Edge cases
Legal requirements for text invoices
A text can deliver an invoice. Whether that invoice meets the rules depends on your country, your tax registration and what you put on the bill. This is a checklist, not legal advice.
Use a checklist, then check it against your own rules
No page on this site can tell you that a text invoice is legal everywhere. Rules differ for a sole trader, a registered company, a VAT or GST registrant, and a sale in another country. What you can do today is make the document complete enough that a missing field is a choice rather than an accident. Identify yourself with the name you trade under. Identify the customer. Describe the work. Show the amount, the date you are asking, and the tax if you are charging tax. Keep a copy, which the link and the PDF are for. If your rules require a sequential invoice number, a tax registration number or a particular phrase, add those in the message and in your own records. InvoiceTXT’s public number is the token on the link, not a promise that the sequence satisfies a tax authority. If the amount is large or the rules are unclear, ask an accountant before you send.
June and March, contract review invoiced at $320, due in 14 days. This text is the delivery. It is not a tax opinion: https://invoicetxt.com/i/your-link
Name both parties
A bill that does not say who sold and who owes is hard to rely on later.
Describe the work in words a third person understands
“Contract review, 2 hours” can be checked. “Support” cannot.
Show tax only when you are charging it
A tax line you invented is worse than no tax line. The API accepts a rate. The rate is your decision.
Keep the PDF
A text thread can be deleted. Download the file for your own records.
What to put on this invoice
- Your trading name
- The customer
- What was supplied
- The amount, the due terms, and tax if you charge it
Questions about this job
Is a text message itself a legal invoice?
Sometimes the message is only the delivery, and the invoice is the page or the PDF. Sometimes local rules want fields this product does not force you to fill. Check before you rely on it.
Do you guarantee compliance?
No. This is a checklist so you notice missing pieces. It is not advice for your country.
What number should I quote?
The link has a token. If you must use a separate sequence, put that number in the message as well and keep a list.
Treat the text as the envelope. Make the invoice inside it complete, and confirm the local rules before you depend on them.
Related guides
How to make text invoices look official
An official-looking text invoice uses your trading name, itemised lines, a due date and a PDF. An acknowledgement on the page is a name and a time, not a certified signature.
Open guide →Scale your service business with text invoicing
Scaling a service business with text invoices means the same clear bill goes out after every job. It does not mean the product sends those texts for you.
Open guide →How to invoice international clients by text
You can text an invoice to a client in another country. The currency on a saved invoice is a label. InvoiceTXT does not convert the money.
Open guide →