Are Stripe Receipts Valid Invoices for Accounting and VAT Purposes?

No. Stripe receipts are not valid legal invoices and cannot be used for accounting, VAT reporting, or tax compliance in the European Union.

Stripe receipts only confirm that a payment was made. They do not replace a legally compliant invoice.

Why Stripe Receipts Are Not Valid Invoices

Stripe receipts typically do not include the mandatory elements required by EU invoicing regulations, such as:

• A unique and sequential invoice number
• Full legal details of the seller and the buyer
• Indication of whether the customer is a private individual or a business
• VAT numbers (yours and/or your customer’s)
• Correct VAT breakdown per country and tax rate
• Legal description of the goods or services sold
• OSS (One Stop Shop) compliance information

In other words, Stripe proves a payment happened, but it does not prove that you invoiced correctly.

What Should I Use Instead of Stripe Receipts?

To stay compliant, you must issue proper legal invoices using one of the following:

• Dedicated invoicing software (e.g., Sufio, Zoho, QuickBooks, WooCommerce or Shopify invoicing plugins).
• Custom invoicing modules built into your SaaS or e-commerce platform.
• Companio’s dashboard invoicing feature (only recommended if your volume is very low, e.g. fewer than 20 invoices per month).
• Companio’s Invoice Dropbox to submit legally issued invoices to your accounting.

Is This Really Important for Online Businesses?

Yes. If you sell digital products, services, or subscriptions—especially through automated payment gateways like Stripe—your business likely falls under the OSS VAT scheme. This means:

• You must charge the correct VAT rate based on the customer’s location.
• You must issue compliant invoices.
• You must submit correct OSS VAT reports.

Failure to do so can lead to audits, fines, penalties, or rejected tax filings.

How Can I Send Invoices to Companio?

You have several options:

• If you issue very few invoices (e.g. under 20 per month), you can use Companio’s invoicing tool.
• For most online businesses, we strongly recommend using dedicated invoicing software integrated with your e-commerce platform.
• In all cases, you can automatically forward your invoices to your company’s unique invoice inbox email (available in the dashboard under Settings > Automation).

Make sure you send full legal invoices, not Stripe receipts.

Can I Still Use Stripe to Collect Payments?

Yes. Stripe, PayPal, Mollie, and similar gateways are perfectly fine for collecting payments.

However, you must still issue a valid legal invoice for each transaction. Stripe will not generate compliant invoices for you automatically.

Updated on: 30/01/2026