Option to remove VAT from standard invoice template
Recommendation to enable users to remove the VAT lines from a standard invoice template.
It's not possible to edit or remove the Total VAT line on standard invoice templates in Xero. The VAT total line is a fixed element that appears on invoices when using the standard templates. Non-VAT registered businesses therefore have to use an advanced invoice template (DOCX) which for less IT-literate, is quite complicated to set up.
Claire Borg
shared this idea
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Tom David
commented
For anyone following this thread — we ran into the same limitation in Xero around showing detailed line items to clients, as well as turning off specific fields - like "Total VAT" - so we built a tool to work around it called Invoice Polish
It reads your existing invoices and lets you group or summarise line items (manually or automatically), preview a cleaner client-facing version, export it as a PDF, and optionally attach that PDF back onto the original invoice in Xero.
Important point: it doesn’t modify any accounting data in Xero. Your detailed line items stay exactly as they are for reporting, and this just creates a cleaner version for clients.
Typical workflow is: connect your Xero org, select an invoice, group/summarise the line items, then export or attach the revised version.
We’ve found it useful where you need detailed breakdowns internally but only want to present a high-level summary to clients, and remove specific fields like GST or VAT.
If that sounds useful, more info here: https://invoicepolish.com
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Daniel Minnick
commented
Many of us are forced to use DOCX just to get a clean layout, but then Xero ‘obliterates’ our branding by stripping fonts and flattening high-res logos into blurry bitmaps. This happens because the server-side parser is stuck in 2007 and only supports the 1996 'Core Web Font' set (Arial/Verdana). Let’s push Xero to support modern font-embedding and SVG fidelity by updating the document engine. See the technical breakdown and vote for the fix here: https://productideas.xero.com/forums/967115-invoices-quotes/suggestions/51245914-modernize-advanced-templates-full-support-for-mod
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Cindy Schaller
commented
I agree with the previous comments; the VAT line should be a removable option as not all businesses charge VAT. In its current form, I cannot use the invoice template.
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Aaron Willcock
commented
A few customers and a accountant have queried why VAT is on my invoices, when I'm not a VAT registered business. It would cause a lot less confusion if i could just remove it.