PDF Invoice Guide

Introduction

The objective of this guide is to walk you through the process of generating a simple PDF invoice you can send to your customers. This is valid for tax regimes that don’t require any electronic reporting or invoicing, and serves as a useful example from which to create your own workflows.

Once completed, the workflow will work with any GOBL invoice produced for any country in the world.

Prerequisites

You’ll need the following data to issue basic PDF invoices:

Supplier details: fiscal details of the issuer.
Customer details: fiscal details of who is receiving for B2B invoices.
Items: list of products or services being sold, including quantities and prices.
Taxes & Rates: knowing how these apply to each item.
Series: a series is a counter with number formatting details to be able to generate a code.

Setup

Issuing PDF invoices with Invopop requires very little preparation. We assume that you already have access to the Invopop Console and know how to create a workflow.

PDF Invoice workflow

Basic workflow to generate a PDF invoice

PDF Invoice workflow

Basic workflow to generate a PDF invoice

Copy and paste into a new Empty Invoice workflow code view.

Example PDF invoice workflow with states

{
  "name": "PDF Invoice",
  "description": "Add a sequential code and generate PDF",
  "schema": "bill/invoice",
  "steps": [
    {
      "id": "6b16c200-a75f-11ef-ba08-91f336761c6c",
      "name": "Add Sequential Code",
      "provider": "sequence.enumerate",
      "summary": "Dynamic · Invoice · 000001",
      "config": {
        "padding": 6,
        "start": 1,
        "name": "Invoice"
      }
    },
    {
      "id": "fc75e4f0-8721-11ef-a962-73e3f2037a52",
      "name": "Sign Envelope",
      "provider": "silo.close"
    },
    {
      "id": "c61adaa0-7b55-11ef-bffc-d9a10ebf9f89",
      "name": "Generate PDF",
      "config": {
        "logo_height": 40,
        "locale": "en",
        "date_format": "%Y-%m-%d"
      },
      "summary": "English",
      "provider": "pdf"
    }
  ],
  "rescue": [
        {
            "id": "9a7b3d50-1358-11ef-af96-a18cfb3774fa",
            "name": "Set State",
            "config": {
                "state": "error"
            },
            "provider": "silo.state",
            "summary": "Set state to `error`{.state .error}"
        }
    ]
}

In Console create a new workflow and select Empty Invoice workflow in the template selector, then add the following steps:

Add Sequential Code - select the dynamic sequence option and set the name.
Sign Envelope - signs the GOBL document, preventing further changes.
Generate PDF - configure the logo and language according to your needs.

Finally, in the Error Handling area, add the Set State action and select status Error.

Example of the expected workflow

Running

Use the following example GOBL Invoices inside the Invopop Console or via the API to create new silo entries. Once a silo entry has been stored, you can create a new job to run the “PDF Invoice” workflow you just created.

B2B Invoice - United Kingdom

The following example demonstrates a simple invoice for a VAT registered supplier in the United Kingdom.

{
  "$schema": "https://gobl.org/draft-0/bill/invoice",
  "currency": "GBP",
  "series": "TEST",
  "supplier": {
    "tax_id": {
      "country": "GB",
      "code": "844281425"
    },
    "name": "BrightTech Solutions Ltd.",
    "emails": [
      {
        "addr": "billing@brighttech.co.uk"
      }
    ],
    "addresses": [
      {
        "num": "123",
        "street": "Innovation Park",
        "locality": "Cambridge",
        "code": "CB1 2AB",
        "country": "GB"
      }
    ]
  },
  "customer": {
    "tax_id": {
      "country": "GB",
      "code": "350983637"
    },
    "name": "GreenWave Energy Ltd.",
    "emails": [
      {
        "addr": "info@greenwave.co.uk"
      }
    ],
    "addresses": [
      {
        "num": "45",
        "street": "Riverside Business Park",
        "locality": "London",
        "code": "SW1A 1AA",
        "country": "GB"
      }
    ]
  },
  "lines": [
    {
      "quantity": 50,
      "item": {
        "name": "Thermal efficient mugs",
        "price": "16.00"
      },
      "taxes": [
        {
          "cat": "VAT",
          "rate": "standard"
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

B2B Invoice - United States

The following example demonstrates a simple invoice for a VAT registered supplier in the United States.

{
  "$schema": "https://gobl.org/draft-0/bill/invoice",
  "series": "SAMPLE",
  "currency": "USD",
  "tax": {
    "prices_include": "ST"
  },
  "supplier": {
    "name": "Provide One Inc.",
    "tax_id": {
      "country": "US"
    },
    "addresses": [
      {
        "num": "16",
        "street": "Jessie Street",
        "locality": "San Francisco",
        "region": "CA",
        "code": "94105",
        "country": "US"
      }
    ],
    "emails": [
      {
        "addr": "billing@provideone.com"
      }
    ]
  },
  "customer": {
    "name": "Sample Consumer",
    "emails": [
      {
        "addr": "email@sample.com"
      }
    ]
  },
  "lines": [
    {
      "i": 1,
      "quantity": "20",
      "item": {
        "name": "Development services",
        "price": "90.00",
        "unit": "h"
      },
      "discounts": [
        {
          "percent": "10%",
          "reason": "Special discount"
        }
      ],
      "taxes": [
        {
          "cat": "ST",
          "percent": "8.5%"
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

FAQ

Can I customize the format of PDF?

Getting Started

Use Cases

Feature Guides

Country Guides

Integrations

PDF Invoice Guide

Introduction

Prerequisites

Setup

PDF Invoice workflow

PDF Invoice workflow

Running

FAQ

Getting Started

Use Cases

Feature Guides

Country Guides

Integrations

​Introduction

​Prerequisites

​Setup

PDF Invoice workflow

PDF Invoice workflow

​Running

​FAQ

Introduction

Prerequisites

Setup

Running

FAQ