Guides

Invoicing a US company from abroad

Why there is no VAT line, which tax form they will ask you for, and how to stop intermediary banks eating the total.

US clients are straightforward to invoice and occasionally slow to pay, and the friction is almost never about the invoice. It is about a tax form nobody warned you existed, and about wire transfer fees.

There is no VAT to add

The United States has no federal value-added tax. Sales tax exists at state level, applies mainly to goods, and generally only where the seller has a physical or economic connection to that state. A freelancer abroad invoicing a US company for services normally shows no tax line at all.

Write the total plainly and move on. A “VAT 0%” line invites a question you do not need.

The form they will ask for

Before a first payment, most US companies ask a supplier to complete a form from the W-8 or W-9 family. Broadly: W-9 for US persons and entities, W-8BEN for a non-US individual, W-8BEN-E for a non-US entity. They collect it to establish whether they must withhold tax from your payment.

Fill it in promptly. An unreturned form is one of the most common reasons a first invoice stalls, and the delay looks like a payment problem when it is a paperwork problem.

Getting the money

An international wire can pass through intermediary banks that each take a fee, so the amount that lands can be tens of dollars short. Say on the invoice who bears those charges. In SWIFT terms, OUR means the sender pays all charges, SHA splits them, and BEN takes them out of your payment.

If you invoice the same client monthly, the difference over a year is real money, and it is decided by one line on the invoice.

Wording you can copy

Payment by wire transfer. Please instruct your bank to send funds
with charge code OUR, so that the full invoiced amount is received.

Bank: ...
SWIFT/BIC: ...
IBAN / Account no.: ...

Worth knowing

• Whether US withholding applies to your income, and whether a tax treaty reduces it, depends on facts this page cannot see. Ask an accountant familiar with your country’s treaty with the US.