How do I provide an Etsy digital download invoice showing the buyer’s VAT number (UK to EU)?

Hi! For Etsy digital downloads sold to EU buyers, the simplest (and usually most correct) answer is: have the buyer use Etsy’s “official invoice” from their receipt, because Etsy is the marketplace that collects/remits VAT on many digital transactions and the Etsy receipt/invoice is what reflects the VAT charge.

In practice, do this:

1. Point the buyer to Etsy’s official invoice

• Buyer goes to Purchases & Reviews → View receipt → View official invoice (wording can vary a bit by country/device).
• That “official invoice” is the one that typically shows the VAT Etsy charged on the digital order.

1. About adding the buyer’s EU VAT number

• For Etsy digital downloads, Etsy generally treats these as consumer-style (B2C) digital purchases and you typically aren’t required to capture or show the buyer’s VAT ID on an invoice for the transaction.
• Also, you can’t edit Etsy’s invoice/receipt to insert their VAT number—so if their accounting team “requires” it, that’s more of an internal policy on their side than something Etsy is set up to support for digital orders.

1. If they still insist, what you can safely provide (without creating VAT headaches)
   If you want to be helpful, you can create a simple seller-issued invoice/statement for their records, but I’d avoid presenting it as a “VAT invoice” for VAT reclaim purposes if you didn’t charge/remit VAT yourself. Keep it factual and make it clear Etsy handled the VAT.

A safe format is:

• Your shop name + your business address (and your UK VAT number only if you’re VAT-registered)
• Invoice date + an internal invoice number
• Buyer name/business name
• Buyer VAT number (exactly as they provided it) (optional to include, but OK if they asked)
• Item name (“Digital download: …”), quantity, price
• A clear note like: “Order placed and paid via Etsy. VAT (if applicable) was calculated/collected on the Etsy checkout and shown on the Etsy official invoice/receipt.”
• Total you received for the item (don’t try to restate VAT amounts unless you can match Etsy’s invoice exactly)

If they specifically want a VAT invoice showing their VAT ID so they can apply reverse charge, that’s usually not how Etsy digital downloads are handled, and issuing a “reverse charge” style VAT invoice when Etsy already collected VAT can create confusion.

If you tell me whether you’re UK VAT-registered (yes/no) and whether the buyer says they’re a VAT-registered business (and which EU country), I can suggest the cleanest wording for the note on your invoice/statement.