Pro Forma Invoice in Ireland: What It Is and When VAT Is Due

A pro forma invoice is a document you send before you supply goods or services. It sets out what the customer will pay, so they can approve the order or pay in advance. Revenue's VAT pages do not define it, but they set the rules that follow: what a VAT invoice must show, and how VAT is treated when a customer pays before the work is done.

Everything below about VAT follows Revenue's own pages, linked in each section and listed at the end. They were checked on 28 September 2026 and apply to businesses registered for VAT.

Pro forma, quote or VAT invoice

Our suggestion, not a Revenue rule: mark a pro forma clearly as a pro forma, so your customer does not mistake it for the VAT invoice.

What a VAT invoice must show

From What information is required on a VAT invoice? (Revenue, published 16 March 2026), a VAT invoice shows, among other details:

• the date of issue and a unique sequential number,
• your full name, address and VAT registration number,
• the customer's full name and address,
• the quantity and nature of the goods, or the extent and nature of the services,
• the VAT-exclusive unit price, any discounts or price reductions, and the payment received net of VAT,
• the breakdown by VAT rate and the total VAT payable,
• the date the goods or services were supplied, and the date of a payment received in advance where it differs from the date of issue.

From What is a VAT invoice? (Revenue, published 16 March 2026): a VAT invoice must issue within 15 days of the end of the month in which the goods or services are supplied, and it lets your VAT-registered customers reclaim the VAT charged to them.

When the customer pays before the work

These rules apply when a customer pays your pro forma before you supply the goods or finish the work. From Payments in advance and deposits (Revenue, published 5 November 2025): when you receive a deposit or pre-payment before you have completed the supply, the supply is deemed to take place when you receive the payment. VAT is chargeable on that payment, and you pay it to Revenue in your VAT return.

From Invoice requirements of payments if received in advance (Revenue, published 18 June 2026):

• Payments may arrive in full or in part before the supply is complete. You must issue a VAT invoice for each payment.
• Issue it no later than the 15th day of the month after the month in which you received the payment.
• This does not apply to intra-Community supplies of goods.

So the VAT on a deposit falls in the period in which the money arrives, even if you finish the job in a later period.

An example

The figures are for illustration. A customer orders goods at €4,000 before VAT, at the standard rate of 23%: €4,920 in total. You send a pro forma asking for a 30% deposit.

The VAT in a payment that includes VAT at 23% is the payment × 23 ÷ 123: €1,476 × 23 ÷ 123 = €276.

What to decide with your accountant

• Whether to ask for deposits, and how much, on the jobs you quote.
• How your invoices for deposits and balances should read, and which VAT period each payment falls in.
• Which VAT rate applies to what you sell: see VAT rates in Ireland for 2026.

In NumWise

• NumWise has no separate pro forma document. Before the customer agrees, a quote does the job: lines, VAT, a valid-until date and a link where the customer accepts or declines. The terms on the quote can set out a deposit, for example 30% on acceptance.
• When a deposit arrives, issue an invoice for that payment, for example one line "Deposit for quote Q-2026-0012", and record the payment against it.
• When the work is done, convert the accepted quote into a draft invoice and edit its lines so it bills the balance.
• To price the job first, use the margin calculator, which works out a price from your cost and adds Irish VAT.

Sources

All checked on 28 September 2026.

• Revenue, What information is required on a VAT invoice?, published 16 March 2026.
• Revenue, What is a VAT invoice?, published 16 March 2026.
• Revenue, Payments in advance and deposits, published 5 November 2025.
• Revenue, Invoice requirements of payments if received in advance, published 18 June 2026.