How to create and submit club and society invoices

Invoices

Club and society invoices must be itemised, and addressed to:

{INSERT CLUB/SOCIETY NAME}

Students' Union UCL

25 Gordon Street

London

WC1H 0AY

Invoices must include:

• payee name
• address
• contact email address
• bank name and account details
• a dated, hourly break-down of all chargeable hours for the respective invoice period

You can use our Invoice Template. 

The person providing an invoice just needs to fill out our template with their own information, and send it to you.

You should submit your invoice through the Purchase Request Form, within 30 days of your activity.

We will not accept invoices on a termly or yearly basis. All invoices must be submitted no later than the end of the academic term in which the service has been used.

We cannot do a partial payment on an invoice, we can only pay the full amount stated/listed. If you have already paid a deposit for a service, this must be clearly stated on the invoice, and subtracted from the total due.

Payment will be received within 2-4 weeks via a BACS transfer.

International payments

You must provide IBAN, BIC and country codes for international payments.

The payment must be in GBP, or the currency of the country the payment is going to (no other currencies).

There is an international transaction fee – the fee is dependant on each transaction. This must be covered by your club or society.

Pro-Forma Invoices

A proforma invoice is a preliminary bill or estimated invoice which is used to request payment from the committed buyer for goods or services before they are supplied. A proforma invoice includes a description of the goods, the total payable amount and other details about the transaction

A pro-forma invoice is almost like a quote. You can use your pro-forma invoice to inform your budget. We’re not able to accept pro-forma invoices as they can be changed – we need to receive the final invoice.

If a company only offers pro-forma invoices ahead of payment being made, please ask the company for written confirmation that a final invoice will be provided after payment is made. A final invoice must be provided for an audit trail.

Self-Employment

If you are self-employed and earned more than £1,000 in the last tax year (6 April to 5 April), you must have a Unique Taxpayer Reference. This is also applicable to students. For more information, please refer to the Gov.UK website:

https://www.gov.uk/self-assessment-tax-returns/who-must-send-a-tax-return

https://www.gov.uk/student-jobs-paying-tax

If you have received an invoice from a self-employed individual providing a service, the invoice must state:

I am self-employed and I am responsible for any tax or National Insurance liability.

Coaches and Instructors

Please refer to our how to guide for paying coaches and instructors.

Coaches and instructors must be approved by the Students’ Union before delivering any services.

Coach/instructor invoices must be submitted for payment by the Students’ Union through the Purchase Request Form by the final day of each month. Payment will then be received within 2-4 weeks via a BACS transfer. Failure to meet the deadline will result in the payment carried forward to the following month’s payment run.

You can only pay a coach/instructor for services that they have undertaken within the time period that they have been registered with us for.

Payment will not be made on submitted invoices exceeding 2 months after the work was completed.

We will not accept invoices on a termly basis nor will we pay for coaching or instructor fees in advance of sessions.

Payment Timelines

So what happens once your Purchase Request Form or Payment Request Form is approved?

• Requests are added in bulk to a ‘BACS’ run. BACS is an electronic system used to make payments directly from one bank account to another.
• Our BACS run then undergoes a full check, and any issues such as incorrect bank details are amended if necessary.
• Our BACS run is sent to the Students’ Union Finance Team for a ‘sample check’ (this is like spot-checking), and any issues are amended.
• Once the sample check has been completed, the BACS run can be approved by Students’ Union Finance team.
• The BACS run is then uploaded to our bank – this means all payments are uploaded in bulk to our bank.
• If all bank details are correct, the BACS run is set up for a 3-day payment to be made.
• At this stage, the BACS run needs to be authorised by two authorisers.
• Once authorised, it will take 3 working days for the payment to be released and arrive in the recipients’ bank account. It may take up to 5 working days for the payment to appear (depending on the bank).

Remember, all clubs and societies need to email [email protected] with any financial enquiries. This inbox is monitored by the Student Activities Finance Coordinator and our student staff team.

Don’t forget – the Students’ Union UCL Finance team lead on financial processes for the whole Union rather than clubs and societies specifically, and so will redirect any club or society enquiries to [email protected].