Articles

Notes on commercial invoices

Short answers for companies billing a client abroad. Not a tax guide.

• What belongs on a commercial invoiceWhen a client in another country pays by bank wire, the invoice has to name the work, the currency, and the account. What to include, and what Wire Invoice does not do.
• Where to put the bank detailsThe client pays the account printed on the invoice. Put the account for that currency on the same page, not in a side email.
• Which currency the invoice should useInvoice in the currency the client will wire. Your own books can show another currency later. The PDF should not.
• Why the dashboard has a second currencyThe invoice is in the currency the client wires. Your dashboard totals in USD, and shows your local currency underneath.
• Give every invoice its own numberA number belongs to one job. Do not reuse it, and do not send a new total under a number the client has already paid.
• When a proforma is enoughA proforma is the estimate before the order is firm. The commercial invoice is what you send when you want the wire.
• Your client does not need an accountSend a link or the PDF. They open the invoice and download it. They do not sign up for Wire Invoice.
• Mark it paid when the wire arrivesA payment in transit is not collected. Mark the invoice when the money is in the account printed on it.
• One company, more than one currencyKeep a bank account for each currency you invoice. USD, EUR, and GBP do not share one set of details.
• What to leave off the invoiceThe PDF is for the client who will wire the money. Leave off your local-currency figure, internal notes, and a second account.
• What Free includes, and when Pro is worth itFree is 12 commercial invoices a month. Pro removes that cap. Estimates, clients, and reports are on both.
• The company location sets the second currencyDashboard totals stay in USD. The line under them follows the country or region on the company.
• A monthly invoice does not have to be retypedA recurring template holds the client, the lines, and the interval. You generate the next invoice from it.
• Turn hours into a draft invoiceLog the hours against a client. Select the ones not yet billed, and Wire Invoice drafts an invoice from them.
• A bill is what you owe, not what they owe youAn invoice asks the client to pay. A bill records what you owe a supplier. Reports keeps them apart.
• Reports show the books, not a tax returnAging, clients, and payments are in Reports. You can export a CSV. Wire Invoice does not file tax.
• Save a line item instead of retyping itA saved item keeps the name, the description, and the rate. The next invoice can use it again.
• Colleagues can use the same ledgerAdd a staff login with its own email and password. They work in the company books. They do not need yours.
• A public address for the invoice linkPro can use a short address such as northline.wireinvoice.com. The client opens the invoice there. Free does not include it.
• Style, due date, PO number, and trashFour small controls: the accent color, when payment is due, a purchase-order number, and how to get a deleted invoice back.