Tax Invoice, Transaction Invoice, and Receipt - What's the Difference and When to Issue Each
A common mistake among new freelancers is assuming there’s one “correct” document for every transaction. In practice, the right document type depends both on your business status and on whether payment has already been received.
Transaction invoice
Documents a transaction (a sale or a service provided) before payment, or regardless of whether payment has actually been received. An osek patur (exempt dealer) issues a transaction invoice instead of a tax invoice, since they aren’t allowed to charge VAT.
Tax invoice
A document that only an osek murshe (licensed dealer), or a company, is allowed to issue. It documents a transaction that includes VAT, and it’s the basis for the customer receiving it to deduct input VAT, which is why it’s also subject to the allocation-number requirement above a certain threshold.
Receipt
Documents a payment actually received, whether for a transaction already documented by a transaction invoice or tax invoice, or as an advance payment. A receipt alone isn’t sufficient documentation for a transaction by an osek murshe; it always accompanies a tax invoice.
Tax-invoice-receipt
A combined document that records both the transaction and the receipt of payment at the same moment, useful when payment arrives immediately alongside the service (paying by credit card at the end of a meeting, for example). Issued by an osek murshe only.
Quick decision table
| Situation | Osek patur | Osek murshe |
|---|---|---|
| Sale, payment to follow later | Transaction invoice | Tax invoice |
| Payment received at the same moment | Transaction invoice + receipt, or receipt alone if a transaction invoice was already issued | Tax invoice-receipt |
| Advance payment toward a future transaction | Receipt | Receipt |
Why getting this right matters
Issuing the wrong type of document can get it rejected by the Tax Authority, stop your customer (especially an osek murshe buying from you) from being able to deduct VAT, and complicate reconciliation with the annual report. Numbering must stay sequential within each document type separately. You can’t “skip” a number even if it turns out the wrong document type was issued.
How Slate picks the right document type
Slate only shows the document types relevant to the business status set in your business settings, so it’s not possible to accidentally issue a tax invoice as an osek patur. Converting a transaction invoice into a tax-invoice-receipt, once payment comes in later, is done from the existing document and doesn’t require retyping anything.