Invoice Requirements: Kenya → United Kingdom
🇰🇪Kenya freelancers billing🇬🇧United Kingdom clients — required fields, VAT treatment, and compliance rules.
Kenyan freelancers invoicing UK business clients are not required to charge UK VAT; UK B2B transactions use the reverse charge mechanism, placing VAT accounting on the UK client. The Kenya-UK double taxation agreement (1973) is in force and generally exempts independent services income from UK withholding when work is performed from Kenya. GBP is the preferred invoice currency for UK clients. The Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998 gives freelancers a statutory right to interest on overdue invoices.
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Add "VAT: Customer to account for reverse charge" on invoices to UK VAT-registered business clients — the UK client self-accounts for VAT and you do not charge it.
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Under HMRC VAT Notice 741A, a non-UK supplier providing professional or digital services to a UK VAT-registered business does not charge UK VAT. The reverse charge places the obligation on the UK business recipient. Obtain and record your client's UK VAT registration number on the invoice.
The Kenya-UK DTA (1973) is in force and generally exempts independent services income from UK withholding tax when the work is performed from Kenya with no UK permanent establishment.
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Under the Kenya-UK DTA, professional and independent personal services income is typically taxable only in Kenya when the Kenyan freelancer has no fixed base available in the UK. UK clients do not normally withhold tax on freelance service invoices, but the DTA provides the formal basis if the client's accounts payable team requests it.
UK VAT registration is only required if your total UK-taxable turnover exceeds £90,000 in any 12-month rolling period.
Invoice in GBP; UK clients universally prefer GBP invoices as it eliminates exchange rate exposure on their books.
The Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998 gives you the right to charge statutory interest at 8% above the Bank of England base rate on overdue invoices — state NET 30 payment terms to activate this right.
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