Invoice template
Since you work safely with Microsoft Office products, you could create your invoice with Word or Excel. To make it quicker and easier to create, there are invoice templates that you can use.
In addition, you must be able to present audit-proof archiving and complete procedural documentation. Once a document has been saved, it must not be changed or deleted. Should it be necessary, every change must be documented so that the auditor can understand it. Invoices in Word and Excel already fail because they cannot be changed. You should therefore use other options for your electronic accounting. Paper receipts can be an alternative. If you prefer professional invoicing software , you will find a wide range. In any case, compare the range of functions of the individual software providers.
Do invoicing with the help of software
According to ELECTRONICSENCYCLOPEDIA.COM, a good invoicing program enables you to significantly reduce the time it takes to issue and pay invoices. This gives you more capacity that you can invest in the growth of your company, for example.
Good software takes over the collection of outstanding invoice amounts for you. They meet all legal requirements and can save you the accountant. The programs can also send out automatic reminders and reminders so that you can receive your payment as early as possible.
Another great advantage of invoicing with software is that you can avoid mistakes. Because incorrect invoices lead to payments received late, are calculated incorrectly or that you get into legal trouble.
Programs like invoicing from SAP allow you to create your invoices in a way that suits your company. You have to learn a little bit, but then it is very easy and straightforward to do the invoicing. In addition, you can always see the current payment status and access real-time information on your finances.
“Tax-saving model” under-invoicing
You may think you can save on taxes and duties by putting a low price on your bills or playing with the amount a little. But don’t do that because it’s not worth it. The Treasury and Customs have upgraded. They already know the trick.
A number twister in the bill, and now?
One small typo and it happened: you issued a wrong invoice. You can fix this error by issuing a cancellation invoice and reissuing the invoice . You also have to keep the wrong invoice and the cancellation invoice. It is important that you use the consecutive invoice number as a guide. If you make a mistake, you may have three invoices for one business transaction.
Of course, we are all only human and a number shift happened quickly. It is important that you notice this as soon as possible and that you take the appropriate measures. Apologize to your customers and deal professionally with the incident. Here you can find out which typical mistakes there are and how you can avoid them:
Typical errors in invoicing
If you make mistakes in your invoice, this can have VAT consequences. You should therefore proceed as meticulously as possible and make sure that the invoice always contains all mandatory information and that the content is correct.
Entrepreneurs make these mistakes quite often, especially at the beginning of self-employment:
Correction of the copy of the invoice after dispatch
No consecutive invoice number
- Early destruction of the copy of the invoice
- Sales tax charged too high (do your research well about the difference between 7 and 19%!)
- Report sales tax as a small business owner
It is correct as follows:
You correct an invoice by canceling the old (incorrect) invoice, issuing a new invoice and sending it to the invoice recipient. You should also follow this process for small things such as rotating numbers in the date.
In order to avoid duplicates or missing numbers in the consecutive invoice numbering, it is advisable to have the number automatically generated by software. Because it is important that every invoice can be clearly identified by its number.
In addition, you should keep a copy of every invoice for 10 years, be familiar with the sales tax applicable to your company and always transfer the sales tax to the tax office in good time.
As a small business owner, you should make sure that you inform your customers about the relevant regulations. You are only allowed to invoice net amounts and should also point this out.
This is how you prevent mistakes
In order to avoid errors in invoicing right from the start, it is important that you adhere to invoice templates. Ideally, you use professional invoicing software that does a lot of work for you and, in particular, can avoid careless mistakes.
You can save all relevant customer data in the database of your software and have it available at any time. In addition to invoice templates, you can also create payment requests and reminders in the software, have them sent in good time and, thanks to the automation, avoid errors in the data.
In addition, the software automatically enters important mandatory information. This includes this information:
- A unique, consecutive invoice number
- The right tax rate
- The tax amount and the gross amount
- A tabular listing of the articles
- Name and address as well as customer number
Conclusion
We hope that we were able to answer questions such as “What is invoicing”, “How does invoicing work” and “How does electronic invoicing work”. Always remember that it is important that you, as a small business owner, adhere to all of the guidelines. Therefore, you should familiarize yourself well with the legal requirements.
In order to avoid errors and the resulting complications or even penalties, we recommend working with an invoicing program. So you can easily invoice different orders and always keep an overview. Careless mistakes no longer occur and your whole team can save a lot of work.
Use our practical templates as well as the help of the invoicing system of your chosen software in order not to lose any more time with the invoicing process in the future. Because ideally you can automate this work and also receive your money on time.
