the final invoice still shows the full value, the retention withheld, and the date it becomes due. Do not “forget” the retention invoice. That is how it becomes a gift.

A security deposit on hired kit that you will refund is not consideration for a supply. A “deposit” that is really an advance payment is. If you are VAT-registered, treat the advance as VAT-able (or reverse-chargeable) on the day you take it.

InvoiceAdept Free will chew through a three-invoice job in one contract. That is the 5-a-month cap doing what it says. Pro removes it.

CIS at 20% and 30%

CIS is a contractor scheme. You invoice the contractor the gross. They withhold tax from the labour and pay it to HMRC as an advance on your tax and National Insurance. GOV.UK lists the rates:

• 20% if you are registered and they can verify you.

• 30% if you are not registered, they cannot verify you, or you gave the wrong business name.

• 0% if HMRC has granted gross payment status.

Give them the legal name and UTR you registered with. A trading name that does not match is how you get the 30% rate for a month.

Show on the PDF: UTR, labour, materials, CIS rate, deduction in pounds, net payable. Plenty of trade apps, including InvoiceAdept on Pro+ and InvoiceFree on free, print the expected deduction so the contractor knows what to pay. That printout is not a CIS300. The contractor files the monthly return. InvoiceAdept does not file CIS300 to HMRC. If you need the template and the 20% / 30% arithmetic in one place, use the CIS invoice guide and the CIS invoices feature.

CIS is on InvoiceAdept Pro+ at £12.99 a month, not on Free and not on Pro. InvoiceFree puts CIS on its free plan. That is a real difference. Do not pick Pro and expect the deduction lines to appear.

Domestic reverse charge: when you must not collect VAT

If you supply specified building and construction services, both you and the customer are VAT-registered, the work is within CIS, the supply is standard- or reduced-rated, and the customer has not given a written end-user notice, you do not charge VAT. They account for it. HMRC’s rules and invoice wording live in the VAT reverse charge technical guide.

On the invoice you still show everything a VAT invoice needs. You also:

• Use the words reverse charge. The 1995 VAT regulations require that reference.

• State the VAT that they must account for, or at least the rate, and do not add it to the amount they pay.

• Use wording HMRC accepts, for example “Reverse charge: VAT Act 1994 Section 55A applies” or “Reverse charge: customer to pay the VAT to HMRC”.

Same job as the CIS example, now VAT-registered, reverse charge on:

You record the net sale. They put the VAT on their own return. Your cashflow is the net, not the gross-plus-VAT you used to collect. Plan for that.

End-user notice, if they are genuinely an end user, has to be in writing — email, post, or the contract. HMRC’s sample line is: “We are an end user for the purposes of section 55A VAT Act 1994 reverse charge for building and construction services. Issue us with a normal VAT invoice, with VAT charged at the appropriate rate. We will not account for the reverse charge.” If you only think they are an end user and they have not written it down, HMRC says apply reverse charge.

Private householders are not VAT-registered, so reverse charge never applies to their invoice. Charge VAT if you are registered (at the right rate for the work — some residential energy-saving work is reduced-rated; new-build services can be zero-rated). Do not put reverse charge wording on a domestic bill to look professional. It is wrong.

The invoice-level walkthrough, including the employment-business exception and the CIS + reverse charge PDF, is domestic reverse charge invoice UK.

WhatsApp versus accounts email

If the job was sold in WhatsApp, email is where invoices go to die. The homeowner already has the photos, the extra towel rail they approved, and the “yes, go ahead”. Put the invoice in that thread, with the number, the due date, and a pay link. That is still a real invoice. “£480 please mate” is not.

A main contractor is the opposite. The site manager lives in WhatsApp. The person who releases payment lives in a shared inbox and will not pay without a PO. Email the PDF to accounts, put the PO in the reference, and if you want a paper trail on site, WhatsApp a copy to the manager as well.

InvoiceAdept Pro sends the invoice through WhatsApp from the app. Free users can still raise the invoice and share a PDF by hand. Native send is the paid feature. The longer version is WhatsApp invoicing UK.

HMRC does not require a stamp or a second-class letter. Electronic invoices are normal. The document still needs the fields in the checklist above.

Card versus BACS

Contractors pay BACS. Homeowners will tap a card if the button is in front of them, and they will not if the only option is a sort code they have to type while the baby is crying.

Both can live on the same invoice. Bank details cost you nothing. A Stripe link costs Stripe’s rate. InvoiceAdept does not add a platform fee on top of Stripe. InvoiceFree does: 1% on money collected through its payment links, plus Stripe. Bank transfer is free on both.

On a £1,200 bathroom, using Stripe’s published standard UK card rate of 1.5% + 20p (checked 28 August 2026):

• InvoiceAdept Pro or Pro+: about £18.20 to Stripe.

• InvoiceFree payment link: about £18.20 plus £12.00 (the 1%) = £30.20.

If almost every customer pays by bank transfer, the 1% never appears and InvoiceFree’s unlimited free invoices are cheaper. If you send card links to homeowners because they actually use them, the 1% is the price of “no monthly fee”. Neither product holds your funds. Money goes to your Stripe or your bank.

Do not pretend card is always faster. A contractor on a 14-day run will ignore the link. A homeowner who can pay in the chat will not wait for Monday’s BACS.

When InvoiceAdept versus InvoiceFree fits

This is not a roundup and it is not a rating. It is the same split as the InvoiceAdept vs InvoiceFree page, applied to the invoice you are about to send.

Pick InvoiceAdept if five invoices is enough to try it, you want WhatsApp send, you want card without the extra 1%, or you need Pro+ CIS with the rest of the paid toolkit. Pick InvoiceFree if you raise more than five invoices, you want CIS without a subscription, and most people pay by bank transfer.

Full prices and what sits on each plan: invoiceadept.com/pricing.

Chasing late pay

Send the reminder on the due date, not when you are angry. Most domestic invoices are unread, not refused. One WhatsApp with the invoice number and the pay link again is enough for a homeowner. For a contractor, email accounts with the PO, the invoice number, and the original PDF attached. Do not start a new invoice number for the same job.

If the customer is another business, UK law already gives you a stick. Under the late commercial payments rules you can charge statutory interest at 8% plus the Bank of England base rate, and a fixed recovery sum of £40, £70 or £100 depending on the size of the debt (charging interest, recovery costs). Check the live base rate; do not copy a figure from an old blog. You cannot use a lower rate against a public authority. If your contract already sets a different interest rate, that rate applies instead of the statutory one.

If you did not agree a payment date, the law treats the payment as late 30 days after they received the invoice, or after you delivered the work if that is later. Another reason to put a date on the face of the invoice.

Homeowners are consumers. Do not paste a Late Payment Act paragraph on a domestic invoice and expect it to work the same way. Be polite, be specific, and if they still do not pay, that is a small claim or a debt service — not a blog post.

Pro can send reminders. That is a feature, not a legal step. The legal step is the dated invoice you already sent.

Mistakes that delay a 2026 trades invoice

• Billing the site manager instead of the contractor named on the order.

• One lump sum, no labour / materials split, on a CIS job.

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

• No UTR, or a trading name that does not match CIS registration, and then wondering why they deducted 30%.

• No due date, then “they’re late” with nothing to point at.

• Emailing a homeowner who only reads WhatsApp, or WhatsApping an accounts team that only pays on PO.

• Waiting until the weekend to invoice a job you finished on Tuesday.

• Assuming the invoicing app files CIS300 or MTD. InvoiceAdept does not. InvoiceFree does not.

Frequently asked questions

How do I invoice a client in the UK as a tradesperson?

Identify the client (homeowner or contractor), put your details, their details, a unique invoice number, the date, a specific description, quantities and rates, a due date, and a way to pay. Split labour and materials. Add VAT only if you are registered and reverse charge does not apply. Add CIS lines only when you are invoicing a contractor under the scheme. Send it on the day, in the channel they use.

What legally needs to be on a UK invoice?

When both sides are VAT-registered, GOV.UK requires an invoice that states the amount and the due date, and a VAT invoice must carry the fields in Notice 700 / record keeping: sequential number, tax point, your name, address and VAT number, their name and address, description, quantities, net amounts, VAT rate and VAT in sterling. Limited companies also show company number and registered office. CIS invoices need the UTR and the labour / deduction / net payable lines.

Can I invoice without a limited company?

Yes. Sole traders invoice in their own name. You do not need a company number. You do need a unique invoice number, a date, a description, a total, and payment details. If you are VAT-registered, add the VAT fields. If you are a CIS subcontractor, add the UTR and the deduction.

Do I add VAT?

Only if you are VAT-registered. Threshold: £90,000. If reverse charge applies, you show the VAT they must account for and you do not add it to the total they pay. If you are not registered, do not charge VAT and do not decorate the invoice with fake VAT lines.

How do CIS subcontractors invoice a contractor?

Invoice the gross. Split labour and materials. Show the CIS rate HMRC will have given them on verification — 20%, 30%, or 0% — the deduction, and the net. They withhold the deduction and pay it to HMRC. You keep the payment and deduction statements they must send you within 14 days of the end of each tax month. Full walkthrough: CIS invoice software UK 2026.

Should I send the invoice by WhatsApp or email?

WhatsApp if the customer is a homeowner and the job lives in that chat. Email if accounts payable will release the money. Both, if a site manager approved the work and a different inbox pays it. Native WhatsApp send is InvoiceAdept Pro. See WhatsApp invoicing UK.

Does InvoiceAdept file CIS or Making Tax Digital to HMRC?

No. It raises the invoice, stores the record, and on Pro+ prints CIS. It does not file CIS300 and it does not submit MTD quarterly updates. Use HMRC’s software finder if you need a filing product. Records versus filing: InvoiceAdept and MTD.

InvoiceAdept or InvoiceFree for this invoice?

InvoiceFree if you want unlimited free invoices and CIS without paying, and you are happy to eat 1% when someone pays by card. InvoiceAdept if five free invoices is enough to start, you want WhatsApp send on Pro (£7.99), CIS on Pro+ (£12.99), and no extra Stripe platform fee. Detail: InvoiceAdept vs InvoiceFree.

About this guide

InvoiceAdept is invoicing software for UK trades, operated by Tech Me Today Ltd, Companies House 15917255, ICO registration ZB944663. We raise invoices, including CIS on Pro+. We do not file your CIS300, your VAT return, or your Making Tax Digital updates to HMRC.

Start from the invoice generator or compare plans on pricing.

Last reviewed: 29 August 2026. Tax rules change. Check the GOV.UK pages linked above before you rely on a rate or a form of words.

This guide is general information for UK tradespeople. It is not tax, legal or accounting advice.