How to invoice overseas clients from the UK (2026): VAT, currency and CIS

How to invoice overseas clients from the UK (2026): VAT, currency and CIS

By InvoiceAdept Team1 September 2026Updated 1 September 202619 min read

A UK electrician quoting a Dublin office, a plumber shipping a vanity unit to a client in Cork, a joiner sending a dining table to New York, and a plumber billing an Irish landlord for a boiler in Manchester are not the same invoice. “Overseas” is not a VAT rate. It is a place-of-supply question first, then a goods-or-services question, then a “where is the land?” question.

Get that order wrong and you either charge UK VAT when the supply is outside the scope, or you skip UK VAT on work that never left a UK house. CIS does not travel with the PDF. Construction operations in the Republic of Ireland, the Isle of Man or the Channel Islands are outside UK CIS. Construction operations in Manchester for an Irish contractor still sit in UK CIS if a contractor is paying you for building work here.

This is the 2026 rewrite of the overseas-clients guide: four real jobs, the GOV.UK invoice fields, VAT Notice 741A (last updated 29 September 2022) for services, VAT Notice 703 (last updated 4 March 2026) for goods exports, CIS territorial limits, currency and HMRC rates, late payment at Bank Rate + 8%, and how InvoiceAdept actually fits. InvoiceAdept does not file CIS300, VAT returns, MTD updates or Self Assessment, and it does not decide CIS or VAT status.

Rules from GOV.UK. Figures are worked examples, labelled illustrative, not a price list. General information only, not tax, legal or customs 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. UK cards 1.5% + 20p; international 2.5% + 20p.

Sister pages: how to invoice a UK client as a tradesperson, domestic reverse charge, CIS subcontractors, late payment rights, electrician invoice template, plumber invoice template.

In short

Ask three questions before you raise the number.

1. Goods or services? A dining table leaving a UK workshop is usually goods. Remote design advice, or labour on a building, is a service. Mixed contracts exist — name each supply.

2. Where is the supply treated as made? For most B2B services, VAT Notice 741A section 6: the place of supply is where the customer belongs. If they belong outside the UK, the supply is outside the scope of UK VAT. You still keep evidence that they are in business. For most B2C services, the general rule is where you belong — so UK VAT can still apply — unless a special rule (professional services in Schedule 4A, land, work on goods) overrides it. Land-related services (construction, repair, installation that becomes a fixture) are supplied where the land is, whoever the customer is.

3. Did goods actually leave the UK? Zero-rating an export under VAT Notice 703 needs the goods out within the time limits and official or commercial evidence of export, usually within three months of the tax point. No proof, no 0%. Charge the UK rate until you have it.

CIS is a fourth question, not a VAT rate. CISR14070: CIS does not apply to construction operations outside the United Kingdom. The Irish Republic, Isle of Man and Channel Islands are outside. Work in the UK for an overseas contractor is still CIS when a contractor is paying you for construction operations here. A private householder is never a CIS contractor.

VAT registration threshold is £90,000. Making Tax Digital means digital records. InvoiceAdept stores the invoice. It does not submit the VAT return or quarterly Income Tax updates.

Four jobs, four invoices

Most “invoice overseas clients” pages treat every foreign name as a reverse-charge consultancy. Trades invoices are messier.

A customer in Dubai does not make a Manchester bathroom “outside the scope”. A customer in Dublin does not make a Manchester bathroom CIS-free if a UK contractor is paying you. Read the row that matches the job.

What must be on a UK invoice to an overseas client

GOV.UK: invoices — what they must include is narrower than LinkedIn threads. You must give an invoice by law when both you and the customer are VAT-registered. If you are not VAT-registered, still raise a numbered bill — that is how you get paid and how you keep records.

Must-haves:

• a unique identification number

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

• the customer’s name and address — including country

• 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: your own name and an address where documents can be delivered. Limited company: registered name as on the certificate of incorporation, company number, registered office.

VAT-registered extra: VAT number, rate, net, VAT in sterling even if the invoice currency is EUR or USD (VAT Notice 700/21 and VATREC5010). Sequential numbering: “a sequential number based on one or more series which uniquely identifies the document.” Letters plus numbers are fine. Multiple series are fine. Unexplained duplicates are not.

For overseas customers, add what HMRC actually asks you to keep, even if it is not a pretty field on a template:

• their VAT or national tax identification number if they have one (B2B evidence — Notice 741A section 6.3)

• a one-line VAT treatment that matches the job, not a slogan

• the invoice currency

• how they pay you (IBAN and BIC for SEPA/SWIFT, or a card link)

• for goods exports: a consignment or courier reference so the invoice ties to the proof of export

VAT registration threshold: £90,000. Register if you have gone over, or will. GOV.UK VAT registration.

Weak versus usable descriptions

Checklist you can tick before you hit send

Many UK tradespeople also find it helpful to review VAT invoice requirements UK 2026 at this stage.

Place of supply for services: B2B, B2C and land

There is no general zero-rate for exported services. Notice 741A paragraph 1.4 says so in one sentence. You decide where the service is supplied. If that place is outside the UK, you do not charge UK VAT. If that place is the UK, you apply the UK liability (standard, reduced, zero, exempt).

The general rules

From Notice 741A section 6 (and VAT Act 1994 s.7A):

• B2B: supplied where the customer belongs. UK supplier, overseas business customer: usually outside the scope of UK VAT. Keep commercial evidence they are in business (VAT number is the usual EU evidence; other tax certificates or commercial documents if they have no VAT number).

• B2C: supplied where the supplier belongs, unless a special rule applies. A UK tradesperson advising a private individual abroad can still be in the UK for VAT.

“Reverse charge” on your invoice to an overseas business is their local mechanism, not a UK VAT amount you add. You can note that the customer may have to account for VAT in their country. Do not print a UK VAT figure and then also say reverse charge.

Special rule that catches trades: land

Notice 741A section 7: services that directly relate to land are supplied where the land is, B2B or B2C, UK customer or not.

Land-related includes (examples from 7.4): construction or demolition of a building; maintenance, renovation and repair of a building; installation of machines that become a fixture; drawing plans for a building designated for a particular site.

Not land-related (examples from 7.5): drawing plans that do not relate to a particular site; general legal advice; accountancy.

So:

• Specifying a consumer unit for 14 Oak Lane, Manchester, billed to a company in Cork: UK land. UK VAT.

• A generic “how we would approach a wet room” PDF with no address: closer to consultancy. Still check.

• Fitting a bathroom in Dublin: Irish land. Not UK VAT. Possible Irish registration — that is not a line InvoiceAdept will invent for you.

Professional services to overseas consumers

Schedule 4A paragraph 16 / Notice 741A section 12: listed B2C services to a customer belonging outside the UK are treated as supplied where the customer belongs — including consultants, engineers, lawyers, accountants other than services relating to land. Remote design that is genuinely consultancy, not a specified site, can fall here. Site-specific construction does not.

Do not stretch “engineer” onto a weekend call-out in Manchester.

Work on goods

B2C work on moveable goods is generally where the work is physically performed (Notice 741A section 9.7). Restoring a piece of furniture in your UK workshop for a French consumer is usually a UK-place supply unless the zero-rate for work on goods for export in Notice 741A section 15.9 applies (goods obtained for the work, not used in the UK, and actually exported, with Notice 703-style evidence). B2B work on goods follows the B2B general rule.

Exporting goods: zero-rating and proof

VAT Notice 703, last updated 4 March 2026. VAT is a tax on goods consumed in the UK. Goods that leave can be zero-rated — VAT at 0%, still a taxable supply — if the conditions are met.

Conditions in outline (paragraph 3.3 has force of law):

• the goods are exported from the UK within the time limits (usually 3 months from the tax point; 6 months if they are processed or incorporated first)

• you obtain and retain evidence of supply and official or commercial evidence of export within those time limits

Official evidence: export declaration on the Customs Declaration Service with a departure confirmation (Movement Reference Number or DUCR). Commercial evidence: authenticated air/sea waybills, CMR, certificate of shipment, and similar — Notice 703 section 6.3.

Evidence must identify supplier, customer, a full description, quantities, value, destination, and how the goods left. Vague “sundries, value as agreed” is how 0% falls over.

If you do not have the evidence in time, you account for UK VAT at the rate that would have applied, then adjust if evidence arrives later (Notice 703 section 11).

Indirect exports (overseas customer collects ex-works): higher evidential bar. A UK-established customer who then exports is generally not your zero-rated export — their removal may be an export of own goods, not your 0% sale (paragraph 2.10).

Great Britain to the EU is an export for these rules after 1 January 2021, not an intra-EU dispatch. Northern Ireland to the EU follows different NI Protocol goods rules — read the NI guidance, do not copy GB 0% onto an NI–EU movement without checking.

Destination VAT. Zero-rating UK VAT does not mean the US, EU or anywhere else ignores the goods. The customer may have import VAT. You may have destination-country obligations if you are the importer of record or if you sell to consumers into that country. That is not the EU’s old distance-selling OSS threshold pasted onto a GB sole trader. Get advice for the country. InvoiceAdept does not register you for foreign VAT.

CIS does not follow the invoice abroad

GOV.UK CIS: contractors deduct 20% (registered subcontractor) or 30% (unverified) as an advance on the subcontractor’s tax and NI. 0% if gross payment status. Private householders are not contractors.

Territorial limit — CISR14070 and CIS 340: the scheme does not apply to construction operations outside the United Kingdom. United Kingdom here is Great Britain and Northern Ireland plus territorial waters to 12 nautical miles. It does not include the Irish Republic, the Isle of Man or the Channel Islands.

A UK electrician flying to Dublin to rewire a house: no UK CIS line, even if the payer is a UK main contractor, because the operations are not in the UK. (Mixed contracts that are partly in UK waters can pull the whole contract in — CISR14070 pipeline example. Do not invent a Dublin exception.)

A Cork contractor paying you to brick a plot in Manchester: UK CIS if they are a contractor and the work is construction operations in the UK. Foreign businesses carrying out construction in the UK are in the scheme.

Deemed contractor: a business that does not do construction can still be a contractor if it has spent more than £3 million on construction in the 12 months since the first payment (GOV.UK: who is covered by CIS). Do not print CIS on a small Irish landlord with one Manchester flat because “they’re a company”.

InvoiceAdept does not file CIS300. CIS lines print on Pro+. The contractor files. You still need the UTR and labour/materials split when CIS actually applies.

Currency, HMRC rates and Box 6

You can invoice in GBP, EUR, USD or anything you and the customer agree. The legal debt is in the invoice currency. Your UK tax records need a sterling figure.

HMRC publishes monthly VAT exchange rates — exchange rates for customs and VAT. You may use those, or another acceptable rate applied consistently, depending on your VAT setup. InvoiceAdept will store the currency you typed. It will not pick the HMRC monthly rate for you and it will not put Box 6 on a return.

If you are VAT-registered:

• zero-rated exports still belong on the VAT return (outputs at 0%)

• outside-the-scope B2B services to overseas businesses are still typically recorded (often in the Box 6 net-outputs figure — check the current VAT return notes). Recording is not the same as charging VAT

• InvoiceAdept does not file the VAT return

GBP on the invoice is simplest for your books; the customer wears FX. Their currency is kinder to them; you wear FX until you convert. A multi-currency account (Wise, a bank EUR/USD sort code, Revolut Business) lets you hold the currency and convert when you choose. SWIFT can be slow and the fee is the bank’s, not a GOV.UK figure — treat “£15–£30 plus a markup” as a typical bank anecdote, not a statistic. Stripe international cards on InvoiceAdept: 2.5% + 20p, no platform fee, published on pricing.

Withholding tax in the customer’s country is a treaty question (HMRC has a list of double-taxation agreements). The invoice cannot make it disappear. Show the gross you contracted for; if they withhold, chase the certificate and speak to the person who files your Self Assessment. InvoiceAdept does not file that either.

If you are sorting this alongside other compliance work, read Conservatory invoice template UK.

Getting paid, deposits and the tax point

Put the due date as a date. “On receipt” is how international invoices drift.

Domestic-style deposits still work. If you are VAT-registered, money you actually receive is usually a tax point for that amount on the day it lands (GOV.UK time of supply), even if the table is still in the workshop. Raise a numbered deposit invoice. See deposit invoice template UK.

For a zero-rated export, deposits and progress payments follow the final liability — Notice 703 paragraph 11.5. If the goods never leave, or evidence never arrives, you account for VAT on the whole supply including deposits.

Card links are useful when the customer will not do SWIFT. International Stripe is 2.5% + 20p. Do not hide that in the labour rate. Bank transfer is still the default for contractors.

Late payment: 11.75% is B2B, and not every overseas invoice

Put a due date. Chase in the same thread you quoted in.

Statutory interest under the Late Payment of Commercial Debts rules is a UK business-to-business regime — GOV.UK late commercial payments. Bank of England Bank Rate 3.75% (held 30 July 2026, next meeting 17 September 2026) plus 8% = 11.75% simple statutory interest, plus compensation of £40 / £70 / £100 by debt size, when the Act applies. Walkthrough: late payment rights UK tradespeople.

That statute is not a sticker you put on a US consumer or an Irish householder “because they are abroad”. Cross-border enforcement is a lawyer-and-jurisdiction problem. Contract terms (governing law, court, late fee that is a genuine pre-estimate) matter more than a footer copied from a UK plumber’s template.

A reminder is not a new invoice. Do not raise a second live number for the same table because the wire has not landed.

Worked examples (illustrative figures)

Figures below are illustrative round numbers, not a price list. They show VAT and CIS treatment, not what you should charge.

A — Electrician, remote design, Irish VAT-registered contractor (you are UK VAT-registered)

Labour: specification and drawings for a Cork fit-out, no UK land, customer provides IE VAT number. Net £1,200.

Note on the invoice: customer VAT ID; “Outside the scope of UK VAT. Customer may have to account for VAT in Ireland.” Keep the VAT number on file. InvoiceAdept does not put this on an Irish return.

B — Joiner, table exported to New York (you are UK VAT-registered)

Net £3,400. Couriered. You hold the waybill and CDS departure confirmation within three months.

If the waybill never appears, this becomes standard-rated: VAT £680, they owe £4,080 until you can evidence the export (or you eat the VAT if you already billed 0% and cannot reopen it — raise it properly the first time).

C — Plumber, Manchester rental, Cork landlord company (you are UK VAT-registered, CIS-registered)

Lived-in house. Replace boiler. Labour £900, materials you bought £600. Gross £1,500 before VAT. The landlord is not assumed to be a deemed contractor — one flat is not £3 million of construction. No CIS unless they actually are a contractor.

The Irish IBAN does not create 0%. If instead a UK main contractor paid you for this as construction operations, CIS and possibly domestic reverse charge would follow the UK rules — see domestic reverse charge invoice UK.

D — Bricklayer, new garden wall in Dublin, UK contractor paying you

You spend a week in Dublin. Labour €2,000 (invoiced in EUR). Construction operations outside the UK.

Irish VAT / RCT is not this PDF. Do not print “outside the scope, reverse charge” as if it were a UK B2B consultancy. Get Irish advice. Convert to GBP for your own records at a documented rate.

Making Tax Digital: records, not filing

If you are VAT-registered, you already keep digital VAT records and submit the VAT return through compatible software. InvoiceAdept is the invoice record. It is not the filing software for that return.

Making Tax Digital for Income Tax: qualifying income over £50,000 for 2024–25 means MTD from 6 April 2026; £30,000 from April 2027; £20,000 from April 2028. Check GOV.UK MTD for Income Tax. Digital records. Quarterly updates are filed by recognised software. InvoiceAdept does not submit those updates, the Self Assessment return, the VAT return, or CIS300.

Keep: numbered invoices, customer VAT/tax IDs, proof of export, the rate you used to convert currency, contracts, and — for land jobs — the site address. “The WhatsApp still loads” is not a VAT record.

Related: see How to invoice for the first time UK for practical next steps.

How InvoiceAdept actually fits

Raise the invoice in the currency you agreed. Put the VAT wording in the description or a note. Pro sends on WhatsApp (useful when the client is a UK mobile living in Spain). Pro+ prints CIS when CIS applies — not because the customer’s address is foreign.

Annual plans advertised at 20% off. A deposit plus a balance plus a retention on one export is three of the five Free invoices. Pro is the honest next step if you stage-bill.

Mistakes that delay an overseas invoice

• Copying “outside the scope, reverse charge” onto a UK house because the payer lives in Ireland.

• Copying that wording onto a private individual abroad without checking B2C / land / professional-services rules.

• Zero-rating goods with no export evidence, or because the buyer “promised they would take it on the plane”.

• Charging 0% to a UK-established customer who then exports — that is often not your export (Notice 703 p.2.10).

• Printing UK CIS 20% on a Dublin or Isle of Man site.

• Skipping CIS on a Manchester site because the contractor’s letterhead is French.

• Using a stale VAT threshold. It is £90,000.

• Treating MTD as “the app files my VAT return”. It does not.

• Invoicing in USD with no sterling VAT figure when you are VAT-registered and UK VAT is actually due.

• A second invoice number for the same job because they have not paid.

• Inventing EU OSS €10,000 rules as if Great Britain were still in the EU goods union.

• Asking InvoiceAdept to decide Irish RCT, US sales tax, or a double-tax treaty.

Worth pairing this with our guide to How to invoice subcontractors UK CIS.

Frequently asked questions

Do I charge UK VAT to a business customer in the EU or US?

For most B2B services that are not land-related, the place of supply is where they belong — outside the scope of UK VAT if they belong outside the UK. Keep evidence they are in business (Notice 741A, last updated 29 September 2022). Land work on a UK building is still UK VAT.

What if the customer is a private individual abroad?

General B2C rule: where you belong, so UK VAT can apply. Listed professional services in Notice 741A section 12 can be where the customer belongs. Land is where the land is. Do not guess from a blog table.

Can I zero-rate a service because it is “exported”?

There is no general relief for exported services (Notice 741A p.1.4). Either the place of supply is outside the UK, or a specific zero-rate (for example work on goods for export, section 15.9) applies. “Export of services” on the invoice is not a rate.

What proof do I need to zero-rate goods?

Export within the time limit and official or commercial evidence plus evidence of supply — VAT Notice 703, last updated 4 March 2026. Usually three months. No evidence, account for UK VAT.

Does CIS apply if I invoice a foreign company?

Only if you are being paid as a subcontractor for construction operations in the UK (or UK territorial waters). Operations in Ireland, the Isle of Man or the Channel Islands are out (CISR14070). A private householder is not a contractor. Deemed contractor is more than £3 million of construction spend, not “any limited company”.

Which currency should I use?

The one in the contract. Convert to GBP for UK records using a documented rate (HMRC monthly VAT rates are the usual reference). InvoiceAdept will not file the conversion.

Do I need to register for VAT abroad?

Sometimes, for land-related work in that country, or for consumer supplies that the destination country taxes. B2B general-rule services are often reverse-charged by the customer instead. This guide cannot register you in Ireland or the US.

Can I claim statutory 11.75% interest on an unpaid US invoice?

UK late-commercial-payments rules are a UK B2B regime. Bank Rate 3.75% + 8% = 11.75% when that Act applies. It is not automatic on a foreign consumer. Put a due date; use contract terms.

Does InvoiceAdept file my VAT return for overseas supplies?

No. It stores the invoice, including currency and a note you type. You (or your accountant’s filing software) still submit VAT, CIS300, MTD updates and Self Assessment.

What is the VAT registration threshold?

£90,000. GOV.UK.

About this guide

InvoiceAdept is invoicing software for UK trades (Tech Me Today Ltd, Companies House 15917255, ICO ZB944663). CIS calculations on Pro+. We do not file CIS300, VAT returns, MTD updates or Self Assessment, and we do not decide place of supply, CIS status or foreign VAT.

Last reviewed: 1 September 2026. GOV.UK sources used: VAT Notice 741A (updated 29 September 2022); VAT Notice 703 (updated 4 March 2026); invoices — what they must include; VAT registration threshold; CIS overview; CISR14070; late commercial payments; VAT Notice 708 for UK-land rates. Check those pages before you rely on a rate. General information for UK tradespeople, not tax, legal or customs advice.

Invoice generator · Pricing · How to invoice a client · Deposit invoices · Reverse charge · CIS subcontractors · Late payment · MTD.

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