What is Multi-entity Billing?
Written by Arnon Shimoni
✓ Expert
Last updated on:
Multi-entity billing is invoicing customers from more than one legal entity out of a single billing system. A group with a Dutch BV, a German GmbH and a US Inc. sells one product, but each customer must be invoiced by the entity that legally made the supply, with that entity's VAT number, address, bank account, currency, invoice number series and tax treatment.
It's the point where billing stops being a product problem and becomes a legal structure problem. The invoice has to be right for the entity, not just for the customer.
At a glance | Multi-entity billing |
|---|---|
What differs per entity | Legal name and address, VAT or tax ID, tax regime, invoice number series, currency, bank account and PSP, branding, e-invoicing mandate, storage period |
What's shared | Product catalog, pricing plans, customer records, metering, reporting |
Why it's needed | Expansion into new countries, acquisitions, regulatory entities (e.g. a licensed payments subsidiary), tax optimisation |
Hardest parts | Routing each subscription to the right entity, keeping each entity's number sequence unbroken, per-entity tax, consolidated reporting |
Legal basis in the EU | Each entity is its own taxable person. Its invoices follow its own Member State's rules (Article 219a VAT Directive) |
Why companies end up with multiple billing entities
Selling into a new region. A European company opening a US entity to bill US customers in dollars from a US bank account, or a US company setting up an Irish or Dutch entity for EU customers.
Acquisitions. The acquired company keeps its legal entity, at least for a while, and its customers keep their contracts with it.
Regulated activity. A fintech holds its payments licence in a dedicated subsidiary, and anything that touches the licensed activity must be invoiced by it.
Local presence requirements. Some customers, especially public sector and large enterprise, will only contract with a locally registered entity.
Transfer pricing and tax structure. Where revenue is booked matters for corporate tax, and the invoicing entity determines that.
What has to be per entity
Element | Why it can't be shared |
|---|---|
Legal name, address, registration and VAT numbers | Mandatory invoice content under Article 226. Wrong entity means an invalid invoice |
Tax regime | The entity's country determines which VAT rules apply, when the reverse charge applies, and which rates are available |
Each entity files its own VAT return and must have an unbroken, chronological sequence. Sharing a counter across entities creates unexplainable gaps in each | |
Currency and exchange rate source | VAT amounts must be in the national currency of the entity's country. A euro entity and a dollar entity convert differently |
Bank account and payment provider | Money has to land in the entity that issued the invoice, or you've created an intercompany transaction |
Invoice date rule and deadline | The issuance deadline is national |
E-invoicing mandate | An Italian entity must issue through SDI, a Belgian one through Peppol, a German one must issue structured e-invoices from 2027. The e-invoicing page has the map |
Branding and template | Customers expect the invoice to look like it came from the company they contracted with |
Storage period | 7 to 10 years depending on the entity's country |
What should be shared
The mistake is running one billing system per entity. Then the product catalog is defined three times, a pricing change is three changes, a customer who moves between entities is two customer records, and group reporting is a spreadsheet. The product, prices, customers, metering pipeline and reporting should be shared, with the entity as an attribute of the subscription that drives everything on the invoice.
Routing a customer to an entity
The subscription, not the customer, should carry the billing entity. A customer can have a European subscription billed by the Dutch entity and a US subscription billed by the US entity, and moving a customer between entities (after an acquisition, or when they open a local office) is then a change on the subscription from a given date, with the old entity invoicing up to that date and the new one after.
A default entity at platform level catches everything that isn't explicitly routed. Rules by customer country or currency can set the entity automatically at signup.
Reporting across entities
Each entity needs its own view for its own VAT return, statutory accounts and audit. The group needs a consolidated view for revenue, retention and forecasting. Both come from the same invoice data filtered differently, as long as the entity is an attribute on every invoice and credit note. Intercompany charges, where one entity provides services to another, are invoices too and should run through the same system with the same rigour.
Where Solvimon fits
Solvimon has billing entities as a first-class object. Each entity carries its legal name, reference, tax ID, registered address, time zone and custom fields for ERP keys. The entity's country sets the tax regime for every invoice it issues, each entity gets its own currencies and exchange rate source, and its reference is built into the invoice number so each entity's sequence stays unbroken: INV-NL-2026-08-00001 and INV-EE-2026-08-00001 are independent series. The entity is assigned on the subscription, with a platform default for everything else, and the product catalog, pricing plans, customers and metering are shared across all of them. If you're about to add a second entity and the plan is to clone your billing setup, talk to one of our experts first.
FAQ
Can two entities share one invoice number sequence?
Not sensibly. Each entity files its own VAT return and auditors expect an unbroken sequence per taxable person. Put the entity code in the number and run a series per entity.
Can one invoice cover supplies from two entities?
No. An invoice has one supplier. Two entities means two invoices, even to the same customer.
Which entity's invoicing rules apply?
The rules of the Member State where the supply takes place, except for cross-border reverse-charge supplies, where the issuing entity's own country applies. In practice, each entity follows its own country's rules.
Should the billing entity sit on the customer or the subscription?
The subscription. Customers can have subscriptions with different entities and can move between them over time.
How do I handle a customer who moves from one entity to another?
End the subscription on the old entity at the cutover date and start one on the new entity from that date. The old entity invoices up to the cutover, the new one after. Don't backdate.
This page was last reviewed in October 2026.
Related
Invoice numbering. One unbroken series per entity.
EU invoice requirements. The mandatory content each entity's invoices must carry.
Multi-currency billing. The currency side of the same problem.
Reverse charge invoice. Determined by the entity's country and the customer's.
Consolidated billing. One invoice per customer, within one entity.
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