Quoting Irish buyers from Manchester: fields a quote needs

What to take away

Price the quote in euro and keep the rate visible

A Manchester agency quoting a Dublin client in euro and a Leeds client in sterling runs two price books at once. Each quote must show which currency applies, at what rate and for how long, so the buyer can see where the number came from.

Start with your base currency. If you cost work in sterling, the euro price is a conversion, not a separate price list. Keep the rate source documented so a client can trace the figure, and choose one policy for refreshing it.

For customs values, HMRC's monthly exchange rates apply to the following calendar month, so those are the rates to show on documents that feed a declaration. A rate used for the sale itself can differ, which is why the quote states its own rate and the date it was taken.

Set a quote validity window. A window of 30 days is a common choice for project work, and after that you reprice. A proposal that says "valid for 30 days from issue" is easier to defend than one with no date, especially when sterling has moved against the euro, a margin risk worth scoring before quotes go out.

For Irish trade, many Manchester sellers quote in euro because that is what the buyer budgets in. Others quote in sterling and let the buyer carry the conversion. Neither is wrong, but the choice should be consistent across your templates, so finance teams do not meet a different rule on every quote.

Put the currency, the rate, the rate date and the validity window in the same block on the quote. Buyers in Dublin, Amsterdam and Munich will look for it, and finance teams will ask. If you handle contracts alongside quotes, keep payment terms and governing law consistent with the quote, as the commercial contract checks describe.

Name the Incoterm when goods cross to Ireland

Goods moving from Manchester to Dublin or Rotterdam cross a customs border, because the UK left the EU single market and customs union. Services mostly do not, but any quote that includes physical deliverables does, so the quote should name the Incoterm.

Incoterms 2020, published by the International Chamber of Commerce, is the current set. Common choices are DAP (Delivered at Place), DDP (Delivered Duty Paid) and FCA (Free Carrier). Each shifts cost and risk differently, and the quote is the first place the buyer sees which one applies.

DAP means the seller delivers to an agreed place and the buyer handles import duty and clearance. DDP means the seller pays duty and clears the goods. FCA means the buyer takes over at a named point, often the seller's premises or a carrier.

A Manchester seller shipping hardware to an Irish client on DAP terms should show that the buyer may face Irish import VAT and duty. Leaving that off the quote causes disputes at the border. For services delivered remotely, say that the service is delivered electronically or from the UK.

Keep a customs reference block on the quote: Incoterm, place, commodity code if goods are involved, and who is the importer of record. Look the code up in the UK Trade Tariff on GOV.UK, or in TARIC for the EU side. HMRC expects the commercial documents to match the customs declaration.

If your quote tool cannot hold Incoterm fields, you will end up maintaining a separate spreadsheet, and that is where errors creep in. The quoting software should carry the same terms through to the invoice, so that the quote, the invoice and the declaration agree.

Choose the VAT line by buyer type and country

The VAT line depends on what you sell and to whom. For goods, the place of supply is generally where the goods are when they are sold. For services, it depends on whether the customer is a business or a consumer.

Business-to-business services are usually outside the scope of UK VAT when the customer belongs in an EU country, under the reverse charge. The quote should say the customer accounts for VAT, and include the customer's VAT number.

Business-to-consumer services are different. The place of supply can be where the customer belongs, which may mean registering for VAT in that country or using the non-union One Stop Shop (OSS), the EU portal for reporting VAT on cross-border consumer sales.

Digital services to consumers across the EU have their own rules. A Manchester software firm selling a subscription to a consumer in Ireland may need to charge Irish VAT and report it through the One Stop Shop. Revenue, the Irish tax authority, publishes the rates that apply.

For goods sold to consumers in the EU, the Import One Stop Shop (IOSS) works differently. It lets the seller charge VAT at the point of sale instead of the buyer paying it on import. That means VAT-inclusive prices have to be right on the quote, not added at the border.

Rates change, so check the current rates on GOV.UK before you hard-code anything into a template. The quote template needs a VAT line that can switch between UK VAT, reverse charge, zero-rated export and out-of-scope, because showing the wrong one is a credibility problem with finance buyers. The UK regulations checks help when you compare tools.

Keep prospect data lawful when it leaves the UK

Quoting tools hold prospect data: names, emails, company details and sometimes notes from calls. When that data sits in a data centre outside the UK, transfer rules apply. The UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018 set the framework, and the ICO is the regulator.

A Manchester scale-up using a quoting platform hosted in the EU is making a restricted transfer if the data is personal data. The ICO's international transfers guide says that if you rely on a safeguard, you must also complete a transfer risk assessment.

You need a lawful transfer mechanism, such as the UK's adequacy regulations, the International Data Transfer Agreement (IDTA), or the International Data Transfer Addendum to the EU Standard Contractual Clauses, both issued by the ICO.

The EU has an adequacy decision for the UK, which helps data flowing from the EU into the UK. The reverse direction, UK data going to an EU processor, still needs its own basis, so the direction of flow matters more than the label on the hosting plan.

Check where your vendor stores data and where its subprocessors are. The mainstream clouds, AWS, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud, all offer EU regions, several of them in Ireland, but a tool that says "EU data centres" may still route support tickets through another country.

Your privacy notice and your contracts with clients should reflect what actually happens. The data protection checks for England set out what to ask a vendor, and the answers belong in a place where the sales team can find them.

Set up one quote template for Manchester, Dublin and Berlin

One template can serve Manchester, Dublin and Berlin if you configure it rather than writing three sets of templates by hand. Quoting tools are built around the same pieces: price books, template fields and rules you set once.

Whichever tool you use, the sequence below is the same, and each step maps to a section above. Confirm the tool can hold each field before you commit to it.

Use a checklist before any cross-border quote leaves the building.

A worked example helps. A Manchester design agency quotes a Dublin retailer 12,000 euro for a project plus 2,000 euro for printed materials shipped DAP. The quote shows euro pricing, a 30-day validity, DAP Dublin, the retailer as importer of record, and Irish VAT handled by the buyer on import.

Services are outside the scope of UK VAT under the reverse charge, and the retailer's VAT number is on the document. The agency's quoting tool stores the prospect record in the EU, so the privacy notice names the subprocessor and the transfer basis.

Nothing in that quote needs a separate spreadsheet. That is the standard to aim for: one template, clear fields, and a record that survives an HMRC or ICO question. A test quote for each buyer type shows whether the template really delivers it before a live deal depends on it.

Common questions

Do I need to quote in euro for Irish clients?

Not always, but many Irish buyers prefer it. If you quote in sterling, state the rate and validity so the buyer can plan, and keep the choice consistent across your templates.

Can I put Incoterms on a services quote?

Usually no. Incoterms apply to goods. For services, state where the service is delivered and leave the customs fields off, so the quote does not imply a shipment.

When is a sale outside the scope of UK VAT?

Often when a UK business sells services to a business in another country under the reverse charge. The customer accounts for VAT, and the quote should carry the customer's VAT number.

Does UK GDPR still apply if my tool stores data in the EU?

Yes, if you are established in the UK or targeting UK individuals. You still need a lawful transfer basis for the data leaving the UK, and a transfer risk assessment where you rely on a safeguard.

How often should I update currency rates in quotes?

Set a policy, such as daily or weekly, and apply it consistently. A 30-day quote with a stale rate is a margin risk, so state the rate date on the quote.

Where can I check current UK VAT rates?

GOV.UK publishes the standard, reduced and zero rates. Check there before you change a template, and record the date you checked in the template notes.