What makes an invoice acceptable to HMRC

Four requirements. Miss one and the item may not count, however legitimate the purchase.

The four

Supplier VAT number

The most common omission by a distance. Often in the registered-office footer rather than the header — check the small print before assuming it's missing.

Your name, in full

Not a first name, not a trading name you don't use, not your builder's. Address as well where the supplier records one.

Net, VAT and gross shown separately

A gross figure alone isn't enough, even if the VAT is obvious.

A genuine VAT invoice

Not a pro-forma, order confirmation, delivery note, statement or card receipt. If it doesn't say invoice and carry an invoice number, ask for one.

Getting a bad one fixed

Merchants reissue invoices constantly. For their accounts team it's routine admin, not a favour, and a recent invoice takes minutes.

Keep the request short. Quote your account number, the invoice number and date, say what's missing, and ask for a corrected VAT invoice. Send it from the email address on the account.

Time is the whole game. Last month's invoice gets reissued without discussion. A two-year-old one may be beyond the system the merchant currently uses. Fix things as they arrive.

One thing that surprises people

You don't send invoices with your claim. You complete a schedule, and HMRC comes back to tell you which invoices it wants to see. So the invoices need to exist and be correct — but the submission itself is the schedule.