Construction Invoice Generator

What should a construction invoice include?

Beyond the standard invoice fields, a construction invoice needs to identify the project and site, tie back to the contract, and show where this bill sits in a run of progress payments. On subcontracting chains it also needs to carry the correct statutory VAT wording — getting this wrong is the single thing contractors worry about most.

• Project/job name and number, matching your contract documents
• Site address, if different from the billing address
• Contract, quote or purchase order reference, plus any approved variation numbers
• Progress claim number and billing period (e.g. "Progress claim 3 — 1–30 Jun 2026")
• Materials and labour split onto separate lines — this is a legal requirement in several markets, not just good practice
• Retention withheld, and when it will be released
• Any reverse-charge or withholding wording your market requires (see below)

Reverse charge, withholding and retention — the three mechanisms that layer on construction invoices

Construction is unusual because up to three separate tax mechanisms can apply to the same invoice. First, around 18 of the markets we cover shift VAT onto the customer for B2B subcontracting under a domestic reverse charge (UK, Germany, France, Italy, and most other EU states) — the subcontractor charges 0% VAT and prints a statutory notice; the customer self-accounts for the tax instead. Second, several markets run a separate withholding scheme on top of VAT: the UK's Construction Industry Scheme (CIS) deducts 20% (registered), 30% (unregistered) or 0% (gross status) from the labour element of a subcontractor's pay; Germany's Bauabzugsteuer withholds 15% of the gross invoice unless the contractor holds a valid Freistellungsbescheinigung (§48b EStG); Brazil withholds 11% INSS (or 3.5% under Simples Nacional Anexo IV) on labour in cession/empreitada contracts; Indonesia withholds PPh Final Pasal 4(2) at 1.75–6% depending on SBU qualification. Because this tool only ever calculates one VAT rate, these withholding amounts are never computed automatically — the invoice prints the statutory notice with a blank for you to fill in, and your accounting system (or the customer, under CIS) handles the actual deduction. Third, retention (typically 5–10% of each claim, released later at practical completion or after a defects period) reduces what's payable now without changing the contract value — model this using the discount field, which keeps VAT calculated on the amount actually being claimed now, and use the retention field to record the release terms for reference.

Progress billing and variations

On anything beyond a small job, invoices are usually issued per stage or per month rather than once at the end. Give each claim a number and billing period, and if earlier claims have already been paid, add a negative "less previously claimed" line so the invoice only asks for the balance still owed — this keeps the VAT/GST base correct in every market, unlike trying to invoice the full cumulative value each time. Approved change orders or variations should appear as their own line item referencing the variation number and approval date, so both parties can trace exactly what was agreed and when.