What every invoice must show
Whatever your trade, these fields are the minimum:
- The word Invoice (or Tax Invoice where you charge Sales tax) and a unique sequential number.
- Issue date and, for services, the date or period of supply.
- Your business name, address and TIN; your registration number if you have one.
- The client's name and address, and their TIN when they are a registered business.
- One line per item or service: description, quantity, unit price and line total in USD.
- Subtotal, Sales tax rate and amount (or a statement that none was charged), and the total due.
- Payment terms, due date and bank details.
Numbering and dates
Numbers must run in sequence with no gaps or repeats; Inland Revenue Department, Ministry of Finance checks for both. Use a prefix per year or series if it helps (2026-001), but never reissue a number. The issue date fixes the tax period the sale falls into, so date the invoice when you send it, not when the work started.
Numbering, keeping and correcting invoices
Article 9 of Sales Tax Law No. 2 of 1984 requires wholesalers, manufacturers and hotels to issue an invoice for every sale or hotel stay, with the sales tax stamp for 5% attached. Invoices must be numbered in a continuous series starting at 1 each year, and dated. Under Article 13, an invoice that carries sales tax cannot be produced in a court or government office unless the tax was paid. Books and invoices must be shown to tax officers on request (Article 14).
Penalties in the same law: failing to issue invoices or keep the required books is fined under Article 15(1); paying less tax than due is fined at 20 to 60 times the unpaid tax (Article 15(2)); recording a lower value than the real one to avoid tax is fined per invoice under Article 16. The State's right to recover sales tax lapses ten years after the tax fell due (Article 21).
Currency and retention: the Revenue Administration Regulation requires all sums in revenue legislation to be denominated in US dollars (Article 25), while Article 20 of the Central Bank of Somalia Act treats other Somali transactions as expressed in shillings unless the law or the parties provide otherwise. Electronic records, including invoices, must be kept for 4 years from the end of the last income-tax assessment year, or from the last filing or payment date for other taxes, and longer while an objection, refund claim or investigation is open (Article 41). The Minister may change the period by circular.
Showing Sales tax
Only registered businesses charge Sales tax. If you are registered, show the rate and the amount as separate lines; if you are not, do not show a Sales tax line and say so on the document. Charging Sales tax without registration is an offence in most countries, and clients' accountants will spot it.
Electronic invoicing in Somalia
Many countries now require invoices to be issued through, or reported to, an official electronic system. Where Somalia does, the PDF you make here is a working document for quotes, proformas and internal records, and the fiscal invoice comes from the official system. Where it does not, an emailed PDF is a valid invoice.
Getting paid
State the due date, not just the terms. Put the bank details on the invoice and ask for the invoice number as the payment reference. Send the PDF on the day the work finishes; late invoices are paid late. A proforma up front is the cleanest way to ask for a deposit.
Fixing a mistake
Never edit or delete an invoice you have sent. Issue a credit note that references the original number, states the reason and reverses the same Sales tax, then issue a new invoice if needed. The Somalia credit note generator does this.