Cyprus invoice requirements: what a VAT invoice must include

A full Cyprus VAT invoice carries a sequential number, the issue date and the time of supply, your company's name, address and VAT number, the customer's name and address, a description of what was supplied with quantity, the amount excluding VAT and the rate per line, the VAT amount in euro and the total. It must be issued within 30 days of the supply. Those rules sit in the VAT (General) Regulations of 2001, and getting them right matters twice over: the invoice is your customer's only valid support for reclaiming input VAT, and it is the document the Tax Department tests your VAT return against.

What must a Cyprus VAT invoice include?

The mandatory contents are a fixed list in regulation 12(1), and an invoice missing any item is defective. That hurts your customer most, because their input VAT reclaim rests on holding a valid invoice, and a defective one is the kind of thing that surfaces in their VAT audit two years later. The list:

• A sequential identifying number, from one or more series. Gaps and duplicates are the first thing an inspector checks, because they suggest unrecorded sales.
• The issue date, and the time of supply (the tax point) where it differs, for example an invoice issued the month after the work finished.
• Your full legal name, address and Cyprus VAT registration number. A trading name may appear too, but the registered name has to be there.
• The customer's name and address. Their VAT number becomes mandatory when they account for the VAT, which is the reverse-charge and intra-EU territory covered below.
• The type of transaction and a description of the goods or services, with quantity or extent. "Consulting services, March 2026, 40 hours" works; "services" does not.
• Per line, the amount excluding VAT and the VAT rate, plus any cash discount offered. An invoice mixing rates shows a subtotal per rate.
• The total excluding VAT, the VAT amount per rate, and the total VAT, all in euro.

The rate on each line comes from the Cyprus rate schedule in the VAT Law. Our guide to Cyprus VAT rates walks through what falls where; the short version:

A single invoice can carry standard-rated, zero-rated and out-of-scope lines at once. Your VAT return needs that split per line, so decide the treatment when you raise the invoice rather than reconstructing it at quarter end.

Who has to issue a VAT invoice, and by when?

A VAT-registered person must issue a VAT invoice for every taxable supply to another taxable person, and to non-taxable legal persons such as public bodies. For sales to private consumers a full VAT invoice is only required if the customer asks for one, though many businesses issue one anyway because it costs nothing.

The deadline is concrete: the invoice must be issued within 30 days of the time of supply, unless the Commissioner allows a longer period in writing.

If you are not yet registered, you issue ordinary invoices without a VAT number and without a VAT line. Registration becomes mandatory once taxable turnover over the preceding 12 months passes €15,600, and our guide to VAT registration in Cyprus covers the mechanics and timing.

How do reverse-charge and intra-EU invoices differ?

Two kinds of cross-border sale need extra content, because the customer rather than you accounts for the VAT.

Services to a business customer abroad follow the general place-of-supply rule: the supply is taxed where the customer belongs. Your invoice shows no Cyprus VAT, states the customer's VAT number (their EU VAT number if they are in the Union), and carries the words "Reverse charge". That exact phrase is what the EU Directive prescribes, so use it rather than improvising. How the mechanism works on both the sales and purchase side is in our guide to the reverse charge in Cyprus.

Goods dispatched to a VAT-registered customer in another member state are an intra-Community supply. The invoice shows the zero rate, the customer's EU VAT number and a reference to the exemption, typically "Intra-Community supply, exempt". Keep proof that the goods left Cyprus, because the zero rate stands or falls on that evidence.

Both sales go on your monthly VIES statement, and the VAT number on the invoice is the one VIES reports. Validate it in the Commission's VIES database before you issue, because a sale to an invalid number can fall back to Cyprus VAT at 19%. Our guide to VIES submissions covers the monthly rhythm and what to do when a number fails validation.

When is a simplified invoice allowed?

A retailer only has to issue a VAT invoice when a business customer asks for one, and for supplies up to €85 including VAT that invoice may be simplified. A simplified invoice needs the retailer's name, address and VAT number, the time of supply, a description sufficient to identify the goods or services, the total payable including VAT, and for each rate charged, the gross amount and the rate. Till receipts are the everyday example.

For a limited company the practical rule is simpler than the regulation: if your customer is a business that will reclaim the VAT, issue a full invoice whatever the value. And on the purchase side, an €85 till receipt supports your own input VAT claim, but anything larger needs a full invoice made out to the company.

What about credit notes and proforma invoices?

Credit notes are how an issued VAT invoice gets reduced or cancelled. A compliant credit note states the number and date of the original invoice, the reason for the adjustment, the net reduction, the VAT being reversed and the rate, and carries its own sequential number. The VAT effect lands in the period the credit note is issued. The original stays untouched in the sequence, and if a corrected supply still stands, a fresh invoice follows.

Proforma invoices sit outside VAT entirely. A proforma is a priced offer: no tax point, no supply, no VAT reclaim for the recipient. Label it "proforma" prominently. If the customer pays against it, that payment creates a tax point, and a real VAT invoice is then due within the same 30-day window.

Can you invoice in a foreign currency, or in English?

Both, and most of our customers do. You can price the invoice in dollars, pounds or anything else the customer agrees to, as long as the statutory amounts also appear in euro: the per-line net amounts, the totals and above all the VAT must be shown in euro, converted at the rate for the day of the transaction. Show the euro figures and the exchange rate on the face of the invoice, book the euro equivalent on the invoice date, and any difference when the customer pays is an exchange gain or loss rather than a VAT problem.

Language is even easier: no Cyprus statute requires invoices in Greek, and invoicing in English is standard practice. The only rule is that the Commissioner may require a translation of an invoice received in Cyprus that is not in an official language, so be ready to provide one on request.

How long must invoices and records be kept?

At least six years. Issued and received invoices, credit notes and the records behind each VAT return must be produced to the Tax Department on request, and from 1 January 2026 the six years run from the later of the return's filing deadline and its actual filing date, under the Assessment and Collection of Taxes Law, with an extension while a tax audit is running. Counted from the transaction itself, that means a company holds its documents for roughly seven and a half years or more. Electronic copies are acceptable as long as they are complete, legible and retrievable, so scan everything and keep it with the entry it supports.

Retention ties into the filing calendar too: each invoice supports the return due on the 10th day of the second month after the quarter ends. When documents go into the accounting system as they arrive, the document, the ledger entry and the return it fed stay linked, and the quarterly VAT return becomes a review of numbers that already exist.

How Sumly handles your invoices

Sumly's sales module creates and emails invoices and credit notes with your company details and logo. VAT is applied per line using Cyprus VAT codes, and every code maps to its box on the official VAT return, so the treatment you pick on the invoice is the treatment that lands in the filing. Invoice a business customer in another member state and the same books feed the VIES statement Sumly prepares, with a reminder before the monthly deadline. Each contact can have a default currency: raise a dollar invoice and Sumly books the euro value automatically, then matches the invoice against the bank payment when it arrives. Credit notes post their reversal to the books on issue, so the original invoice is never touched.

On Base you review and submit the VAT and VIES returns Sumly prepares; on Premium your Sumly certified bookkeeper reviews and submits them for you. Either way, every figure in the return traces back to an invoice you can open, and you can try the whole flow on the 30-day free trial, no card needed.

Questions people ask

Frequently asked

Does every invoice a Cyprus company issues have to be a VAT invoice?

Only if the company is VAT-registered. A company below the €15,600 registration threshold, or one making only exempt supplies, issues ordinary commercial invoices with no VAT number and no VAT line, and must not show VAT it is not entitled to charge. Once registered, every taxable supply to another business needs a full VAT invoice. The simplified format is available only for supplies up to €85.

How soon after a sale must the invoice be issued?

Within 30 days of the time of supply, unless the Commissioner of Taxation has agreed a longer period in writing. Missing the window does not move the tax point: the VAT still belongs in the return period the supply fell in, so a late invoice means going back and correcting that period.

Can I invoice a customer in US dollars or pounds?

Yes. You can price the invoice in any currency the customer agrees to, but the amounts the VAT regulations require, meaning the per-line net amounts, the totals and the VAT, must also be shown in euro, converted at the rate for the day of the transaction. Show the euro figures and the exchange rate used on the face of the invoice, and book the euro equivalent on the invoice date.

What wording goes on an invoice to a business customer in another EU country?

For services where the customer accounts for the VAT, the invoice shows no Cyprus VAT and carries the customer's EU VAT number plus the words 'Reverse charge'. For goods dispatched to a VAT-registered customer in another member state, the invoice shows the zero rate, the customer's EU VAT number and a reference to the intra-Community supply exemption. Both kinds of sale then go on your monthly VIES statement.

Is a proforma invoice a VAT invoice?

No. A proforma is a priced offer. It creates no tax point, gives the customer no right to reclaim VAT, and should be labelled clearly so nobody mistakes it for a tax invoice. If the customer pays against it, the payment creates a tax point and a proper sequentially numbered VAT invoice must follow.

How do I correct a VAT invoice that has already been issued?

Issue a credit note. It references the original invoice number, states the reduction and the VAT being reversed, and carries its own sequential number. Never edit or delete the original. If the corrected supply still stands, a fresh invoice follows the credit note.

How long must a Cyprus company keep its invoices?

At least six years. From 1 January 2026 the six years run from the later of the tax return's filing deadline and the date it was actually filed, so in practice a company keeps the records behind a transaction for around seven and a half years or more. Electronic copies are fine as long as they are complete, legible and retrievable.