If you run a business or freelance in Japan and bill clients abroad, an English invoice is not just a translated Japanese one. A few things work differently: honorifics, consumption tax, bank charges, and Japan's qualified-invoice (インボイス) requirements. This guide walks through what an English invoice needs, the mistakes to avoid, and wording you can copy. For anything tax-specific, confirm with a licensed tax accountant (as of September 2026).

What an English invoice should contain

The core fields are the same as a Japanese invoice; the difference is the standard English labels.

  • Invoice (title) and Invoice No.
  • Issue date and Due date
  • Your (issuer) name, address, and contact details
  • Bill to: the client's company name and address
  • Line items: Description, Qty, Unit price, Amount
  • Subtotal, Consumption tax, Total
  • Payment details: bank name, branch, account number, account holder, and the SWIFT/BIC code for international transfers

If you are a registered qualified-invoice issuer, also show your registration number (Registration No., "T" followed by 13 digits).

Qualified-invoice (インボイス) requirements

Under Japan's invoice system, a qualified invoice must carry the items set out by the National Tax Agency (NTA) in Tax Answer No.6625. Even in English, it is good practice to cover all six (NTA No.6625):

  1. The issuer's name and registration number
  2. The transaction date
  3. A description of the transaction (noting reduced-rate items)
  4. The amount per tax rate and the applicable rate
  5. The consumption tax amount per tax rate
  6. The name of the recipient business

Even when you bill in a foreign currency, the consumption tax amount itself must be stated in yen.

Three things that differ from Japanese practice

  • No 御中 or 様. In English, address the invoice to the company name without a Japanese honorific. On a bilingual invoice, keep the honorific off the English side.
  • Consumption tax is often 0% or out of scope. Services to a non-resident overseas client are frequently export-exempt (0%) or out of scope, not the standard 10%. See the companion article on consumption tax for how to classify each line.
  • Spell out who pays the bank charges. International wires incur intermediary bank fees. State whether they are borne by you (OUR), shared (SHA), or the payer (BEN) so the received amount is not a surprise.

Ready-to-use wording

  • Cover line: Please find attached our invoice No. INV-0001 for services rendered in September 2026.
  • Payment terms: Payment is due within 30 days of the invoice date (net 30).
  • Bank charges: Please note that all bank transfer charges, including intermediary bank fees, are to be borne by the payer.
  • Tax note (export-exempt): Consumption tax: 0% (export-exempt under Japanese Consumption Tax Law).

Common mistakes

  • Swapping the yen figure for a "$" sign without actually converting at an exchange rate.
  • Forgetting the SWIFT/BIC code, so the client cannot send the wire.
  • Issuing a qualified invoice without the per-rate consumption tax stated in yen.
  • Writing the due date in a Japanese era format or an ambiguous style the client cannot parse.

Bilingual or English-only?

You have two sensible options when billing overseas. An English-only invoice is cleanest for a client with no connection to Japan. A bilingual Japanese/English invoice is useful when the client has a Japanese entity, when your own bookkeeping is in Japanese, or when you want a single document that satisfies both sides. On a bilingual invoice, keep Japanese honorifics off the English side, and make sure the qualified-invoice items appear in a form a Japanese tax office would accept. A good tool lets you switch between English-only and bilingual output without re-entering anything.

A worked example

Say you invoice a US company for 20 hours of consulting at USD 150 per hour. The line reads Unit price: $150.00, Qty: 20, Amount: $3,000.00, and the total due is $3,000.00. Because you performed the work in Japan for a non-resident who does not consume it in Japan, the supply is normally export-exempt, so you add no consumption tax and note Consumption tax: 0% (export-exempt). If you want to show a yen reference for your own records, add a line such as Reference: JPY 450,000 @ 150.00/USD using the exchange rate on the issue date. The client still pays USD 3,000; the yen figure is only a reference.

Dates, currency, and rounding

Two small details cause most confusion. First, write dates in an unambiguous, international style such as 2026-10-31 rather than a Japanese era format. Second, decimal places differ by currency: USD and EUR normally show two places, while JPY shows none. If you bill in a foreign currency but issue a qualified invoice, remember that the per-rate consumption tax is still stated in yen, even though the line amounts are in the foreign currency.

Build it by hand, or with a tool

You can build an Excel or Word template and reuse it, but maintaining currency conversion, per-rate tax breakdowns, and the qualified-invoice fields by hand is error-prone. BridgeInvoice keeps these correct automatically, and can produce quotations and receipts the same way.

Start by creating an English invoice for free. To begin from a quotation, use quote mode; to begin from the overseas-transaction tax setting, use the overseas preset.

FAQ

Do I need a company seal (hanko) on an English invoice? No. Overseas clients rarely expect a seal; your company name and, if you like, a signature are enough. A generated red seal is optional if you want the Japanese look.

Do I have to show consumption tax if it is zero? Even when the tax is 0% (export-exempt) or out of scope, note that fact so the client understands the breakdown. For a qualified invoice, show the per-rate tax amount in yen.

Registration numbers and the qualified-invoice register

If you are a registered qualified-invoice issuer, your registration number is "T" followed by 13 digits, shown in English as Registration No. T1234567890123. Before you put it on an invoice, check the digit count, and if you need to confirm a counterparty's number, the NTA runs a public register of qualified-invoice issuers. Note that a foreign, non-resident client does not claim a Japanese input tax credit, so they will not usually need your registration number at all; it matters most when the recipient is a Japanese taxable business.

Related reading

Summary

An English invoice carries the same core fields as a Japanese one. What changes is dropping the honorific, classifying consumption tax correctly, spelling out bank charges, and meeting the six qualified-invoice items in English. Get those right and you have an invoice you can send straight to an overseas client. When a tax classification is unclear, check with a tax accountant.