Invoices or reimbursements?

How submitting & paying out expenses works:

An expense request can be presented under two forms:

1. an Invoice for work completed for the Collective;

   • Invoices are used to pay people for work completed or their goods/services.

   • Within the invoice option, you have to upload your own invoice.

   • Invoices can be issued by registered independent contractors or companies. Invoices always have to contain the following information:

     • The invoice unique number.

     • Full identification (name, address, tax/company number).

     • Detailed description of the nature of the service.

     • Tax rate (if tax rate is 0%, please explain why on the invoice - e.g., VAT exemption according to the Article YY, Law XX of the VAT code).

     • The invoice must be billed to the Collective (including one of the Admins and their legal address). There can be no mention of Open Collective Europe on the invoice.

     • Here are Stripe's best practice tips.

2. a Reimbursement for purchases made on behalf of the Collective.

   • Reimbursements are used to pay people back when they have made purchases for the group.

   • Receipts are required so that we can ensure the requested amount matches the purchased amount in order to approve the reimbursement.

   • For a receipt to be approved by our team it must include:

     • an amount equal to the amount requested

     • the identification of the vendor (name, address, tax number...)

     • the nature of the expense

     • tax information (VAT rate)

   Order confirmation, proforma invoices, card slips and bank statements alone are not valid receipts.

   In case you are requesting a partial reimbursement of a receipt, please highlight directly on the receipt the requested amount (eg. specific lines describing the product/service).

   If you are requesting an amount that cannot be highlighted (because it is a specific percentage or a split), please attach a signed and dated statement declaring that you are requesting only that particular amount to the receipt.