Business documents in the United Kingdom

A private limited company, limited by shares or by guarantee, is registered with Companies House with at least one director, its shareholders or guarantors, any people with significant control (PSCs) — broadly anyone with more than 25% of shares or votes — memorandum and articles of association, a registered office address and a SIC code. Corporation Tax is then added to the company’s HMRC business tax account.

The Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 has added identity checks. Identity verification became a legal requirement for new and existing directors and PSCs on 18 November 2025, followed by a 12-month transition in which existing officers verify by their due dates. Each verified person receives a Companies House personal code, and a company’s next confirmation statement must list every director’s code — Companies House will not accept the statement until all directors are verified. Confirmation statements are filed at least once every 12 months, within 14 days after the review period ends, and now include a registered email address and a statement that the company’s intended future activities are lawful.

Company details must appear on the company’s paperwork. Under the Company, Limited Liability Partnership and Business (Names and Trading Disclosures) Regulations 2015, the registered name must appear on business letters, order forms, invoices, receipts, demands for payment, cheques and websites. Business letters, order forms and websites must also show the part of the UK where the company is registered, its registered number and its registered office address, and a business letter that names any director outside the signature must name them all. Missing these details is an offence for the company and every officer in default.

A business must register for VAT if its taxable turnover for the last 12 months goes over £90,000, or if it expects turnover in the next 30 days alone to exceed that figure. In the backward-looking case, registration is due within 30 days of the end of the month in which the threshold was passed. Once registered, most goods and services carry the standard rate of 20%, while some are reduced-rated or zero-rated — including most goods exported from Great Britain to countries outside the UK. A VAT-registered business can cancel its registration if taxable turnover falls below £88,000.

HMRC’s VAT Notice 700/21 sets out the invoice formats. A full VAT invoice carries a unique sequential number, the tax point and issue date, the supplier’s name, address and VAT number, the customer’s name and address, and for each line a description, quantity, unit price, VAT rate and VAT-exclusive amount, together with the total VAT. A business making a supply of £250 or less including VAT can issue a simplified invoice showing its name, address and VAT number, the time of supply, a description and, for each rate, the VAT-inclusive total and the rate. For larger retail sales, a modified invoice shows VAT-inclusive values instead of net ones.

Two practical rules catch people out. A VAT invoice should normally be issued within 30 days of the supply, and while line values can be stated in any currency, the total VAT must be shown in sterling. Businesses that are not VAT-registered must not show VAT at all. For a step-by-step checklist, see DocMak’s UK VAT invoice guide linked below.

Making Tax Digital (MTD) already applies to every VAT-registered business: VAT records are kept digitally and returns filed through compatible software. A PDF invoice is fine to send, but its figures must still reach that software.

MTD for Income Tax is now rolling out to sole traders and landlords. It became mandatory from 6 April 2026 for those with qualifying income over £50,000 in the 2024 to 2025 tax year, extends from 6 April 2027 to qualifying income over £30,000, and from 6 April 2028 to qualifying income over £20,000. Those affected keep digital records and send quarterly updates through compatible software.

The next step is structured e-invoicing. In its consultation response published on 26 November 2025, the government confirmed that the UK will introduce mandatory e-invoicing for all VAT invoices from 2029 — in practice B2B and business-to-government invoices, not sales to consumers — using a decentralised model. The implementation roadmap published on 28 October 2026 set the start date as 1 April 2029, with detailed standards to follow. Until then, PDF and paper VAT invoices remain valid.

British firms usually distinguish a quotation, which is a fixed price the customer can accept, from an estimate, which is an informed guess that may change. Quotes to business customers are normally shown net of VAT with the VAT added, while consumers expect to see the VAT-inclusive price they will actually pay. Larger customers then issue a purchase order, the supplier ships with a delivery note that the customer signs, and the invoice quotes the PO number. Customers send a remittance advice with payments, and suppliers send monthly statements of unpaid invoices.

When an invoice is wrong or goods come back, issue a credit note that refers to the original invoice and shows the VAT being reduced, rather than altering the issued invoice. A pro forma invoice is common before export shipments or upfront payments, but it is a request for payment, not a VAT invoice, so the actual VAT invoice follows once the tax point arises.

Before anyone starts work, the employer must check their right to work in the UK. The Home Office allows three methods: a manual check of original documents from its acceptable lists, carried out in the person’s presence or by live video while you hold the originals; an online check using a share code the worker generates, checked through the employer section of the Home Office service; or a digital identity check through a certified identity service provider, available for British and Irish citizens with a valid passport. Keep copies securely for the length of employment plus two years. Employers who skip the check face civil penalties per illegal worker, which the Home Office raised in 2024. From 1 October 2026 the checks also extend to some people engaged other than as employees, such as certain contractors and platform workers.

Employees and workers are entitled to a written statement of employment particulars. The principal statement is due on the first day and covers the employer’s and worker’s names, job title or description, start date, pay and pay frequency, hours and days, holiday entitlement, place of work, expected duration, probation, other benefits and training, along with sick pay, other paid leave and notice. A wider statement covering pensions, collective agreements, other training and disciplinary and grievance procedures follows within two months, and changes must be notified within one month.

The Employment Rights Act 2025 received Royal Assent on 18 December 2025 and is being brought in over two years. From April 2026, statutory sick pay and paternity leave became day-one rights and the Fair Work Agency was launched. Further changes follow on later commencement dates, including cutting the unfair dismissal qualifying period from two years to six months for dismissals from 1 January 2027, so review contract and handbook templates as each stage takes effect.

Most commercial agreements in England and Wales — NDAs, service agreements, consultancy and agency contracts, terms of business — need no particular form and can be signed electronically. The Law Commission’s 2019 report on electronic execution concluded that an electronic signature is capable of executing a document, including where the law requires a signature, provided the signatory intends to authenticate it and any other formalities are met. Deeds are the main exception in practice, because they must be witnessed, and the report found remote video witnessing is probably not enough.

Trade documents have moved online too. The Electronic Trade Documents Act 2023 allows documents such as bills of lading and bills of exchange to exist in electronic form with the same legal effect as paper, provided the system used meets the conditions the Act sets. Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own contract law traditions, so name the governing law and courts in every agreement.

HMRC’s Customs Declaration Service (CDS) is now the UK’s system for import and export declarations. Export declarations moved across from the older CHIEF system, and HMRC confirms no declarations have been made on CHIEF since July 2024. Most businesses submit through a customs agent or forwarder, but the trader supplies the data, so the commercial invoice and packing list must be complete: parties, description, commodity code, origin, quantities, weights, values and Incoterms.

Goods exported from Great Britain to countries outside the UK are usually zero-rated for VAT, but only if you hold evidence of export, so keep the declaration reference and transport documents with the sales invoice. Buyers abroad may also ask for a certificate of origin, typically issued by a chamber of commerce, or for an origin statement on the invoice when the goods qualify for preferential tariffs under a UK trade agreement.

VAT-registered businesses must generally keep VAT records for at least six years. Limited companies must keep company and accounting records for six years from the end of the last financial year they relate to, and longer where a transaction spans several accounting periods, an asset is expected to last more than six years, or a Company Tax Return was filed late or is under an HMRC compliance check. Right to work copies are kept for the length of employment plus two years.

VAT records must be digital under MTD, and VAT totals stay in sterling even on foreign-currency invoices. The personal tax year runs from 6 April to 5 April; companies report on their own accounting periods.