Ireland VAT invoice requirements

An Irish VAT invoice is due within 15 days of the end of the month of supply, and Ireland has five VAT rates, from 23% down to 0%. Revenue plans structured eInvoicing with near-real-time reporting in three phases from November 2028.

Last checked November 2026Sources

Invoice: VAT invoice
VAT number: IE + 7 digits + 1 or 2 letters (older numbers: 6 digits + 2 letters) VAT registration number [1]
Standard VAT rate: 23% [2]
Simplified invoice: €100 or less [5]
Keep invoices: 6 years [6]
E-invoicing: Phased B2B eInvoicing planned from November 2028

What an invoice in Ireland must show

Every EU VAT invoice carries the details of Article 226 of the VAT Directive: number, dates, both parties, VAT numbers, goods or services, taxable amount per rate, rate and VAT. The overview lists them. Ireland adds:

Reverse charge notation: Where the customer accounts for the VAT, show the customer's VAT number and a note that a reverse charge applies. [3]
Intra-Community supply notation: For a zero-rated supply of goods to a business in another EU state, show the customer's VAT number and a note that it is an intra-Community supply. [3]
Margin scheme endorsement: Second-hand and auction goods must be marked "Margin scheme — second-hand goods" or "Margin scheme — auction goods". [3]

VAT rates in Ireland

Rates current from 1 January 2026. The flat-rate farmer addition is 4.5%. Restaurant and catering services moved from 13.5% to 9% on 1 July 2026. An invoice shows the taxable amount and the VAT for each rate it uses [2].

VAT rates in Ireland
Rate	Applies to (examples)
23%	Standard rate: everything without a lower rate
13.5%	Hotel and holiday lettings, admission to cinemas and museums, certain printed matter (not books), repair, cleaning and maintenance services, short-term hire
9%	Newspapers and periodicals (print and electronic), sports facilities, electricity and gas (to 31 Dec 2030), qualifying apartments (to 31 Dec 2030); from 1 July 2026 also catering and restaurant services, hot take-away food, hot tea and coffee, hairdressing
4.8%	Livestock
0%	Exports, intra-Community supplies, certain food and drink, certain oral medicine, books, e-books and audiobooks, children's clothing and footwear (under 11 years), solar panels on homes

Issuing and keeping invoices

Currency: An invoice may be in a foreign currency, but the VAT amount must also be shown in euro, converted at the Central Bank selling rate or a method agreed with Revenue. [3]
When to issue: Issue the invoice within 15 days of the end of the month in which the goods or services were supplied. [4]
Simplified invoice (Simplified VAT invoice): Allowed where the invoice amount is not more than €100, or where trade practice makes the full rules hard to follow. It must show the supplier's name, address and VAT number, a description of the goods or services, the date of issue, and the VAT payable or the price excluding VAT. Not allowed for intra-Community supplies. [5]
Keeping invoices: Keep VAT records, including invoices, for six years. A shorter period needs written permission from Revenue. Paper records must be kept in the State. [6]

E-invoicing in Ireland

Ireland has no e-invoicing mandate yet, and under current rules an electronic invoice needs the agreement of both supplier and customer. Revenue's VAT modernisation plan starts with large corporates; its legal basis is in a Finance Bill still before the Oireachtas.

1 November 2028
Phase one: domestic B2B, large corporates
Phase One: about 2,400 VAT-registered large corporates must issue eInvoices for domestic B2B sales and report them to Revenue in near real time. All businesses must be able to receive eInvoices. Peppol is the default network. [7]
Planned
1 November 2029
Phase two: businesses trading with other EU states
Phase Two: extends eInvoicing and real-time reporting to VAT-registered businesses that trade with other EU states. [7]
Planned
1 July 2030
Phase three: intra-EU digital reporting (ViDA)
Phase Three: the EU cross-border digital reporting requirements under ViDA become mandatory. [7]
Planned

Good to know for Shopify sellers

Selling into Ireland from another EU country? An invoice follows the rules of the country where the supply takes place. If you report your sales to consumers through the One Stop Shop (OSS), the rules of your OSS country apply instead, and when a business customer pays the VAT under the reverse charge, your own country's rules apply [9].

A seller registered for the Union OSS does not have to issue an invoice for intra-Community distance sales to consumers. Without OSS, an invoice is required. [8]
The legal basis for the eInvoicing phases is in Finance Bill (No. 2) 2026, published 19 October 2026, which is still going through the Oireachtas. [7]
Electronic invoices need the agreement of both the supplier and the customer under the current rules. [5]

Make an invoice for Ireland

For a one-off sale, the free invoice generator lays out seller, buyer, VAT per line and the reverse charge note in your browser and saves a PDF. Add the national details listed above yourself.

For every Shopify order, Paperly: Invoice Order Printer builds the invoice from the order with the totals Shopify recorded, numbers invoices without gaps in your own series, issues a credit note for each refund that refers to the invoice, and keeps issued invoices unchanged for 10 years. When you enter your VAT number, the PDF carries Factur-X / ZUGFeRD XML (EN 16931).

Open the invoice generator Install Paperly on Shopify

Sources

Every fact on this page links to one of these pages, published by the national tax authority, the official law gazette or the European Commission. Last checked November 2026.

General information, not legal or tax advice. Rules change and your case may differ: check the tax authority’s current guidance or ask an accountant before you rely on it.

Invoice rules in the other EU countries

The EU baseline every country starts from is on the overview page.