How to invoice in the United Kingdom with Cord

In the United Kingdom Cord issues a commercial invoice (VAT invoice) with a sequential number, the VAT of each item and both parties’ details. The United Kingdom has no authority that authorizes each invoice: Cord does not submit the invoice to HMRC and does not file your VAT returns (Making Tax Digital).

In short:

• Document: commercial invoice and commercial credit note, on every plan (10 per month on Free, unlimited from Starter).
• Taxes: your account starts with VAT 20%, VAT 5%, Zero-rated and Exempt. They are different regimes (the first lets you recover input VAT, the second does not), which is why both are there.
• What you need: your VAT registration number if you are registered, and your details under Settings › Invoicing › Tax profile.
• Collect: card through Cord Payments, bank transfer with a reference and Bacs Direct Debit in GBP (bank transfer and direct debit are new and being rolled out: they may not be available on your account yet). Cord charges no transaction fee of its own outside Mexican pesos.
• Not covered yet: VAT returns with HMRC and the European e-invoice formats, which are for issuers in the European Union.

Which document Cord issues

The invoice prints your VAT number, VAT by rate with its base and, if you charge in another currency, the exchange rate you locked when quoting.

What you need

• VAT registration number, if your business is registered with HMRC. Registering has no cost.
• If you are not registered, invoice without VAT: use the Exempt rate or create your own. Confirm your obligation with your advisor.

Set up your account

1. Open Settings › Invoicing › Tax profile and complete Invoice identity: Legal name, VAT reg. no., Address, City, State or region, Postal code and, optionally, your Invoice prefix. Save.
2. Under Settings › Quotes › Taxes, review the catalog and set the rate you use most as the default.
3. If you collect online, activate Cord Payments under Settings › Payments › Account: onboarding asks for your payout account with sort code and account number, which you later change under Settings › Payments › Payouts.

Issue an invoice

From an approved quote click Issue invoice, or in Invoices click New invoice, choose the client, add items with their rate and click Issue and send. If the sale is to a client outside the United Kingdom, choose the right rate with your advisor (for example, Zero-rated on an export).

Collect

• Card from the invoice link, through Cord Payments.
• Bank transfer with a reference in GBP, if you turn on Automatic bank transfer under Settings › Payments › Payment methods: your client sends a Faster Payments, Bacs or CHAPS transfer to a sort code and account number of their own, with the payment’s reference, and Cord records the payment on its own. It is offered on the invoice link and on the quote’s payment page, when the document has a linked client. See Bank transfer with a reference in the documentation.
• Bacs Direct Debit in GBP, if you turn it on under Settings › Payments › Payment methods: your client authorizes the debit from their account on the invoice link or in their portal. It takes 4 business days to confirm (7 with a new mandate), the account holder can dispute a debit with their bank at any time and their bank statement shows the payment processor as the collector. See Bank debit.
• Client portal to pay several invoices at once, and automatic payments on the due date; a Bacs account is saved for automatic payments when an invoice is paid in the portal. See Client portal and Automatic payments.

Bank transfer with a reference and Bacs Direct Debit are new and may not be enabled on your account yet. If you don’t see them, write to us.

How you see the status

There is no registration with the authority. The invoice detail shows the business status (open, paid, past due, void or uncollectible), the balance, the payments and the activity.

Void or correct

• Void: More actions › Void, only if the invoice has no payments.
• Credit note: More actions › Credit note, which credits the total.
• A refund is a separate action: an invoice’s online payment is refunded from its detail page, with Refund next to the payment, and one that came in through the quote, from Payments. See Issue refunds to customers.

Common issues

• I chose Exempt and it should have been Zero-rated (or the other way round). The issued invoice keeps its rate. Issue a credit note and a new invoice with the right rate.
• My VAT number does not appear. Enter it under Tax profile; it applies to invoices issued afterwards.

Not covered yet

• Filing your VAT returns with HMRC (Making Tax Digital).
• Factur-X, XRechnung and Peppol: Cord generates them for issuers established in the European Union.

Related

• Receive international payments
• Multi-currency payments
• Bank debit
• Invoicing by country in the documentation