If you bill a customer, your invoice usually carries two addresses: yours and your customer's. In the IRS and Texas texts we read, no rule says which address the seller must print. Your customer may ask for your address on Form W-9, and UK invoices must show one.
We read IRS Publication 583, Form W-9, the IRS instructions for information returns, two Stripe pages, a Texas sales tax rule and a GOV.UK page on October 30, 2026. The sections below separate what each source requires from what each one only suggests.
Which two addresses does an invoice show?
An invoice usually shows two addresses. One belongs to you, the seller. The other belongs to the customer you're billing.
Stripe's education article on invoice requirements lists both. For your side, the article says: "Include your company name, business address, contact details (such as phone number or email), and any other relevant information." For the customer's side, the article says: "Similar to your business information, you’ll need to include the name, address, and contact details of the client or business you’re billing."
The same article says it is "for general information and education purposes only and should not be construed as legal or tax advice". So we read the Stripe list as a platform's advice. The article doesn't say which law it has in mind.
The UK government is more direct. GOV.UK says "Your invoice must include:" and gives a list of nine items. Two of the nine are addresses:
- "your company name, address and contact information"
- "the company name and address of the customer you’re invoicing"
The customer's address is usually the easy part. Stripe Invoicing, for example, fills it in from the customer record. Stripe's documentation says: "If you don’t explicitly set that address, Stripe renders their shipping address as the billing address on the PDF." Your own address is the harder choice, so most of this post is about the seller's side.
Does US law say what address goes on an invoice?
The IRS guide for new businesses treats invoices as records to keep. Publication 583 says:
"Purchases, sales, payroll, and other transactions you have in your business generate supporting documents. Supporting documents include sales slips, paid bills, invoices, receipts, deposit slips, and canceled checks. These documents contain information you need to record in your books."
Publication 583 also lists invoices among the documents that show gross receipts. Gross receipts are the income you receive from your business.
We counted the word "invoices" in the full text of Publication 583. The word appears six times, and the singular "invoice" appears zero times. All six uses sit in lists or sentences about documents to keep. The word "address" appears five times, and none of those sentences mentions an invoice. Publication 583 says expense records should show the amount paid and that it was for a business expense, but it doesn't say an invoice needs an address.
State sales tax rules can set some invoice content. Texas is one example. Under 34 Texas Administrative Code § 3.286(d)(2)(B), "The amount of sales and use tax due must be separately stated on the bill, contract, or invoice to the purchaser or there must be a written statement to the purchaser that the stated price includes sales or use tax." The same subsection adds: "Sellers located outside of Texas must identify the tax as Texas sales or use tax on their bill, contract, or invoice to the purchaser."
The Texas rule is about how the tax appears on the invoice. The word "address" appears twice in the rule. One use is about the address shown on a sales tax permit, where the permit is valid, and the other is about a quarterly report that printers file. Neither use ties an address to an invoice.
We read one state's rule and three IRS documents. We didn't read every federal or state rule, so we can't say that no US rule sets an invoice address. Other states may write their rules differently.
What about the claim that an invoice needs an official address?
A Reddit thread on freelancing says "contracts and invoices may not be binding without a registered address." We couldn't open the full thread, so we saw only that sentence in a search snippet.
We searched the five IRS, Texas and UK texts we read for the phrase "registered address" and found it zero times. None of the five ties whether an invoice counts to the seller's address. We didn't study US contract law as a whole. So we can only say that the tax and government texts we read set no such condition.
Who asks for your address, and why?
The address requests come from the people and systems that pay you or process your payments. Each source asks for a different reason.
| Who asks | What the text says | Where the address goes | Type of rule |
|---|---|---|---|
| Your customer, through Form W-9 | Line 5: "Address (number, street, and apt. or suite no.)" | The W-9 you give the customer | IRS form |
| IRS instructions for information returns | Lists an error in "a significant item in a payee's address" among errors that are never inconsequential | The 1099 statement your customer sends you | IRS penalty rules |
| Stripe Invoicing | Customer address comes from the customer record; seller details come from your Public business information settings | The invoice PDF | Platform setting |
| Stripe education article | "Include your company name, business address, contact details (such as phone number or email), and any other relevant information." | The invoice | Platform's general advice |
| Texas, 34 TAC § 3.286 | Sales tax must be shown on the invoice; the rule names no seller address | The invoice | State tax rule |
| GOV.UK | "your company name, address and contact information" | The invoice | UK government guidance |
Your customer's accounts payable team asks through Form W-9
A business customer's accounts payable (AP) team pays your invoices. The AP team may ask you for a Form W-9 before it pays you. Line 5 of the form asks for your address, and the instructions explain why:
"Enter your address (number, street, and apartment or suite number). This is where the requester of this Form W-9 will mail your information returns. If this address differs from the one the requester already has on file, enter "NEW" at the top. If a new address is provided, there is still a chance the old address will be used until the payor changes your address in their records."
An information return is an IRS tax form such as a Form 1099. Our post on what address to put on a W-9 covers line 5 in detail.
The customer also has a reason to get your address right. The IRS instructions for information returns list errors that are never "inconsequential." One of them relates to "a significant item in a payee's address". The passage sits in the part on "Failure To Furnish Correct Payee Statements (Section 6722)." In plain terms, an error in your address on a 1099 statement can lead to a penalty for the customer who sends you that statement.
Form W-9 itself doesn't mention invoices. We counted the word "invoice" in the form and found it zero times. In our reading, the safest choice is to use the same address on your invoices and on your W-9. A mismatch can leave the customer's records holding two addresses for you.
Your payment platform decides what prints
Payment platforms decide what prints on the invoices they send. Stripe's documentation says Stripe invoices include the public information you set under Public business information, such as a support email address or a website. Stripe also lets you choose a support phone number on invoice PDFs and emails, or default to your business address.
So on Stripe, whether your street address appears is partly a setting you control. Other platforms may work differently.
Customers outside the United States bring their own rules
If you sell to UK customers, the GOV.UK list above applies to the invoice itself. GOV.UK adds two items for sole traders, meaning people who run a business on their own:
- "your name and any business name being used"
- "an address where any legal documents can be delivered to you if you are using a business name"
If you bill customers in the European Union, check the EU value-added tax (VAT) invoice rules separately. We didn't quote those rules in this post.
Which address should you put on your invoices?
Your invoice address goes to every customer who receives a bill. Pick one that you are comfortable sharing that widely. In our reading, the address should meet three conditions.
First, mail sent there should reach you. A customer who sends you a 1099 statement uses the address on your W-9. Second, the address should match the one on your W-9, so the customer's AP team has one address for you. Third, the address should accept mail in the name that appears on the invoice.
If you would rather not print your home address on invoices, our post on using your home address as your business address covers the privacy side of that choice. The same address often appears in other places too, such as your website footer and your business checks.
If you bill in a business or trade name, the address needs to accept mail in that name. If you sell in the UK as a sole trader using a business name, GOV.UK asks for an address where legal documents can reach you.
This post explains IRS publications and forms, a Texas tax rule, Stripe documentation and UK government guidance. The post isn't legal or tax advice. Ask a tax adviser about the rules for your state and your customers.
How Auteur handles the address on your invoices
We sell virtual mailboxes, so this is the seller's view. Auteur is in pre-launch, and your exact street address is assigned the day your city opens. We don't say any customer, AP team or platform will accept our address. Our address page puts it this way: "Every bank and agency makes its own rules, so we tell you what the address is instead of promising what they will do with it."
The Virtual Business Address receives mail in a business or trade name. Choose it if your invoices go out under an LLC, corporation or DBA (doing business as) name. The Virtual Mailing Address is for personal mail, in individual names only.
Both plans photograph the envelope of every piece, and we open and scan only when you ask, for one flat fee per piece. Henry, our AI assistant, explains each letter you ask us to open. USPS Form 1583 is required before any provider can receive mail for you. Pricing comes by email with the next steps, and our fees and limits are in our fair use policy.
If your invoices carry a business or trade name, get your Virtual Business Address. Ordering is free, there's no card, and nothing is charged today.
FAQ
Whose address goes on an invoice?
An invoice usually shows two addresses, yours as the seller and your customer's. GOV.UK says UK invoices must include both. In the US, Stripe's education article recommends both, while the IRS texts we read don't say an invoice needs an address.
Is an invoice valid without a business address?
In the IRS, Texas and GOV.UK texts we read, we found no sentence that ties whether an invoice counts to the seller's address. We didn't read every US rule or contract law. GOV.UK guidance does say a UK invoice must include your address.
Can I put a mailbox address on my invoices?
The IRS and Texas texts we read don't say which kind of address a seller prints. A mailbox address where mail in your business name reaches you is one option. In our reading, use the same address on your invoices and on the W-9 you give your customers.
What address should a freelancer put on an invoice?
In our reading, a US freelancer should use the address on the W-9 given to the customer. The customer mails information returns such as Form 1099 to that address. If you invoice UK customers as a sole trader with a business name, GOV.UK asks for an address where legal documents can reach you.
Bottom line
An invoice usually carries your address and your customer's. In the IRS and Texas texts we read, no rule says which address the seller must print. Publication 583 tells you to keep invoices, and we found "invoices" there six times without an address in the same sentence. Your customer may ask for your address on Form W-9, and Stripe prints what you set. UK invoices must show both addresses. In our reading, pick one address where mail reaches you and use it on both your invoices and your W-9.
