How do I fill in a payment order from an invoice?

Every field on the form is already on the invoice. The recipient is the seller's legal name from the top of the document. The account is the IBAN from the payment details block. The amount and currency are the total payable, entered exactly. The reference is the invoice number and nothing else. Outside SEPA you add the BIC, the addresses, and the charge code. The due date tells you when to send it, not what to type.

Billingz Guides · Payments

How to fill in a payment order from an invoice you received

Short answer

A payment order asks for six or seven things, and every one of them is already printed on the invoice in front of you. Nothing needs to be worked out or looked up. The only field people regularly get wrong is the reference, and getting it wrong is what turns a paid invoice into a week of emails.

Field by field, and where to read it

Recipient - the seller's legal name, from the top of the invoice or the seller block. The registered entity, not the trading name and not the person who emailed you.
Recipient account - the IBAN from the payment details block. If the invoice shows both an IBAN and a domestic account number, use the IBAN unless you are paying domestically.
Amount - the total payable, exactly. Not the subtotal, not the figure before VAT, and not rounded.
Currency - whatever the invoice is denominated in. If your account is in another currency, your bank converts and the cost to you will be a little higher than the official rate.
Reference - the invoice number. A well-made invoice prints it for you and labels it as the payment reference.
Date - the due date tells you the deadline, not what to type. Send it early enough that it arrives by then, which for a cross-border payment is not the same day.

If the invoice is in a currency your account does not hold, the amount leaving you will not match the amount arriving there. That gap, and who it belongs to, is explained in exchange rate differences.

The same six fields, on an invoice

Nothing below has to be worked out, looked up, or asked about. Every field on the form is already printed here.

Studio Noir

hello@studionoir.example

Invoice

#INV-1042

Invoice date: 01/05/2026

Supplier

Studio Noir GmbH

Torstraße 140, 10119 Berlin
VAT DE812345678

Customer

Apex Labs B.V.

Keizersgracht 123, 1015 CJ Amsterdam
VAT NL812345678B01

Dates

Supply date: 28/04/2026

Payment due: 15/05/2026

3 lines · Subtotal €4,000.00 · VAT: reverse charge, accounted for by the customer

Total payable

€4,000.00

Payment details

Bank:: Commerzbank
IBAN:: DE89 3704 0044 0532 0130 00
BIC:: COBADEFFXXX
Reference:: INV-1042

A sample invoice. The company names, addresses, numbers and bank details are illustrative.

Recipient: The legal name from the supplier block, not the trading name in the letterhead.
Recipient account: The IBAN, printed in the format the receiving country expects.
Amount and currency: The total payable, to the cent, in the currency of the invoice.
Payment reference: Already filled in for you. Copy it exactly and add nothing to it.
Date: The deadline for arrival, not the date you type into the form.
BIC: Ignored inside SEPA. Asked for the moment you pay outside it.

Every field on the form is on the page above. The one people still get wrong is the fourth, and on this invoice it is printed under its own heading so there is nothing left to invent.

The reference field decides everything

When your payment lands, somebody has to work out which invoice it settles. If the reference says the invoice number, that takes two seconds and is often automatic. If it says “invoice”, or your company name, or a description of the work, somebody has to open a spreadsheet and guess.

The consequence is not just their inconvenience. Until the payment is matched, their system still shows the invoice as unpaid, which means a reminder eventually goes out to you for money you already sent. Every reminder anyone has ever received in error started here.

So: the invoice number, alone, exactly as printed. If you are paying several invoices in one transfer, list every number, and if the field is too short to hold them, send separate payments. It is faster than the alternative.

Inside SEPA the form is short

For a euro payment between two SEPA countries you need the recipient, the IBAN, the amount and the reference. The BIC is usually no longer required, most banks removed the field years ago, and no addresses are asked for.

The charges are settled by law rather than by choice, so there is no charge code to select and no decision to make about who pays what.

Outside SEPA the form grows

BIC or SWIFT code - of the recipient's bank, from the invoice. Not optional here, and a wrong one causes a delay or a return.
Beneficiary address - often the full registered address, which is why an invoice carries it.
Beneficiary bank address - some forms want the bank's own address as well as its code.
Charge code - SHA, OUR or BEN. Who absorbs what the banks take on the way.
Purpose code - required in some countries, chosen from the bank's own list.

What each charge code means, and why money arriving from another continent is smaller than the invoice, is covered in the guide on international payments.

Four ways to make it harder than it is

Rounding the amount - leaves a balance open on their side and the invoice stays unpaid in their system.
Paying the person, not the company - the account belongs to a registered entity, and a name mismatch can hold the payment.
Writing something helpful in the reference - the reference is not for a message. There is usually a separate note field if you need one.
Leaving it to the due date - a domestic transfer arrives the same day. A cross-border one may take three, and the delay is yours.

Common questions

What do I write in the payment reference field?

The invoice number, and nothing else. Not the word invoice, not your own company name, not a description of the work. The person receiving the money matches it against an open invoice by that string, and anything else turns a two-second job into an email exchange. A well-made invoice tells you exactly what to put there.

Do I need the BIC or SWIFT code?

Inside SEPA, usually not: the IBAN is enough and most banks stopped asking. Outside SEPA, yes, and often the beneficiary's address and the beneficiary bank's address as well. If the form asks and the invoice does not show it, ask the supplier rather than guessing, because a wrong BIC delays or returns the payment.

The invoice is in euro but my account is not. What do I enter?

Enter the amount and the currency exactly as they appear on the invoice. Your bank converts, at its own rate, and the amount leaving your account will be a little more than the official rate suggests. Do not adjust the figure yourself to compensate, because the supplier is matching against the invoiced amount, not the amount you sent.

Should I pay a pro forma?

You can, and that is what pro formas are for: payment before supply. What you should expect afterwards is a real invoice, because a pro forma is not a tax document and gives you no right to deduct VAT. If it does not arrive, ask for it. Use the pro forma number as the reference until the invoice replaces it.

What is the purpose code some banks ask for?

A short code classifying what the payment is for, used for statistics and for currency control in some countries. Where it is required the bank shows a list, and the supplier's invoice usually makes the right choice obvious: services, goods, advance payment. If you are unsure, your bank will tell you which one fits rather than leave the payment stuck.

Can I round the amount to make it tidy?

No. Pay the exact figure on the invoice, to the cent. A rounded payment leaves a small balance open on the supplier's side, which means their system keeps the invoice as unpaid and eventually someone chases you for it. The tidiness is not worth the correspondence.

Built for this

Billingz prints the payment details the way the receiving country expects, with the invoice number set as the payment reference, so whoever pays you has nothing to work out and nothing to guess.

See how Billingz builds invoices

This guide is general information, not banking or financial advice. Billingz is not a payment service provider and does not send, hold or receive money on your behalf. Payment order forms, required fields and purpose codes differ by bank and by country and change over time; Billingz does not warrant that this page matches the form in front of you. Where a field is unclear, your own bank is the fastest answer.