What a VAT Margin Scheme invoice must show

• No separate VAT line, and no VAT rate shown.
• Include a margin scheme statement on the invoice.
• Everything else is the same as a normal invoice: your details, the buyer, the date, the item, the total.
• Identify the handset well enough to tie it to your stock records — the IMEI is the obvious way.

What goes on it

• Your business name and address, and your VAT number.
• The invoice date and a unique invoice number.
• The buyer’s name and address.
• A description identifying the handset, including the IMEI.
• The total price, as a single figure.
• A statement that the sale is under a margin scheme for second-hand goods.

The part people get wrong

The instinct is to show VAT because every other invoice does. On a margin scheme sale that is not a formatting preference — it is the thing the scheme specifically prohibits, because the buyer could use it to reclaim VAT that was never charged on the full price.

If you are selling to a business customer who asks for a VAT invoice, the honest answer is that a margin scheme sale cannot produce one. They can still put the full cost through their accounts; they simply cannot reclaim VAT on it.

Keeping the two kinds apart

Most phone shops sell both margin scheme and standard-rated goods, often in the same transaction — a used handset alongside a new case. Those need different treatment on the same receipt.

Mobile POS records the VAT scheme against each product, so a mixed basket produces the right figures without the person at the till having to remember which rule applies to what.