Sales Invoice Template for Philippine Caterers and Function Halls

Official receipt out, invoice in

RA 11976 made the invoice the primary evidence for sales of goods and of services. RR No. 7-2024 set the transition rules. Leftover official receipts could have "Official Receipt" struck through and be stamped "Invoice", and RR No. 11-2024 later allowed those stamped booklets to be used until consumed. Otherwise, remaining ORs can serve only as supplementary documents marked as not valid for claiming input tax.

The practical upshot for a function hall is simple. When a client pays, the document that counts for tax is the invoice. A separate acknowledgment of payment is fine, but it does not replace the invoice.

The law also changed how VAT on services is measured. Amended Section 108 bases it on gross sales, not gross receipts, so VAT follows what you invoice rather than only what you have collected.

What a VAT invoice must show under Section 113

A VAT-registered person issues a VAT invoice for every sale or lease. Section 113 as amended requires the invoice to state that the seller is VAT-registered, followed by the seller's TIN, and to show the total amount including VAT, with the VAT as a separate item. If a sale mixes VATable, VAT-exempt and zero-rated items, the invoice breaks the amount down by type.

For sales of PHP 1,000 or more to a VAT-registered buyer, the invoice must also show the buyer's name, address and TIN. Corporate clients booking a Christmas party will ask for this, and their accounting team will reject an invoice without it.

RR No. 7-2024 lists the details a buyer cannot do without if they want to claim input tax: the amount of the sale, the VAT amount, the registered names and TINs, the description of the service and the date. Get those five right on every invoice.

Sample: corporate Christmas party sales invoice

Company Christmas party for 200 guests in a Makati function hall, invoiced by a VAT-registered caterer and venue to a VAT-registered corporate client.

• Seller shown as VAT-registered with TIN; buyer's registered name, address and TIN shown because the sale is PHP 1,000 or more.
• VAT shown as a separate item; 50% reservation payment already invoiced and deducted from the balance.
• Official invoice issued from the registered booklet under Authority to Print.

What your invoice must show in Philippines

If you are not VAT-registered

Caterers and halls below the PHP 3 million threshold pay percentage tax and issue non-VAT invoices. Section 237 as amended requires an invoice for each sale of PHP 500 or more, and whenever the client asks for one. Do not add a 12% line to a non-VAT invoice.

Small sales under PHP 500, like a walk-in order of pancit trays, may be summarized at the end of the day under the amended rules, as long as the aggregate is invoiced. For event bookings that will rarely matter, since almost every package is well above PHP 500.

Crossing the threshold changes everything at once. The month your gross sales pass PHP 3 million in a 12-month period, you register for VAT, switch to VAT invoices and start adding 12% to new bookings. Couples who signed at a non-VAT price before that date will not expect a 12% increase, so check the contract wording on taxes before you quote your next season.

Registration: ATP, printers and systems

Printed invoice booklets still come from a BIR-accredited printer under an Authority to Print, applied for on BIR Form 1906. The same form covers moving from bound booklets to loose-leaf invoices or changing printers. If you issue invoices from a computerized accounting system or POS, that system needs its own BIR registration.

Venura is not a registered CAS or POS. Use Venura for the quote, booking, payment schedule and a client-facing statement, and issue the official invoice from your registered booklet or system with the same booking number.

Service charge on the invoice

Show any service charge as its own line. RA 11360 requires hotels, restaurants and similar establishments to distribute collected service charges completely and equally among covered staff, excluding managers. How the charge is treated for VAT is a question for your accountant, but it must be visible on the invoice so staff distribution can be checked against it.

Invoice mistakes that cost Philippine caterers

These come up again and again when a caterer's records are reviewed.

• Still issuing an official receipt as the only document for a paid package
• No buyer TIN on a corporate event invoice of PHP 1,000 or more
• VAT buried inside the total instead of shown as a separate item
• A 12% VAT line on a non-VAT caterer's invoice
• Invoices printed without a valid Authority to Print
• Service charge collected but not shown, so staff cannot check their share

Reservation fees, progress billing and the final invoice

Weddings are usually paid in three or four installments, and the amended Section 108 bases VAT on services on gross sales. That makes the invoicing plan worth agreeing with your accountant before the first peso arrives. Some caterers issue an invoice for each installment as it is billed; others invoice the full package when the contract is signed and then acknowledge each payment with a receipt that refers back to that invoice.

Whichever approach you take, the final invoice should never repeat amounts already invoiced. List earlier invoices by number, show the amounts already billed, and bill only the balance plus any extra guests or add-ons agreed on the day.

If numbers drop below what was invoiced, or a client cancels part of the package, do not alter or tear up an issued invoice. Keep it in the booklet and handle the change with the correcting document your accountant recommends, so your sequence of invoice numbers stays unbroken.

Invoice questions from Philippines