Invoice When Not VAT Registered (UK): What to Include

If your business is not registered for VAT, your invoice must not charge VAT or show a VAT number, but it still needs all the standard details HMRC and your customer expect: a unique number, dates, both parties' names and addresses, a description of the work and the total due. To invoice when not VAT registered in the UK, you simply leave out every VAT element and, ideally, add a one-line note saying no VAT has been charged.

Most sole traders and many small limited companies start below the £90,000 VAT threshold, so this is one of the most common invoices in the UK. This guide lists what to include, what to leave off, sample wording and a filled-in example, plus what changes once you cross the threshold. It is general information, not tax advice.

What a non-VAT invoice must include

According to GOV.UK's guidance on what invoices must include, every invoice needs:

• A unique identification number
• Your business name, address and contact details
• The customer's name (or company name) and address
• A clear description of what you are charging for
• The date the goods or services were supplied
• The invoice date
• The amount or amounts being charged
• The total amount owed

The same list includes "VAT amount if applicable." For a business that is not VAT registered, it does not apply, so it is left out entirely, not shown as £0.00.

Extra details for sole traders

If you are a sole trader, the invoice must show your own name and any business name you trade under. If you use a business name, you also need an address where legal documents can be delivered to you. For example: "Jane Patel trading as Patel Design Studio." For a full worked layout, see our guide to invoicing as a sole trader in the UK.

Extra details for limited companies

A limited company must show its full company name exactly as it appears on the certificate of incorporation. If directors' names are shown, all of them must be listed. Company disclosure rules also require the registered number, place of registration (for example "Registered in England and Wales") and registered office address on business letters, order forms and the company website, and it is normal to print them in the invoice footer as well. None of this depends on VAT status. If you are weighing up structure, our comparison of sole trader vs limited company covers the paperwork differences.

What to leave off an invoice when not VAT registered

• No VAT number. You do not have one. Never use someone else's or make one up.
• No VAT line or VAT column, not even at 0%. A 0% line implies you are registered and making zero-rated supplies, which is a different thing.
• No "VAT invoice" or "tax invoice" heading. Use "Invoice."
• No prices described as "plus VAT" or "inc. VAT". Your price is simply the price.

Charging VAT when you are not registered is a serious mistake: HMRC can require you to pay over what you collected, and the customer cannot reclaim it. If you are unsure whether you should be registered, check the threshold below first.

Wording for the footer

A short note prevents queries from VAT-registered customers whose accounts teams expect a VAT figure. Pick one:

• "Not registered for VAT."
• "No VAT has been charged as [business name] is not VAT registered."
• "VAT not applicable: supplier not registered for VAT."

Avoid wording like "VAT exempt." Exempt supplies are a specific category under VAT law (certain financial, education and health services, for example) and are different from simply being below the threshold. Our guide on zero-rated vs exempt VAT explains the distinction.

Sample invoice for a business that is not VAT registered

INVOICE No. 2026-047 | Invoice date: 4 November 2026 | Supply date: 28 October to 3 November 2026
From: Tom Reid trading as Reid Garden Care, 14 Elm Road, Bristol BS7 2LP, tom@example.com
To: Hollyfield Lettings Ltd, 22 Queen Square, Bristol BS1 4ND
PO: HL-5521

Description	Qty	Rate	Amount
Garden maintenance, 3 rental properties (weekly visit)	3	£65.00	£195.00
Hedge cutting, 12 Ashley Road	4 hrs	£28.00	£112.00
Green waste disposal	1	£35.00	£35.00
Total due			£342.00

Footer: "Payment due within 14 days by bank transfer to Reid Garden Care, sort code 00-00-00, account 00000000, reference 2026-047. Not registered for VAT."

The math is simple because there is no tax layer: 3 x £65 = £195; 4 x £28 = £112; £195 + £112 + £35 = £342. For invoices with discounts or deposits, our guide on calculating invoice totals walks through the order of operations.

The VAT threshold: when this invoice stops working

The UK VAT registration threshold is £90,000 of VAT-taxable turnover. According to GOV.UK's registration rules, you must register if:

• your taxable turnover for the last 12 months goes over £90,000 (a rolling 12 months, not the tax year), in which case you have 30 days from the end of that month to register; or
• you expect your taxable turnover to go over £90,000 in the next 30 days alone.

A simple habit: at each month end, add up the last 12 months of invoiced sales. If you invoiced £7,800 a month on average, your rolling total is about £93,600 and you are already over. At £6,500 a month (£78,000) you have headroom, but one large contract could push you over the 30-day test. Our page on the UK VAT registration threshold goes into the edge cases.

What changes after you register

From your effective date of registration you must issue VAT invoices to VAT-registered customers, showing your VAT number, the tax point, the VAT rate and amount for each line, and the VAT-exclusive and VAT-inclusive totals. Our VAT invoice guide lists every field. Contracts and price lists should also be reviewed: if your old prices did not mention VAT, a private customer may argue the price was VAT-inclusive.

Voluntary registration

You can register below the threshold. It can make sense if most customers are VAT-registered businesses (they reclaim the VAT you add) and you have significant VAT on your own costs to reclaim. It usually does not suit businesses selling mainly to the public, who would simply pay 20% more.

Invoicing VAT-registered customers when you are not registered

Many small suppliers worry that a VAT-registered business customer will reject an invoice with no VAT. It will not, as long as the invoice is complete. Their accounts team simply records the full amount as a cost with no VAT to reclaim. What does cause queries is an invoice that looks half-finished: no address, no supply date, or a blank "VAT No." label left over from a template. Remove unused VAT fields completely and add your footer note, and the invoice will pass through their system like any other.

The reverse question also comes up: can you buy from VAT-registered suppliers and reclaim their VAT? No. Until you are registered, VAT you pay on purchases is simply part of your cost. That is one reason to watch the threshold carefully and to consider whether voluntary registration would help if most of your customers are businesses.

Expenses and pass-through costs

If you recharge costs to a client, such as materials, travel or a software licence bought on their behalf, you invoice the full amount you paid, including any VAT your supplier charged you, because you could not reclaim it. Do not split it into "net" and "VAT" on your invoice; that would look as if you were charging VAT. For example, if you paid £60 including £10 VAT for parts, the line on your invoice is "Parts (receipt attached): £60.00."

One more practical point: keep the same invoice layout after you register, just add the VAT fields. Customers recognise your invoices, and the change from "Not registered for VAT" to a VAT number and VAT line is easy for their accounts team to follow.

Common mistakes

• Showing "VAT 0%" when not registered.
• Calling the business "VAT exempt" when it is just under the threshold.
• Missing the trading-as name or legal-documents address for sole traders using a business name.
• Not tracking the rolling 12-month turnover and registering late, which can mean paying VAT out of your own pocket on invoices already sent without it.
• Re-using invoice numbers or starting over each year without a year prefix, which makes records confusing. Run through our invoice checklist before sending.

You can produce a clean non-VAT invoice in our UK invoice generator: simply leave the tax field empty and add your footer note. It is free, needs no account, and gives you a PDF to send straight away.