Entrepreneurs: good practices to follow regarding payment and invoicing.

When you are an entrepreneur, there is one point in your activity that you cannot neglect: payment. Collecting invoice payments and offering your customers a fast, reliable and versatile means of payment is, in fact, essential for your business. In this article, the E.S News editorial team takes a look at the best practices to follow and presents here a summary of the essential information to remember.

The first point we will address here is that of payment methods. Indeed, depending on your activity, you will be required to offer your customers several types of collection. For B2B, bank transfers are the most successful, particularly for the purchase of goods from wholesalers as well as for so-called “payable” payments.

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Billing: what are the legal obligations?

In France, invoicing is mandatory for any transaction concerning the sale of goods as well as for services between professionals (B2B). The same applies to any transaction above the threshold of €25 VAT included with individuals (B2C).

The mandatory information to include on an invoice are:

• The date on which the invoice is issued,
• The effective date of the sale or service,
• The unique invoice number,
• The identity of the service provider,
• The identity of the customer,
• Legal notices (intracom VAT number. Siret, RCS, etc.),
• The description of the goods and/or the service provided,
• The amounts to be paid excluding tax and including tax.

In certain specific cases, other additional information may be required. This is particularly the case for micro-entrepreneurs who must indicate the words “VAT not applicable, art. 293 B of the General Tax Code” or certain craft activities requiring professional insurance. In this case, it will be necessary to clearly indicate what the coverage consists of as well as the conditions of coverage in the event of litigation.

Is it possible to modify an invoice?

Formally and in the event that your customer has made an error in their address or that a detail such as the price of an item contains an error, be aware that it is legally prohibited to modify an invoice issued. Edit an invoice requires respecting these two fundamental rules:

The invoice you want to modify has not yet been paid.

First, you will need to delete the incorrect invoice. This action will require the creation of a credit note, thus legally canceling the invoice. However, you will need to keep a copy of the invoice in question. The new invoice, for its part, must include the main elements of the one thus deleted while correcting any errors.

The invoice to be modified is already paid by your customer.

Contrary to what you might think, modifying an invoice already paid by your customer is very simple. You will first need to create a credit note for the amount of the invoice and create a new one, using the data from the previous one and linking it to the references of the payment made.