Billing American and British clients from Luxembourg in their own currencies

A Kirchberg compliance consultancy has three anchor clients: an asset manager in London, a fintech in New York and a bank in Frankfurt. Frankfurt pays its euro invoices by SEPA within minutes. London and New York pay euro invoices too, eventually, with an international transfer that arrives a few days later and a few hundred euros short.

Invoice in their currency

Clients in London budget in pounds and clients in New York in dollars. A euro invoice makes them convert, and they push the cost back through slower approval, a lower amount or a request to re-quote.

Luxembourg rules allow invoices in any currency. Where VAT appears it must also be shown in euros, and your books record each foreign invoice in euros at a documented rate.

VAT

For most services to businesses in the UK or US, the place of supply is the client's country. The invoice carries no Luxembourg VAT and states why. Keep evidence that the client is a business: its registration details and signed engagement letter are enough.

The W-8BEN-E

A US client's accounts payable team will usually ask for Form W-8BEN-E before paying. It confirms your company is foreign. With it, and a claim under the Luxembourg-US tax treaty where relevant, payments for services you perform outside the US are generally made without US withholding.

Collect on their rails

Domestic rails are what make the difference:

• UK clients pay sterling details by Faster Payments, usually in seconds.
• US clients pay US details by ACH, usually in one to two business days, or by domestic wire.
• EU clients pay a euro IBAN by SEPA.

Each arrives in full, in the invoiced currency. You then choose whether to convert, and when.

Keep what you spend

A consultancy that pays London subcontractors in pounds or US software in dollars can pay those costs from the matching balance. The rest can be converted to euros on a schedule that suits payroll.

Paying into Luxembourg: the local rail

Source: European Payments Council: SEPA Instant Credit Transfer. Checked when this guide was last updated; the scheme's own page has the current figures.

Where Rivet fits

A Rivet business account gives a Luxembourg company US account details in its own name on every plan and, from the Growth plan, sterling details for Faster Payments and euro details with an IBAN. Payments are matched to invoices, balances can be held or converted at a rate shown before you confirm, and payouts go to 120+ countries. Rivet is not a bank; regulated partner institutions hold the funds.

See also the W-8BEN vs W-8BEN-E guide.