In the VAT recovery process, different administrators, such as franchisee administrators and administrators of expert companies, have access to the pricing scheme. This helps them manage and calculate the fees they charge their clients when submitting VAT claims or performing other services.

You can find the pricing scheme in the Invoicing module by selecting "Manage Pricing" from the left-side menu.

When providing VAT recovery services, experts need a clear calculation of their fees. Depending on the type of contract with the client, fees can be calculated in various ways. Some common fee structures include:

When charging based on the claimed VAT, fees are calculated once the claim is submitted to
the tax administration. However, not all claimed VAT may be recovered, meaning the actual
earnings might be uncertain.
Conversely, when charging based on the recovered VAT, fees are only calculated and billed
once the VAT is successfully recovered. This offers more predictability in terms of earnings and
is directly tied to the amount the client receives.

Users can define the pricing scheme, making it easier to remember and communicate to clients. The description should indicate whether the fee is fixed, recurring, or variable, the basis for the calculation (expense or claim), and any caps or minimums involved.

The calculation basis can also vary:

For large multinational clients with complex VAT recovery needs, advanced price calculation rules offer additional flexibility. For example, if recovering VAT from a country like Croatia is easier, a lower fee might be applied. Or, domestic VAT claims might incur different charges than claims under the 13th VAT Directive. You can see an example of different rules below:

These rules can be set to apply to specific countries, VAT flows, claim types, etc., and are triggered based on criteria such as the country of refund or type of VAT claim.

Pricing rules can become even more specific with nested exceptions, where exceptions are layered on top of each other. For example, if a refund is being claimed in Italy, one rule might apply, but a different rule might apply if it's a domestic VAT refund within Italy. This allows for highly customized pricing based on specific scenarios.

To add a nested exception to the rule, simply create a new rule, input the necessary information, and then use the drag-and-drop feature to move it into the main rule:

Clients also have the flexibility to specify the invoicing currency, ensuring that all billing is aligned with the local or preferred currency of the client.

If multiple entities within the same group share the same pricing conditions, you only need to configure pricing for the main entity. For all other entities, select the main entity under “Use pricing from.” This ensures consistent pricing across the entire group, with any changes automatically applied to all linked entities.

Some clients have specific pricing requirements, often using advanced price calculation rules to define thresholds. In addition to these thresholds, they require certain fixed-price items to always be included in invoices. These may include claim handling fees, bank transfer fees, or other fixed charges that are part of their pricing structure.

To support this, we have introduced default fixed items in the pricing setup. When a pricing scheme is configured for a client, fixed items can be added, ensuring they automatically appear on every order and invoice.

There are two descriptive fields:

Unit Pricing: Predefined per client, e.g., $4.50 for a transfer fee or $50 for a plan fee.

Quantity: Always put just one.

This guide explains how to set up invoices that VAT4U issues automatically on a repeating schedule — monthly, quarterly or yearly — such as licence recharges, retainers, subscription fees or consultancy fees.

Most invoices in VAT4U are produced by work: you file a claim, and the claim is billed according to your pricing rules. Recurring invoicing is for the charges that happen anyway, whether or not there is a claim — a monthly retainer, an annual licence fee, a quarterly software recharge.

You describe the charge once in the company's Pricing setup, and from then on VAT4U issues the invoice on schedule, generates the PDF, and (if you want) emails it to the client.

What it does not do:

The Pricing setup screen holds three different things. They are easy to confuse, so it is worth being clear about which one you want:

In short: fixed items ride along with a claim invoice; recurring items are their own invoice and need no claim at all.

Note on "Use pricing from": recurring items belong to one company only. They are never inherited from another company, and never copied to companies that inherit this company's pricing. This means you can set up recurring invoicing for a company even when its pricing scheme comes from another company — the section stays available in that case.

Open the company and go to the Pricing scheme tab, or use the Pricing page and select the company. Scroll to Recurring invoice items, below Default fixed items.

Click Add recurring item. A row appears with the main fields; click the arrow at the start of the row to expand it and reach VAT, payment terms, currency and contract dates.

Fill in the row:

And in the expanded area:

Click Save recurring items. This button saves only this section — it is separate from Save Pricing, and saving one does not affect the other.

This is the step most worth pausing on.

An item is first invoiced from its start date. If you leave First invoiced from empty, VAT4U uses the date you created the item. This is deliberate: adding a monthly item on the 20th, with an issue day of the 1st, does not immediately bill the 1st that has already passed — the first invoice goes out on the 1st of the following month.

If you do want to bill a period that has already started, set First invoiced from to a date on or before that period's issue day.

Leave Last invoiced until empty for an open-ended contract, or set it to stop the schedule.

Set Active to on and save again. From then on the daily invoicing run picks the item up whenever it is due.

Monthly — issued every month on the day you chose.

Quarterly — issued every three months. The anchor month sets which quarter cycle you are on: anchor January means January, April, July, October; anchor February means February, May, August, November.

Yearly — issued once a year, in the anchor month, on the day you chose.

Two details that avoid nasty surprises:

Write {period} anywhere in the Description or Plan description and it is replaced with the period being billed:

So Monthly retainer — {period} appears on the invoice as Monthly retainer — August 2026.

A monthly retainer of €500, invoiced on the 1st, payable in 14 days

Description Monthly service retainer {period} · Frequency Monthly · Issued on day 1 · Unit price 500 · Quantity 1 · Payment terms 14 days.

A quarterly licence recharge of 12 × €11.70, invoiced at the start of each quarter, payable in a month

Description Recharge of software licence · Frequency Quarterly · Anchor Jan · Day 1 · Unit price 11.70 · Quantity 12 · Payment terms 1 month.

An annual fee of €2,400 in March, reviewed and sent by hand

Frequency Yearly · Anchor Mar · Day 1 · Unit price 2400 · Quantity 1 · Send invoice automatically off, so the invoice is created as a draft for you to check.

Can I change an invoice item after it has been invoiced? Yes. Edits apply to future invoices; invoices already issued are not modified. Periods already invoiced are not re-issued. If you did not send the invoice to client yet, you can modify the items in the Invoicing module directly by editing the invoice.

What if I delete an item and add it back? VAT4U treats it as a new item, so a period it previously invoiced could be invoiced again. To pause a charge, switch Active off instead of deleting it.

Will running the schedule twice invoice my client twice? No. Each item and period is recorded once. Re-running the schedule does nothing for a period that has already been invoiced.

Why does the invoice show 0% VAT? Either the rate was entered as 0, or Derive automatically was used for a pair of countries VAT4U cannot derive a rate for. If in doubt, untick Derive automatically and enter the rate explicitly.

The item is active but nothing was invoiced. Most often the start date has not been reached yet, or the issue day for the current period fell before the item was created — see Step 4. Also check that the end date has not passed.

Who receives the invoice? It is billed to the company whose Pricing setup holds the item, from the company chosen in Billed by, using that company's normal invoice template, numbering and email settings.

If a recurring invoice did not go out as expected, or an amount or VAT rate looks wrong, contact VAT4U support with the company name, the item description and the period concerned.