An invoice to a client abroad is mostly a normal invoice. Three things change: the VAT line, the currency, and the payment details at the bottom, which decide how much of it actually reaches your account.
What every invoice needs
EU invoicing rules ask for the same fields whether the client is in Valencia or in Texas:
- A sequential number and the date of issue.
- Your name or company name, address and tax or VAT number.
- The client's name and address and, for a business in the EU, its VAT number.
- What you supplied and when.
- The amount before tax, the VAT rate and amount, or the reason no VAT applies.
- The total and the currency.
The line that causes the most confusion is the VAT one, and it depends on who your client is and where.
Business clients in another EU country
Services to a business in another EU country are generally taxed where the client is. You invoice without VAT and the client accounts for it: the reverse charge. Before invoicing, check the client's VAT number in the European Commission's VIES database, put it on the invoice and add the words "Reverse charge".
Most EU countries also ask you to report these sales in a recapitulative statement. In Spain that means being registered for intra-EU trade (the ROI register) and filing form 349.
Business clients outside the EU: the US, the UK, Canada…
For most services sold to a business outside the EU, the place of supply is the client's country, so no EU VAT is charged. The invoice should say why there is none; in Spain the usual wording cites article 69 of the VAT law ("not subject to VAT under the place-of-supply rules"). The UK has been outside the EU since 2021, so a UK business client is in this group.
There are exceptions, such as services tied to a property or to a specific event, which follow other rules. If your work is design, development, consulting or writing done remotely, the paragraph above is the normal case.
Consumers are different
If you sell to private individuals rather than businesses, VAT changes: digital services to EU consumers are taxed in the consumer's country, usually through the One-Stop Shop (OSS). If you sell digital products to consumers in many countries, a merchant of record takes that work off you; I explain how in the merchant of record guide.
The W-8BEN a US client will ask for
Many US companies ask a foreign contractor for Form W-8BEN (individuals) or W-8BEN-E (companies) before the first payment. It certifies that you are not a US person, so they do not issue you a Form 1099 or withhold US tax on work you do outside the US. You give it to the client, not to the IRS, and it generally stays valid until the end of the third calendar year after you sign it.
As a freelancer working from outside the US, you fill in Part I with your details and your home country's tax number as the foreign tax identifying number. The tax-treaty section is mainly for US-source income; if in doubt, ask an adviser.
Which currency to invoice in
You can invoice in whatever currency you agree with the client. If the invoice carries VAT, the VAT must also be shown in your national currency; if it does not, you still record the income in your own currency at the exchange rate of the date. Which currency is best for you is a separate question with real trade-offs, covered in the guide to choosing an invoice currency.
The payment details that make you cheap to pay
The bottom of the invoice decides how much you keep. For a US client paying $5,000.00 into a euro account in Spain, at today's published rates:
- Card fee
- Cross-border
- Conversion
- Payout
| How the client pays | Method | Cost | You receive |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stripe | Card | −$254.60 | $4,745.41 |
| PayPal | Card | −$387.50 | $4,612.50 |
| Wise Business | Bank transfer to local details | −$14.50 | $4,985.50 |
| Payoneer | Bank transfer to local details | −$109.40 | $4,890.60 |
The gap between a card payment through Stripe ($254.60) and a bank transfer to Wise's US account details ($14.50) comes entirely from what you print on the invoice. So:
- Put local details for the client's country first: account and routing number (ACH) for the US, sort code and account number for the UK, IBAN and BIC for the SEPA area.
- Name the method: "Pay by ACH to:" stops the client defaulting to an expensive international wire.
- Ask for the invoice number as the payment reference, so you can match the payment.
- If a client needs to pay by card, add a payment link as a second option, not the first.
An example
INVOICE 2026-014 · 5 October 2026
From: Your name · your address · tax / VAT number
To: Client Inc. · US address
Web development, September 2026 · USD 5,000.00
VAT: not subject to VAT under the place-of-supply rules (Spain: art. 69 Ley 37/1992)
Total due: USD 5,000.00 · due in 15 days
Pay by ACH to: account holder · routing number · account number · bank · reference 2026-014
This is how it works in general and how I do it from Spain; it is not tax advice. Rules change and differ by country, so confirm with your accountant.
Every figure in this guide is calculated from the providers' public pricing pages, with the same function as the calculator. See the methodology for what the model includes and leaves out.