Invoicing customers abroad

How a sale to a foreign client is treated depends on the country you issue from. Cord decides it with two details from the client’s profile: their country and their tax ID.

In short:

• Common step: on the client’s profile choose their Country and enter their tax ID (EIN, VAT number, RFC…). Cord validates the check digit in Cord’s 12 countries.
• Mexico: the CFDI is automatically issued to a foreign resident: generic RFC XEXX010101000, their country, use S01 and their tax ID as the tax registration number. You do not need to enter the generic RFC.
• European Union (Spain, Germany, France): a business client in another EU country with a VAT number goes under reverse charge; one outside the EU, as an export.
• Currency: the invoice is issued in the selling currency. If your books are in another one, it declares the exchange rate locked when quoting.
• Limitation in Mexico: a 0% item is declared exempt on the CFDI; Cord does not issue taxable 0% VAT yet.

The Country field is at the top of the client’s profile and comes preselected with your business’s country: change it if the client is based elsewhere. Besides the tax treatment, it adjusts the tax ID’s name, the phone’s country code and the address format.

Mexico: CFDI to a foreign resident

If your business is in Mexico and the client’s country is another one, Cord issues the CFDI like this, without any extra setup:

• Recipient RFC: XEXX010101000, the generic one for foreigners. Don’t enter an RFC on the profile: your client doesn’t have one.
• Tax residence: the country on the profile.
• Tax registration number: the tax ID you entered (optional), that is, their home-country tax number: EIN in the United States, NIF in Spain, VAT number in the United Kingdom…
• CFDI use: S01 (no tax effects), also on their credit notes.
• The tax regime and use on the profile do not apply to a foreigner and are not sent.

When creating the quote or invoice, choose its currency (for example, USD) and the tax rate of each line.

You decide each item’s rate with your accountant. Keep in mind that Cord declares a 0% item as exempt: it does not yet distinguish the taxable 0% rate that applies, for example, to the export of services. If your transaction needs the 0% rate, issue that CFDI outside Cord for now.

Cord stamps the transaction as “Not applicable” for export and does not issue the Foreign Trade complement (Comercio Exterior) required for the definitive export of goods (key A1). Services and licenses don’t need it.

European Union: Spain, Germany and France

• Business client in another EU country with a VAT number, and you with yours: the transaction goes under reverse charge (no VAT, with the legal notice). Pick the right 0% rate on the line, for example Entrega intracomunitaria (art. 25) or Inversión del sujeto pasivo in Spain.
• Client outside the EU: export, without VAT. In Spain, Exportación (art. 21).
• E-invoicing: Factur-X, XRechnung and Peppol declare the right category and, on an intra-community supply, the client’s full address. See European e-invoicing.
• Foreign currency: if an EU issuer invoices in another currency, the PDF also prints the tax amount in euros.

In Spain, with your electronic certificate uploaded, the invoice is registered with the AEAT through Verifactu (in beta) and declares the exemption reason; without it, Cord issues pro formas. See How to invoice in Spain with Cord.

United States, Canada and the United Kingdom

The commercial invoice is issued with the rate you choose on each line. In the United Kingdom an export usually goes as Zero-rated; in Canada, as Zero-rated; in the United States, a sale outside the country carries no sales tax. Confirm it with your advisor.

LatAm tax rails (being turned on)

While those rails are being turned on, the sale is issued as a commercial invoice.

Related

• Receive international payments
• Multi-currency payments
• Invoicing by country