Limited Company Invoice Template (UK)
A limited company's invoice has to say more about the sender than a sole trader's does. The company's full registered name — exactly as it appears on the certificate of incorporation — belongs on every invoice, and the company registration number, place of registration, and registered office address are required on business correspondence, which sensibly includes the bills you send. Get those wrong and nothing explodes, but a customer's finance team can and will hold payment while they check who they are actually paying. This free UK limited company invoice template puts each of those details where accounts departments expect to find them.
The generator below is pre-filled with a realistic example from a VAT-registered company — a registered name, a company number line, a VAT number, and line items billed against a purchase order. Edit every field to match your own company and download the finished PDF in a minute, or take the same template as a Word or Excel download further along the page. If your company is not VAT registered, set the rate to 0 and remove the VAT number, and the rest of the layout still stands. Below the sample: a walkthrough of every field, plus the company-specific rules on names, directors, and bank accounts.
What this template looks like
| Description | Qty | Rate | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| Website maintenance retainer — October | 1 | £850.00 | £850.00 |
| Additional development — booking form changes (hours) | 6 | £95.00 | £570.00 |
A sample invoice — every field, from the line items to the tax and notes, is yours to edit in the free generator.
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How to fill out a limited company invoice
Use the company's full registered name
Start with the name on your certificate of incorporation, suffix included — "Thornbury Digital Ltd", not "Thornbury Digital". You can show a trading name alongside it, but the registered name is the one that must appear. It also needs to match the bank account customers pay into, or reconciliation and trust both suffer.
Add the registered office, company number, and place of registration
Under the name, give the registered office address, the company registration number, and the place of registration — "Registered in England & Wales, Company No. 11482760" covers the last two in one line. These are required on a company's business letters and order forms, and putting them on the invoice is the safe, standard practice every accounts team recognises.
Add the VAT number, if the company is registered
A VAT-registered company shows its VAT number in the supplier block, formatted the way HMRC issued it, with VAT charged on each line and totalled separately. If the company is not registered — and plenty of small ones are not — leave VAT off the invoice entirely: no rate, no VAT line, no number.
Bill the right entity and quote their reference
Invoice the party that contracted with your company, using its registered name for corporate customers rather than a brand name. Add the purchase order number, contract reference, or contact your customer's process requires — on most commercial accounts an invoice without the PO simply never enters the payment run, however correct the rest of it is.
Number the invoice and get the dates right
Use a unique number from one sequential series; those numbers underpin the company's statutory records and Corporation Tax return. Show the invoice date, and — if you are VAT registered — the tax point where it differs, since that decides which VAT period the sale lands in.
Describe the work line by line
Give each service or deliverable its own line with a description the customer's approver can recognise — the retainer month, the project phase, the hours and rate. Retainers and extra work belong on separate lines, so the regular charge stays predictable and the additions are visible instead of quietly inflating one number.
Total it the way a finance team reads it
If VAT applies, show three figures: the net total, the VAT, and the amount payable. If not, one clean total does it. Either way the arithmetic is done for you in the generator and in the Excel version of this template — what matters is that the total traces back to the lines above it.
Payment terms, and the company's bank account
State a specific due date and any late-payment terms you rely on. Give the account name, sort code, and account number — and make sure it is the company's own bank account, in the registered name. Company invoices paid into a director's personal account create tax and bookkeeping problems that cost far more than the convenience is worth.
Billing tips for limited company invoices
Name one director and you must name them all
Companies do not have to put directors' names on business correspondence at all. But the rule has a catch: if you choose to name one director on your invoices or letterhead, you must name every director. The simplest policy is to leave directors off the invoice entirely — the registered name, number, and office already identify the company.
The company gets paid, not you
Every invoice the company issues should be paid into the company's bank account. Money routed to a personal account still belongs to the company and has to be accounted for — typically as a director's loan — which creates paperwork, tax exposure, and awkward questions at year end. Matching the account name to the registered name on the invoice also stops customer-side fraud checks from flagging the payment.
Not VAT registered? That's fine — just be consistent
Registration depends on turnover, not on being incorporated, and many small companies sit below the threshold. In that case no invoice carries VAT, a rate, or a VAT number. Watch taxable turnover on a rolling twelve months, because crossing the threshold unnoticed means owing VAT you never charged. Once registered, every invoice for taxable work becomes a VAT invoice.
Contracting through your own company
If you contract through your own limited company, the invoice usually travels through an agency or client billing portal: expect to quote a PO number, a timesheet reference, or both, and to match your invoice period to the approved timesheet exactly. Some clients operate self-billing, where they raise the invoice for you — in that case you check it rather than send your own.
Late payment interest is yours to claim
On business-to-business invoices, statutory interest and a fixed recovery cost apply once an invoice runs past its terms — the entitlement exists whether or not you printed it on the bill, though stating terms up front makes enforcing them easier. Unless different terms are agreed, 30 days is the default. Invoice the moment the work is accepted, because the clock starts at the invoice, not the work.
What a UK limited company invoice must include
- The company's full registered name, as on the certificate of incorporation
- The company registration number and place of registration (e.g. England & Wales)
- The registered office address
- A unique, sequential invoice number
- The invoice date — and the tax point, if VAT registered and it differs
- The customer's name and address
- A description of the goods or services, with the amount for each line
- The total payable — with the net and VAT totals shown separately if VAT registered
Directors' names are optional, but naming one director means naming them all. If the company is not VAT registered, no VAT rate, amount, or number should appear anywhere on the invoice.
Frequently asked questions
What must a limited company put on its invoices?
The company's full registered name as it appears on the certificate of incorporation, plus the registration number, place of registration, and registered office — the details required on company business correspondence. Then the usual invoice content: a unique sequential number, the date, the customer's details, an itemised description, the totals, and payment terms. VAT-registered companies add the VAT number, rate, and VAT total. The checklist on this page covers all of it.
Does the company registration number have to be on the invoice?
The Companies Act requires the registration number, place of registration, and registered office on a company's business letters and order forms, and standard practice treats invoices the same way. There is no reason to leave it off: a single line — "Registered in England & Wales, Company No. 11482760" — satisfies it and answers the question every new customer's finance team asks.
Can I invoice under a trading name?
You can show a trading name prominently, but the full registered company name must appear on the invoice as well — a trading name alone is not enough. The usual layout puts the brand at the top and the registered details in the supplier block or footer, which keeps the invoice on-brand and compliant at the same time.
Can customers pay into my personal account?
They should not. The company is a separate legal person and its income belongs in its own bank account, under the registered name shown on the invoice. Payments into a director's personal account have to be unwound in the books — usually as a director's loan — and mismatched account names trigger the confirmation-of-payee warnings that make customers hesitate.
My company isn't VAT registered — does this template still work?
Yes. Set the VAT rate to 0 and remove the VAT number line, and the template becomes a clean no-VAT company invoice — the registered name, company number, and the rest still apply. There is also a dedicated invoice template without VAT on this site if you want a layout built around that case.
Do directors' names belong on the invoice?
They are not required. The only rule to remember is the all-or-nothing one: if you put one director's name on business correspondence, you must include every director. Most companies simply leave directors off invoices — the registered details already identify the business.
I'm a contractor billing through my limited company — anything extra?
Usually a purchase order or timesheet reference from the agency or end client, and an invoice period that matches the approved timesheet to the day. If the client runs self-billing you will not raise invoices at all — you check theirs. Nothing about IR35 changes what the invoice must contain, but clean, consistent invoices from the company are part of looking like the business you say you are.
Is this limited company invoice template really free?
Yes — fill it in and download the PDF, Word, or Excel version with no signup and no watermark. When the company needs saved clients, repeat invoices, and paid/unpaid tracking, the Paid app on iPhone adds those on top.
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