The vocabulary of invoicing, defined

An ABN (Australian Business Number) is the 11-digit identifier the Australian Taxation Office issues to Australian businesses, required on every Australian invo...

An EIN (Employer Identification Number) is the 9-digit federal tax identifier the IRS issues to US business entities (LLCs, corporations, partnerships, trusts, ...

GST (Goods and Services Tax) is a value-added consumption tax used by Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Singapore, India, and several other countries, charged on ...

HST (Harmonized Sales Tax) is a single combined Canadian tax that merges the federal 5% GST with a provincial sales tax component, used in Ontario, New Brunswic...

IVA is the local name for value-added tax used across Spanish-speaking countries (Impuesto sobre el Valor Anadido in Spain, Impuesto al Valor Agregado in Mexico...

Reverse-charge VAT shifts the responsibility for accounting for VAT from the supplier to the business customer, used most often for cross-border B2B services wi...

Sales tax is a US consumption tax charged once at the point of final sale to the end consumer by the seller, with rates set independently by states, counties, a...

TIN (Taxpayer Identification Number) is the US umbrella term for any identifier the IRS uses to track a taxpayer, including an SSN (individuals), an EIN (busine...

VAT (Value Added Tax) is a consumption tax charged at each stage of a supply chain in the UK, EU, and most other countries outside the US, ultimately paid by th...

A VAT number is the unique identifier a national tax authority issues to a business once it registers for value-added tax, used on every VAT invoice and to vali...

Withholding tax is income tax that the buyer deducts from a supplier's invoice before paying and remits directly to the tax authority on the supplier's behalf, ...

Due on Receipt means payment is expected immediately when the buyer receives the invoice, with no formal grace period, used most often for deposits, small recur...

An early-payment discount is a small percentage reduction offered to a buyer who pays an invoice before the standard due date, commonly expressed as terms like ...

Net 15 means the buyer must pay the full invoice amount within 15 days of the invoice date, half the runway of the standard Net 30 default and common in freelan...

Net 30 means the buyer must pay the full invoice amount within 30 days of the invoice date, with no early-payment discount built into the terms.

Net 60 means the buyer must pay the full invoice amount within 60 days of the invoice date, double the Net 30 default and common in large-corporate procurement,...

Payment terms are the agreed conditions for when and how a buyer will pay an invoice, including the due date (typically expressed as Net X), accepted payment me...

A credit note (also called a credit memo) is a document issued by a seller to reduce the amount owed on a previously issued invoice, used to correct overcharges...

A debit note is a document that increases the amount owed on a previously issued invoice, used by sellers to correct under-billing or apply price adjustments, a...

An invoice is a commercial document a seller issues to a buyer to request payment for goods or services delivered, listing the line items, total amount due, a u...

A proforma invoice is a non-binding quote presented in invoice format, sent before goods or services are delivered, that previews the price and terms but does n...

A purchase order (PO) is a buyer-issued document that authorises a supplier to provide specific goods or services at agreed prices and terms, and serves as the ...

A quote (or quotation) is a formal price offer a seller sends to a buyer before any work is agreed, stating the proposed price, scope, and terms; once the buyer...

A receipt is a document the seller issues to the buyer after payment has been received, confirming the transaction settled and serving as the buyer's proof of p...

In the Philippines, a Sales Invoice is the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) authorised document for sales of goods (or properties), distinct from the Service In...

A statement of account is a periodic summary the seller sends the buyer that lists every transaction between them during the period (invoices issued, payments r...

A tax invoice is the specific format of invoice required when a GST or VAT-registered business charges tax on a sale, including the document label ("Tax Invoice...

Billable hours are the hours a professional (consultant, lawyer, designer, contractor) worked that can be charged to a specific client at an agreed hourly rate,...

A discount on an invoice is a reduction applied to a specific line item or to the subtotal, expressed as a percentage or a fixed amount, that reduces the buyer'...

Gross is the total amount including tax; net is the amount before tax. On an invoice, the gross is what the buyer pays in total, while the net is the supplier's...

A line item is a single row on an invoice representing one good or service, with a description, a quantity, a unit price, and the resulting line total; the sum ...

Milestone billing is a billing approach where invoices are issued upon completion of defined project milestones (e.g. design sign-off, beta launch, final delive...

A retainer is a recurring fee a client pays a service provider for ongoing access, reserved capacity, or a defined scope of work delivered on a regular cadence,...

The subtotal on an invoice is the sum of all line items before tax, discounts, fees, or rounding are applied, sitting between the line-item table and the total ...

Time and materials (T&M) is a billing model where the client pays for hours worked at an agreed hourly rate plus the pass-through cost of any materials used, co...

E-invoicing is the structured, machine-readable exchange of invoice data directly between supplier and buyer systems, typically through formats like PEPPOL, ZUG...

FatturaPA is Italy's mandatory e-invoicing format, an XML structure routed through the SdI (Sistema di Interscambio) clearance system run by the Italian Revenue...

Making Tax Digital (MTD) is a UK HMRC programme requiring VAT-registered businesses (and, in stages, income-tax payers) to keep digital records of their transac...

PEPPOL (Pan-European Public Procurement On-Line) is a network and a set of standards for exchanging structured e-invoices and other business documents between b...

SAF-T (Standard Audit File for Tax) is an OECD-defined XML standard for audit data, used by tax authorities in Portugal, Norway, France, Poland, Hungary, Lithua...

ZUGFeRD is a German hybrid e-invoicing format that combines a human-readable PDF/A-3 visual invoice with embedded structured XML, so a single file works both as...

ACH (Automated Clearing House) is the US bank-to-bank batch payment network for direct deposits and direct debits, settling in 1 to 3 business days at much lowe...

An IBAN (International Bank Account Number) is a standardised account identifier of up to 34 characters (country code, two check digits, and the local account n...

A sort code is a 6-digit identifier (formatted as three pairs, XX-XX-XX) for UK banks and their branches, paired with an 8-digit account number to route domesti...

SWIFT/BIC (Business Identifier Code) is an 8 or 11-character code that uniquely identifies a specific bank (and optionally a branch) on the SWIFT network, used ...