New: 2022-10-21
An invoice must contain information on both the seller’s and the buyer’s name and address ( ch. 11. 8 § 5 ML ).
The European Court of Justice has pointed out that the purpose of the seller’s address, name and VAT registration number to be stated in the invoice is to identify the seller and to link a certain economic transaction to a certain economic actor, namely the seller ( C-374/16 and C-375 /16 , Geissel, paragraphs 42 and 45).
The purpose of the invoice to contain information about the buyer’s name and address is to connect a certain financial transaction to a certain economic actor, namely the buyer. The information about the buyer’s identity enables the Swedish Tax Agency to check that the purchase has been made by the person claiming input tax deduction (Skatteverket’s position Deficiencies in the content of the invoice ).
In a position statement, the Swedish Tax Agency has explained its view on the requirement that an invoice must contain information about the seller’s and the buyer’s name and address , which is briefly reproduced below. In the new position, the case where the invoice contains the incorrect name of the buyer is also accounted for .
The concept of name
The name of the seller and the buyer is normally the same as the name of the person who sold or acquired the item or service in question.
If the seller has registered his name with the Swedish Companies Registration Office, that name – the company name – can be entered in the invoice. If the seller has not registered his company name with the Swedish Companies Registration Office, the name that is in the Swedish Tax Agency’s register and which appears from, among other things, the register extract that the person registered for value added tax has received. This means that an individual trader who has not registered his company name with the Swedish Companies Registration Office must enter his own name – first and last name – in the invoice. The same applies to information about the buyer’s name.
Abbreviations and codes
It must be possible to identify both the seller and the buyer by the names given in the invoice. For this to be possible, the name entry must be so unambiguous that it cannot be confused with the name of any other company. According to the Swedish Tax Agency’s opinion, this means that, as a general rule, the name information must be complete and stated in plain text, so that one can directly deduce from the invoice which company is meant. However, abbreviations that are accepted in business life such as LKAB can be used.
It may happen that an auction company issues an invoice on behalf of the seller (principal) and then, for reasons of anonymity, does not indicate the seller’s name on the document that the auctioneer hands over to the buyer, instead e.g. a code number or call number is entered. Such a document does not meet the requirements in ML on which information a complete invoice must contain, since the seller’s name must also appear on the invoice. Such a defective invoice can be cured with a clarification of the code or call number by which the seller can be identified with certainty. This means that the seller’s name can be omitted for reasons of anonymity if the following conditions are met:
- Both the seller and the buyer can access the clarification through which the seller can be identified with certainty.
- The Tax Agency must be able to access the clarification if necessary
If the clarification is made through a separate document, it and the invoice must be linked together by references and handled so that the connection between the two documents can be established without difficulty.
Special company name
The company name is the name under which a company conducts its business. In addition to its company name, a company can also have a special company name. A special company name is used for a defined part of a company’s operations that is not an independent legal entity. That an invoice must contain information about the seller’s name means that the invoice must contain information about the company’s real name, i.e. the company name, so that the company can be reliably identified. Providing the specific company name is optional.
VAT group
When a company that is part of a value added tax group makes taxable sales to outsiders, the invoice must be issued in the name of that company and not in the name of the group leader who is required to declare ( chapter 11, section 5, first paragraph ML ). Compare prop. 1997/98:148 p. 52 .
Seller’s name when brokering a product or service
When a taxable person in his own name mediates a good or a service on behalf of another and receives the payment for the good or service, the good or service is considered to be sold in two stages, partly from the principal to the intermediary, partly from the intermediary to his customer. It is therefore the principal who is responsible for issuing the invoice for the sale to the intermediary and in that invoice the principal must be listed as the seller. The intermediary is in turn responsible for issuing the invoice for the sale to the customer and in that invoice the intermediary must be listed as the seller.
When brokering a good or service in the name of another (the principal’s name), it is as a general rule the principal who sells the good or service itself, while the intermediary sells an intermediary service. It is therefore the principal who is responsible for issuing the invoice for the sale of the goods or services. In that invoice, the principal’s name must be stated as the seller. The intermediary is responsible for issuing the invoice for his intermediary service and then states his name as the seller. However, this does not apply when a taxable person who enables the sale of goods through the use of an electronic interface is considered to have acquired and sold the goods himself.
An auction company’s mediation of goods sold at auction is generally done in the name of another (the principal’s name). This means that it is the principal who is responsible for issuing the invoice for the sale.
The concept of address
There is no definition of the concept of address either in ML or in the VAT Directive. There are also no statements in the preparatory work for ML that can provide guidance as to what is meant by address. The concept of address may be determined in the light of the purpose for which this information must be stated in the invoice.
The purpose of an invoice containing information about name and address is that the seller and buyer can be identified with certainty. The address information is intended to add additional information to the name information that makes it possible to identify the company. The purpose of the address information is therefore not only to make it possible to reach the company in question by post. An internet address, such as an e-mail address, usually does not add any additional information about the company in question. An internet address does not provide sufficient information to fulfill the purpose of the information address to be entered in a complete invoice.
The Swedish Tax Agency considers that the concept of address should be understood as a physical place where traditional mail and letter delivery is made, i.e. a postal address. Such an address can refer to any type of postal address, such as street addresses and post office box addresses. The postal address is thus not limited to the place where the seller or the buyer conducts its economic activity, but provides such information that the purpose of the information address to be stated in a complete invoice is fulfilled (compare C-374/16 , Geissel, paragraph 35).
Multiple mailing addresses
If the seller has several postal addresses, the Swedish Tax Agency recommends that the invoice be provided with the postal address of the head office or the postal address of the place of business from which the goods are delivered or the service is provided.
If the buyer has multiple mailing addresses, the mailing address designated by the buyer may be entered.
The invoice is sent to another recipient
It may happen that the invoice must be sent to someone other than the buyer, e.g. to the buyer’s accounting firm or a scanning service hired by the buyer. In this case, the seller must also state the buyer’s postal address in the invoice. The buyer’s postal address is then suitably entered somewhere else in the invoice than in the actual address field.
Source: skatteverket.se
