How to Invoice International Clients and Avoid Payment Delays

If you’re participating in the global market (whether through the internet or other types of networking), you need to know how to invoice international clients. International invoicing often presents additional complications, including differing currencies, complex payment systems, and varying tax regulations.

This article examines the fundamentals and nuances of invoicing international clients for U.S. professionals. It will also provide you with a step-by-step guide on how to send professional invoices, outline key mistakes to avoid, and teach you how to secure timely payments.

Key Takeaways

• To invoice international clients, you need to consider the currency, exchange rates, and fees, as well as international taxes and legal compliance with the client’s country.
• To create an international invoice, get the client’s name and contact information, choose the currency, set payment terms and methods, create an itemized list of goods or services, address taxes, and track your invoice after sending.
• You can use specialized software, like Paystub’s invoice generator, to create these documents in minutes while ensuring a professional and accurate outcome.
• The most common mistakes associated with creating international invoices include missing client information, failing to specify the currency or exchange rate, overlooking the country’s tax laws, and providing unclear descriptions of goods or services.

Understanding the Basics of International Invoicing

When looking to bill international clients, you need to consider several additional factors that aren’t relevant to domestic invoicing. This will help you avoid mistakes and misunderstandings that can lead to delayed payments, disputes, or even bigger problems.

Here are some of the key considerations on how to invoice international clients you should keep in mind:

• Currency. When working with international clients, you need to decide whether you’re going to bill them in USD or use their local currency. Invoicing in USD simplifies taxes and record-keeping on your end, but may complicate things for the client. That’s why you should always work with them and communicate transparently before making a decision.
• Exchange rates and fees. If you’re invoicing a client in their currency (which is foreign to you), you’ll bear various risks associated with it, such as value fluctuation between the issuing date and the invoice due date. Additionally, there may be fees associated with intermediary bank transfers, currency conversions, international transactions, and more.
• International taxes. Different countries and regions have varying tax laws that can impact your invoices. For instance, if you’re sending an invoice to a client in the European Union, you may need to take a Value Added Tax (VAT) into calculation, or a Goods and Services Tax (GST) for clients in Australia and Canada.
• Legal compliance. In addition to the general rules governing international invoicing and global payment methods, there are country-specific regulations to consider. Each country may have specific requirements for aspects like invoice numbering or mandatory information, which is why it’s essential to research these matters and stay compliant.

How to Invoice International Clients

We have prepared a step-by-step guide to help you create a professional invoice for a foreign client.

Step 1: Gather Client and Business Information

The first thing you should do before you start creating your international invoice is gather all the necessary details about the client and their business. This includes the full legal name of the client, their business, and the address. Additionally, include their phone number using the international format, as well as their email address.

You should also write the same details about yourself and your business, and list everything at the top of your invoice. Depending on the rules and regulations of the specific country in which your client resides, you might have to include additional information, such as tax identification numbers for both parties.

Clear and accurate contact information allows both parties to verify the validity of an invoice and make the financial transaction process as smooth as possible.

Step 2: Choose the Right Currency

When choosing a currency, you typically have the option to use your home currency (USD) or the client’s currency.

Opting for U.S. dollars for international invoicing significantly simplifies the process for you. It simplifies financial calculations and protects you from potential losses resulting from exchange rate fluctuations.

Conversely, using the client’s local currency makes the payment process much more convenient for the client. This can reduce the instances of unpaid invoices and improve your cash flow in the long run. However, you need to be aware of the conversion rates and use currency converter tools to make sure that you’ve included the correct sum in your invoice.

To ensure a successful transaction and prevent ambiguity, it is recommended to choose the currency in communication with the client. Depending on the invoicing software and payment processor you use, you can also leverage multi-currency invoices to maximize benefits for both parties and streamline the process.

Step 3: Include Clear Payment Terms and Methods

Including payment terms and methods accurately and professionally is crucial for any invoice. This is all the more critical when dealing with international billing, where even the smallest mistakes and miscommunications can take a lot of time and resources to resolve.

That’s why you want to avoid any confusion by clearly listing details like the invoice due date, penalties for late payments, and discounts for early deposits. Following that, you want to include detailed instructions for payment, such as your bank details, SWIFT/BIC codes for international wire transfers, and similar.

Whenever possible, you should give the client several options to choose from, such as credit cards and online payment platforms in addition to standard bank transfers. This makes it easier for your clients to pay, expediting the process and helping you avoid a backlog of outstanding payments.

Step 4: Itemize Services or Products

An itemized list of rendered services or sold products is the central part of an invoice. It describes what the payment is for, which is why it needs to be detailed and accurate. Plus, it helps prove the legality of an invoice in the event of audits by regulatory bodies.

You want to create a complete breakdown that lists each distinct item or service, along with its clear description, the associated quantity or hours, the price per unit, and the total amount for that item.

This transparency is necessary, as it represents proof of the total sum that the client needs to pay freelancers overseas, building trust with them. Additionally, it can help you receive payment faster, as the client can easily verify the information in your invoice without needing to perform manual calculations to determine whether the final sum is correct.

Step 5: Address Taxes and Compliance

Addressing taxes correctly is a critical component of international invoicing. The taxes should be clearly outlined and separated from the cost of the goods or services. Applicable taxes should also be itemized in the same manner as the goods or services, giving the client a detailed overview of all the costs.

Furthermore, an international invoice should contain all the necessary disclosures or legal statements required by the tax laws of the client’s country. For instance, if you’re not charging VAT, you need to state the reason for it and mention the specific mechanisms under which you and the client are exempt from it.

For example, you can mention the reverse charge mechanism, which shifts VAT responsibility from the seller to the buyer. In this case, you’re issuing an invoice without VAT, and the client will self-assess the VAT amount.

Step 6: Use Professional Invoicing Tools

Using professional tools significantly cuts down the time it takes to invoice international clients and streamlines the process. These software solutions are tailor-made to create invoices, so they come with professional templates and user-friendly interfaces that make designing them effortless.

The invoice generator at Paystub.org enables you to make these documents in a few simple steps:

1. Choose a template that suits your needs and pick a color.

2. Fill out the form, which includes adding your and the client’s details, an invoice number and date, the description of goods, tax type and rate, and any additional information.

3. Review your final invoice to see if there’s anything that needs adjusting.

4. Check out to download a finished document.

In addition to providing ready-made templates, our invoice generator also automatically calculates all rates, quantities, taxes, and discounts, preventing you from making simple mistakes. This makes it way better than generic templates (e.g., Google Docs or Word templates) for independent contractors and small businesses.

Step 7: Send and Track Your Invoice

The final step is to send the invoice to the client. One of the most common and efficient methods of sending invoices to international clients is by email, as that is the established way of communicating and exchanging relevant business documentation. You can also use a SMS gateway service to send instant payment reminders and notifications to clients, ensuring timely follow-ups and reducing delays in receiving payments.

Once the invoice has been sent, you should track it until it’s been paid. If you’re using net terms with generous extension periods (e.g., net 60 or net 90), you should follow up on your invoice if it hasn’t been paid and the due date is approaching. If the date passes and the client still hasn’t paid, you should follow up again with a polite and professional payment reminder.

Lastly, some specialized invoicing software can make tracking easier. For instance, it can notify you when a client has viewed the invoice, remind you when the payment is due, or send follow-up messages automatically.

4 Mistakes to Avoid When Invoicing International Clients

Now that you know how to issue an international invoice, let’s see what some of the biggest and most common mistakes you need to avoid are:

1. Missing necessary client information. Failing to include your client’s name or contact information on an international invoice can lead to ambiguity. Without proper identification details, you may encounter payment delays and compliance issues as clients go through the extra steps to validate the invoice.

2. Not including currency or exchange rate. You need to specify the currency on your invoice for international clients to avoid causing confusion and disputes. Currencies can have significantly different values, and failing to state them or exchange rates clearly will result in additional communication and effort needed to clarify things before the payment.

3. Ignoring international tax regulation. Failure to comply with the client’s country tax laws and regulations can result in legal and financial penalties. This may further damage your reputation and client relationship, having negative long-term consequences on your business.

4. Having unclear descriptions for goods or services. Vague descriptions of the sold goods or rendered services will likely lead to more questions from the client. The ambiguity can also result in disagreements and disputes, all of which may significantly delay the payment process, negatively impacting your cash flow.

Final Thoughts

Invoicing international clients as a freelance professional, contractor, or small business involves more than just accuracy and professionalism; it requires proficiency in global tax laws and cross-border financial regulations. By implementing the correct strategies and leveraging the right tools, you can make this process smooth, thereby improving your cash flow.

Don’t forget that you can use our invoice generator to invoice international clients. Our tool can help you craft these documents in minutes, maintaining a consistent look and immaculate precision for enhanced professionalism and branding purposes. This helps you save time that you would otherwise spend on menial administrative tasks and focus on your business instead.

How to Invoice International Clients FAQ

#1. Can I issue an invoice without VAT?

You can issue an invoice without VAT to clients in EU member states in certain situations. For instance, small businesses in Germany are exempt from paying VAT. However, it’s important to make a note on your invoice that the VAT payable is zero.

#2. Can I issue an invoice in foreign currency?

Yes, you can issue invoices in foreign currencies. This is common practice when working with international clients, as it makes the payment process convenient for them. When doing so, the terms and the currency should be clearly outlined on the invoice.

#3. Can I use Paystub.org to invoice clients abroad?

Yes, you can use Paystub.org to invoice clients abroad. A feature-packed invoice generator allows you to create detailed and personalized invoices that you can further customize to bill clients anywhere in the world.