How to issue an invoice as a sole trader in Slovakia: your first invoice, step by step

You have your trade licence (živnosť) and your first client wants an invoice. Most new sole traders are not VAT payers, and for them the rules are simpler than they look: the main mandatory details come from the Commercial Code, and the VAT Act applies only in special cases.^⁠[1]⁠[3]

This guide covers what to prepare, what to put on the invoice, how to number and send it, how to get paid and what to do with the invoice afterwards. Where VAT payers follow different rules, we say so.

Before you issue your first invoice

• Company ID (IČO) and register entry. A sole trader is entered in the Trade Register, so their business documents also state the register and the entry number.^⁠[1]
• Tax ID (DIČ). The tax office assigns it. From 1 January 2027 you will also need it to receive e-invoices; if you do not have one, the Financial Administration advises contacting its call centre.^⁠[7]
• A numbering series. Decide how you will number your invoices (for example 2026001, 2026002 and so on), and stick to it.
• An account for payments. The IBAN your customers will pay to, and how you will match each payment to an invoice, usually a variable symbol (variabilný symbol).

What a non-VAT payer's invoice must contain

The Commercial Code requires every business to state on its business documents its business name, seat or place of business, company ID (IČO) and, if it is entered in a register, the register and the entry number.^⁠[1] If you keep accounts, the invoice is an accounting document and must also meet the Accounting Act.^⁠[5] In practice an invoice states the following:

A VAT payer has a longer list of mandatory details, set by § 74 of the VAT Act.^⁠[4] It is covered in detail in Invoice requirements in Slovakia 2026.

The invoice number

Every invoice needs a sequential number that is never repeated. Do not fix a mistake on an invoice you have already sent by overwriting it: issue a corrective invoice that refers to the original number.^⁠[4] How to do that is explained in Credit notes and corrective invoices.

Due date, and what to do when a client doesn't pay

You agree the due date with your customer. Between businesses, however, the contractual payment term may not exceed 60 days unless the parties expressly agree on a longer one and it is not grossly unfair to you; where the customer is a public-law entity, it is generally 30 days.^⁠[1]

If the customer pays late, you are entitled, without any further notice, to late-payment interest and to a flat €40 compensation for recovery costs.^⁠[1]⁠[6] A polite reminder quoting the invoice number and amount is usually enough to start with. What to do next is covered in Unpaid invoice in Slovakia.

How to send the invoice, also after 2027

As a non-VAT payer you can send your invoice as before: on paper or as a PDF by e-mail. That does not change on 1 January 2027 either: the obligation to issue e-invoices lies with VAT payers, and a customer cannot require one from a non-VAT payer.^⁠[7]

The change affects you differently: from 1 January 2027 you must be able to receive e-invoices that a supplier who is a VAT payer sends you.^⁠[7] How to choose a digital postman for that is described in Choosing a digital postman step by step.

The invoice may also be in a foreign language; you only need to provide a Slovak translation if the tax office asks for one during an audit.^⁠[2]⁠[8]

How long to keep invoices

A non-VAT payer keeps for ten years mainly the invoices it had to issue under the VAT Act (for services to a foreign client, for instance), and received invoices on which it had to pay VAT.^⁠[2] If you keep accounts, all accounting documents are kept for ten years as well.^⁠[5] The simplest approach is to keep copies of all issued invoices in one place. Retention periods and the form of the archive are covered in Keeping invoices in Slovakia.

If your client is abroad

For services to a business in another country whose place of supply is the customer's country, even a non-VAT payer must issue an invoice, within 15 days of the end of the month for an EU client, within 15 days of the supply for a client outside the EU.^⁠[3] If the client is in the EU and accounts for the VAT on the service, you also have to register for VAT under § 7a before you supply it.^⁠[2] Everything that matters is in Invoicing foreign clients from Slovakia.

When VAT becomes your concern

You must become a VAT payer once your turnover for a calendar year exceeds €50,000 (from 1 January of the following year), or immediately with the supply that takes your turnover above €62,500 during the year.^⁠[2] What counts towards turnover and what to do as you approach the limit is in VAT registration in Slovakia.

First-invoice checklist

• Name, place of business, company ID (IČO) and Trade Register entry.
• The customer's details including company ID.
• A sequential number with no duplicates.
• Date of issue, and the date of supply if it differs.
• Description, quantity, unit price and amount.
• Due date, IBAN and variable symbol.
• No VAT, and a note that you are not a VAT payer.
• A copy of the invoice stored for ten years.

Your first invoice in vporiadku

1. After signing up you answer three questions (including whether you are a VAT payer), and vporiadku hides the parts you do not need.
2. You add your details and your Trade Register entry in the company settings; it is printed on the invoice PDF.
3. You add your bank account. You look the customer up by company ID and their details are filled in from the register.
4. You create the invoice by filling in the form or with one sentence that AI turns into a draft for you to check. For a non-VAT payer, vporiadku adds the sentence "Nie som platiteľom DPH." automatically.
5. You issue the invoice and e-mail it as a PDF with a PAY by square payment QR code.
6. When the client pays, you record the payment and the invoice is marked as paid.

The Start plan is free, needs no card and has no invoice limit; it is limited to 5 clients and the PDF carries a "Vytvorené vo vporiadku" watermark. The Profi plan has no watermark and adds, for example, automatic reminders and recurring invoices; a new account gets it free for the first 30 days. Prices are in our pricing.

Need just one invoice right now? Use the invoice generator, no sign-up needed. And you can open an account for free.