EU VAT Invoice Requirements for SaaS: The 16-Field Article 226 Checklist

An EU VAT invoice is not just a payment receipt. Under Article 226 of the EU VAT Directive (2006/112/EC), a VAT invoice must contain 16 specific items of information. Missing any one of them makes the invoice legally non-compliant — which can cause the buyer to lose their right to deduct input VAT and expose you to questions from tax authorities. For SaaS companies issuing hundreds or thousands of invoices per month, getting this right in code is essential.

The 16 mandatory invoice fields under Article 226

#	Field	Notes
1	Date of issue	Date the invoice was generated
2	Sequential invoice number	Must be unique, must be sequential within a series
3	Seller's VAT identification number	Your VAT number, prefixed with country code
4	Buyer's VAT number (B2B only)	Required for reverse charge; not required for B2C
5	Seller's full name and address	Legal entity name, not just the trading name
6	Buyer's full name and address
7	Description of goods/services supplied	e.g. 'TaxID API subscription — June 2026'
8	Date of supply (if different from invoice date)	Or the date of advance payment
9	Taxable amount per VAT rate	Net amount before VAT, grouped by rate
10	VAT rate applied	e.g. 0%, 21%, 25%
11	VAT amount payable	In the currency of the invoice
12	Unit price (excluding VAT)	Per unit if applicable
13	Any discounts or rebates	If not included in unit price
14	Reference to applicable VAT exemption or zero-rate provision	e.g. 'Art. 196 EU VAT Directive' for reverse charge
15	For new means of transport: technical details	Rarely applicable to digital services
16	For margin scheme: reference to the scheme applied	Not applicable to standard digital service supply

Warning

Missing even one of the 16 mandatory fields makes the invoice non-compliant under EU law. Buyers receiving a non-compliant invoice may lose their right to deduct the input VAT — which can create disputes and chargebacks even when the underlying supply was correct.

Fields that change based on customer type

Fields 4, 10, 11, and 14 all change based on whether the customer is a B2B reverse-charge customer or a B2C customer. Getting these right is where most SaaS invoice implementations go wrong.

Field	B2B reverse charge	B2C (OSS)
Buyer's VAT number (field 4)	Required — the VIES-validated number	Not required (consumer has none)
VAT rate (field 10)	0%	Customer's country rate (e.g. 20% UK, 19% DE)
VAT amount (field 11)	€0.00	Calculated: net × rate
Legal reference (field 14)	"Reverse charge — Art. 196 EU VAT Directive"	Not required
'Reverse charge' notation	Required — explicit text on invoice face	Not applicable

Generating compliant invoices in code

typescriptlib/invoice.ts

interface InvoiceData {
  invoiceNumber: string;
  issueDate: Date;
  supplyDate: Date;
  seller: { name: string; address: string; vatNumber: string };
  buyer: { name: string; address: string; vatNumber?: string };
  lineItems: Array<{ description: string; unitPrice: number; quantity: number }>;
  vatTreatment: 'reverse_charge' | 'oss_b2c' | 'domestic';
  vatRate: number; // 0 for reverse_charge, customer country rate for oss_b2c
  currency: string;
}

function generateInvoiceFields(data: InvoiceData) {
  const netAmount = data.lineItems.reduce(
    (sum, item) => sum + item.unitPrice * item.quantity, 0
  );
  const vatAmount = netAmount * data.vatRate;

  return {
    // Article 226 required fields
    invoiceNumber:     data.invoiceNumber,           // field 2
    issueDate:         data.issueDate.toISOString(),  // field 1
    supplyDate:        data.supplyDate.toISOString(), // field 8
    sellerName:        data.seller.name,              // field 5
    sellerAddress:     data.seller.address,           // field 5
    sellerVatNumber:   data.seller.vatNumber,         // field 3
    buyerName:         data.buyer.name,               // field 6
    buyerAddress:      data.buyer.address,            // field 6
    buyerVatNumber:    data.buyer.vatNumber ?? null,  // field 4 (B2B only)
    lineItems:         data.lineItems,                // field 7, 12
    netAmount:         netAmount,                     // field 9
    vatRate:           data.vatRate,                  // field 10
    vatAmount:         vatAmount,                     // field 11
    currency:          data.currency,

    // Reverse-charge specific
    reverseChargeNotation: data.vatTreatment === 'reverse_charge'
      ? 'VAT: Reverse charge — Article 196, Council Directive 2006/112/EC'
      : null,                                        // field 14
  };
}

typescriptlib/invoice-renderer.tsx

// Invoice HTML generation (simplified)
function renderInvoiceLegalSection(invoice: ReturnType<typeof generateInvoiceFields>) {
  if (invoice.reverseChargeNotation) {
    return (
      <div className="invoice-legal">
        <p>VAT: 0.00 {invoice.currency}</p>
        <p><strong>Reverse charge</strong> — Article 196, EU VAT Directive 2006/112/EC.</p>
        <p>The VAT on this supply is to be accounted for by the recipient.</p>
        <p>Buyer VAT number: {invoice.buyerVatNumber}</p>
      </div>
    );
  }
  return (
    <div className="invoice-legal">
      <p>VAT ({(invoice.vatRate * 100).toFixed(0)}%): {invoice.vatAmount.toFixed(2)} {invoice.currency}</p>
    </div>
  );
}

What Stripe, Paddle, and Chargebee handle automatically

Billing platforms vary significantly in how much Article 226 compliance they handle for you. Stripe Tax generates invoices with most required fields but requires you to supply the customer's VAT number and set tax_exempt correctly — it does not validate the number via VIES. Paddle (as a Merchant of Record) handles the entire VAT compliance chain including VIES validation, invoice generation, and OSS remittance. Chargebee generates compliant invoice PDFs when you supply the tax configuration and customer data correctly, but does not validate VAT numbers.

Storing the validation record with the invoice

The link between the VIES validation and the invoice is critical for audit purposes. Store the request_id from the validation call alongside the invoice ID, and include the validation timestamp. If you are ever audited, this record demonstrates that you verified the customer's taxable status before applying zero-rate treatment.

sql

CREATE TABLE invoices (
  id             UUID PRIMARY KEY DEFAULT gen_random_uuid(),
  invoice_number TEXT NOT NULL UNIQUE,
  customer_id    UUID NOT NULL REFERENCES customers(id),
  issue_date     TIMESTAMPTZ NOT NULL,
  net_amount     NUMERIC(12,2) NOT NULL,
  vat_rate       NUMERIC(5,4) NOT NULL,
  vat_amount     NUMERIC(12,2) NOT NULL,
  vat_treatment  TEXT NOT NULL, -- 'reverse_charge' | 'oss_b2c' | 'domestic'
  created_at     TIMESTAMPTZ NOT NULL DEFAULT now()
);

CREATE TABLE invoice_vat_validations (
  invoice_id      UUID NOT NULL REFERENCES invoices(id),
  vat_number      TEXT NOT NULL,
  country_code    TEXT NOT NULL,
  validation_status TEXT NOT NULL,  -- 'active' | 'service_unavailable'
  request_id      TEXT NOT NULL,   -- TaxID API request_id for audit trail
  validated_at    TIMESTAMPTZ NOT NULL,
  PRIMARY KEY (invoice_id)
);

Related resources

EU VAT invoice requirements glossary

Definition

Integrating VAT API into B2B checkout

Tutorial

Reverse charge VAT implementation guide

Guide

EU VAT compliance for SaaS overview

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