ForgeThe price is worked out and the customer has said yes. What's left is the invoice: the document that counts with the tax office and with your business customers. The exact list depends on your country, but the core is shared across Europe. Here it is, up to date in November 2026, with the United Kingdom as a national example and the complete invoice for my twelve-part job.
The common core: what every invoice carries
In the European Union, the content of an invoice is set by the VAT Directive (2006/112/EC, Article 226), which each country writes into its own law, sometimes with extras. The core is the same everywhere:
The invoice itself. A unique number in a continuous sequence, and the date of issue.
You and your customer. Full name and address of both; your tax or VAT number, and your customer's VAT number when they are the one liable for the tax.
What you supply. A description and the quantity of the goods or services, with the unit price before tax and any discount. “3D printing” is not a description; “12 PETG awning brackets, ref. SB-01” is.
The dates and the tax. The date of the supply, if it differs from the invoice date; the VAT rate, the VAT amount and the breakdown by rate. If you don't charge VAT, a reference to the rule that exempts you, or some other statement that the supply is exempt.
If you don't charge VAT, say why
If your business is exempt because it is below your country's VAT threshold, your invoices have to say so, in the words the local rules expect. In France, a micro-entrepreneur writes “TVA non applicable, art. 293 B du CGI”. In Germany, a Kleinunternehmer adds a note that the small-business exemption applies (§ 19 UStG). In Italy, the forfettario regime needs a reference to Law 190/2014, plus a €2 stamp duty on any invoice over €77.47. The exemption is not automatic on paper: an invoice that shows no VAT and gives no reason is an incomplete invoice.
A national example: the United Kingdom
Outside the EU, the UK rules are a good illustration, and GOV.UK spells them out. An invoice must show a unique identification number; your name, address and contact details; your customer's name and address; a clear description of what you are charging for; the supply date and the invoice date; the amounts charged, any VAT, and the total owed. As a sole trader, you add your own name, any business name you use and, if you use one, an address where legal documents can reach you.
You must register for VAT once your taxable turnover over the last 12 months goes above 90,000 pounds. Below that, and unregistered, you charge no VAT and issue an ordinary invoice; a VAT invoice, with more details, is required when both you and your customer are VAT registered. If no payment date was agreed, a business customer's payment is late 30 days after it receives the invoice or after you deliver, whichever is later, and you can then claim interest and debt recovery costs from it.
Goods or services: keep the lines apart
A print job usually mixes two things. The parts you make and deliver are a supply of goods: describe them by material, reference and quantity. The work on the file — checking it, rebuilding a part from a sample, modelling — is a service, which I charge by the hour. Several countries treat the two differently: France, for example, sets different VAT exemption thresholds and social contribution rates for sales and for services, and its e-invoices will have to state which one you supply. Where the line falls for a part designed from scratch for a customer is a question to put to your accountant once, before your first invoices.
E-invoicing is arriving country by country
An e-invoice is not a PDF sent by email: it is a structured file that the customer's software can read without retyping. Each country is moving at its own pace. In France, every business established there, VAT-exempt micro-businesses included, must be able to receive e-invoices since 1 September 2026, and micro-businesses must issue them from 1 September 2027, through an approved platform (plateforme agréée). In Germany, every business, small ones included, must be able to receive them since 1 January 2025; issuing becomes compulsory between businesses by 2028, but the Kleinunternehmer is exempt. In Italy, forfettari have issued every invoice through the national exchange system, SdI, since 1 January 2024. In Spain, most self-employed people will issue and receive B2B e-invoices from 6 October 2028. In the UK, VAT invoices must be e-invoices from 1 April 2029; sole traders who are not VAT registered are not required to follow.
The complete invoice for my job
Here is the twelve-part PETG job from the guide “How much should you charge for a 3D print?”, invoiced to a business customer by a small business that does not charge VAT. Names, addresses and numbers are made up: it is an example. The exemption line is the one place where your country's exact wording goes.
Header. Invoice no. 2026-0041 (example), issued 4 November 2026. From: Sam Example, 1 Example Street, Exampletown, tax number 000000000 (fictitious). To: Example Awnings Ltd, 2 Sample Road, Exampletown. Quote ref. Q2026-0036. Supply date: 3 November 2026.
| Description | Quantity × unit price | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Service — check of the supplied file | 1 × €4.00 | €4.00 |
| Service — rebuilding the part from a sample | 1.5 h × €21.00 | €31.50 |
| Goods — 12 PETG awning brackets, ref. SB-01: material | 402.36 g × €0.04 | €16.09 |
| Goods — same parts: printing (machine time) | 25.44 h × €2.00 | €50.88 |
| Goods — same parts: machine wear | 25.44 h × €0.15 | €3.82 |
| Goods — same parts: post-processing of the batch | 0.25 h × €20.00 | €5.00 |
| Total due | €111.29 |
Footer. VAT not charged, with your country's exemption wording (in France, “TVA non applicable, art. 293 B du CGI”). Payment by bank transfer within 30 days, by 4 December 2026.
Each part weighs 33.53 g and takes 2.12 h, hence the 402.36 g and 25.44 h. Nothing hides in a “sundries” line: everything the customer pays for, they can read back and recount.
The mistakes I see most often
No exemption wording, or a made-up one. “3D printing” with no quantity or reference. Gaps in the numbering because a botched invoice was deleted. A customer's name with no address. And a PDF sent where the law already requires a real e-invoice, as it does for Italian forfettari.
All of this is a general picture in November 2026; the exact list, thresholds and dates depend on your country and keep moving. Check with your accountant before you rely on it.
What ForgeCalc does
ForgeCalc adds these details automatically for your country — the exemption wording, your registration numbers, separate goods and services lines, payment terms — and produces the e-invoice in the expected format: Factur-X in France, ZUGFeRD in Germany, FatturaPA in Italy, Facturae in Spain, UBL/Peppol in the UK. The software prepares the file; sending it is up to you, and in France it has to go through the approved platform you have chosen.
Read also: How much should you charge for a 3D print? · Writing a 3D printing quote · the online calculator
The rates in this example are mine; yours depend on your machine, your region and your experience. ForgeCalc calculates, it doesn't set any price — and it puts your country's details on the invoice, so you don't have to remember them. You can see this job as it priced it.