Does your customer really understand your invoice? In this 7th part of the E-invoicing Checklist series we will help you to answer this question. An invoice must not only contain all the legally required fiscal information; an invoice must also be clear and comprehensible for your customer. This reduces questions and complaints. It also increases the chance that your customer pays in time or maybe -just maybe even - a bit faster: reducing your DSO!
Uniform descriptions
The description of the product or service on the invoice should be equal to that of the offer, quote or website.
Plain language
Try to use descriptions that are as simple as possible, but still remain correct. For example, “subscription” instead of “recurring costs” and “refund” instead of “restitution”.
Mention additional information
Quite often your customers like to see additional information on the invoice to be able to optimize their (e-)invoice processing: budget holder, PO number, department, commissioner.
Display multiple invoice lines as simple as possible
With consumer invoices (bills) all amounts / invoice lines are VAT included
With business invoices all amount / invoice lines are VAT excluded
Combine related deliveries preferably on the same invoice
Indicate the validity/applicability of coupons, discounts and actions
The total amount is recognizable at a glance
The due VAT amount is recognizable at a glance
Use a reference, customer or order number
Next week: does your customer know how to pay your invoice? Want to be on top of things without having to wait for a couple of weeks? Click here to download the complete E-invoicing Checklist for free!
Previously published articles in this series:
New series: The E-invoicing Checklist [part 1]
The E-invoicing Checklist: Manual [part 2]
The E-invoicing Checklist: Current EU e-invoicing basics [part 3]
The E-invoicing Checklist: The new EU E-invoicing Directive [part 4]
The E-invoicing Checklist: content – tax requirements [part 5]
The E-invoicing Checklist: content of the simple invoice [part 6]
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