Credit note template for the UK (VAT)

What’s on the uk vat credit note

Extra fields on this template: Original invoice, Invoice date, VAT reg. no..

Example prices in pounds sterling. Replace them with your own; in the generator, any currency works.

What HMRC expects on a VAT credit note

HMRC’s guidance on VAT invoices (VAT Notice 700/21) lists what a credit note should show:

• an identifying number and the date of issue;
• your name, address and VAT registration number;
• the customer’s name and address;
• the reason for the credit, such as “returned goods”;
• a description of the goods or services, with the quantity and amount credited for each;
• the total credited, excluding VAT;
• the rate and amount of VAT credited;
• the number and date of the original VAT invoice.

The VAT credited must match the rate on the original invoice, even if the rate has changed since.

Credit notes and your VAT return

A credit note reduces your output VAT, and the customer’s input VAT, in the VAT period it’s issued. It must reflect a genuine reduction in the price, such as a return, an error or an agreed discount, not a way to move VAT between periods. If you use Making Tax Digital software, record the credit note there so it reaches your return.

Before you rely on it

This page summarizes the rules as published by HMRC; it isn’t tax advice, and the rules change. Check the current guidance, or ask your accountant, before you issue credit notes in volume. If your business is required to issue electronic invoices through a government system, credit notes usually have to go through that system too, and a PDF made here doesn’t replace it.