Invoice generator › US clients

Invoicing a US client from Europe

The good news: usually no VAT. The paperwork you will be asked for, and the payment route that does not eat your fee.

VAT: generally none, but say why

For services supplied to a business established in the United States, EU VAT generally does not apply — the place of supply is outside the EU, so the supply falls outside its scope. If you are in the UK or Switzerland the practical result is the same.

What matters is that the invoice explains it. Print a line such as:

No VAT charged — supply of services outside the scope of
EU VAT (customer established outside the EU).

There is no US federal VAT to charge instead. US sales tax exists at state level and applies mainly to goods and certain services sold to consumers, and a foreign freelancer supplying services to a US business is generally not collecting it. Keep evidence that your client is established in the US — their address, the contract, their EIN if they give it.

The form you will be asked for: W-8BEN or W-8BEN-E

Many US companies will not pay a foreign supplier until they have this. It is not a tax return and it does not create a US tax liability — it certifies that you are not a US person, so your client does not have to withhold tax from your payment.

• W-8BEN if you invoice as an individual or sole trader
• W-8BEN-E if you invoice through a company

Both are one-off per client and valid for three calendar years after signing. If you also want the reduced withholding rate under the double tax treaty between your country and the US, you complete the treaty section and give your local tax number. Get an accountant to look at your first one — thereafter it is a five-minute job you copy.

If a client withholds 30% of your fee, it is almost always because this form was missing.

Currency: bill in USD unless you have a reason not to

US companies are used to paying in dollars and their finance systems expect it. Billing in EUR is possible and some will accept it, but it introduces a conversion on their side that slows approval. Billing in USD moves the exchange risk to you — the practical answer is to price with a margin for it rather than to fight it.

State the currency in letters: USD 4,000, not $4,000.

Getting paid without losing 3% to the bank

A SWIFT wire from a US bank to a European account typically costs the sender USD 25–50 and loses you a further slice through intermediary fees and a poor conversion rate. Better routes:

• US local bank details through a multi-currency account (Wise, Revolut Business, Payoneer). Your client makes a domestic ACH transfer, which for them is free and familiar, and you receive USD in your own account.
• ACH rather than a paper cheque. Some US companies still default to posting a cheque, which is unusable for a European freelancer. Say up front that you cannot accept one.
• A card payment link for smaller amounts, where the processing fee is cheaper than the wire.

Payment terms and the invoice portal

Net 30 is standard; larger US companies often impose net 45 or net 60 and will not negotiate. Ask before signing rather than after invoicing.

Expect to be onboarded as a "vendor", which can mean a supplier portal, a purchase order number, and an insistence that the PO number appears on the invoice. An invoice without it is not rejected so much as silently ignored. Ask for the PO number before you send the first invoice.

A checklist for a first US client

1. W-8BEN or W-8BEN-E signed and sent
2. PO number, if their process uses one
3. Payment terms agreed in writing
4. USD local bank details set up, cheques declined in advance
5. Invoice with the outside-scope wording and the currency stated in letters

Frequently asked questions