Tax invoice

The distinction between an "invoice" and a "tax invoice" matters in Australia, India, New Zealand, the UK, and most of the EU. A plain invoice is what an unregistered seller issues: it requests payment, but it does not let the buyer claim any input tax credit. A tax invoice is what a GST or VAT-registered seller issues for taxable supplies: it carries the seller's tax registration number, the tax rate per line, the tax amount, and (in Australia explicitly) the words "Tax Invoice" on the face of the document.

Without the right label and content, the buyer cannot reclaim. An Australian buyer who receives a document labelled just "Invoice" from a GST-registered supplier cannot claim the GST credit, even if the seller did charge GST on the sale. The label is not cosmetic; it is the trigger for input-tax-credit eligibility in the buyer's accounting.

The required content is stricter than a plain invoice. In Australia, a tax invoice over AUD 1,000 has to include the buyer's identity or ABN. In the UK, a full VAT invoice has to include both the supplier's and (for reverse-charge B2B) the buyer's VAT number, the tax-point date, the rate per line, and the amount of tax charged. In the EU, e-invoicing mandates increasingly require this content in a structured format, not just on a PDF.